East Kirk of St Nicholas dig 2nd - 6th October 2006 - Week 36
East Kirk of St Nicholas dig 2nd to 6th October – Week 36
Judith Stones, Keeper of Archaeology, writes…
You may remember the scallop shell we found a while back. Although that was very exciting – the first one from Aberdeen – it was slightly disappointing that it hadn’t been found closely related to a burial. Well, this week we’ve gone one better, and found a scallop shell near the pelvis of an adult male skeleton. Here it is in the first two pictures, being excavated by Gemma, and then shown in more detail.
Its placing is interesting. Peter Yeoman, whose book Pilgrimage in Medieval Scotland some of you may know, told us of a woman’s burial found at York, with a scallop at hip level, and the possibility therefore that she might have been interred wearing her pilgrim’s satchel, or scrip. The leather or cloth scrip would have decayed, of course, leaving the shell to indicate that it had once been there. The next photo shows an 11th century statue of St James the Apostle, dressed as a pilgrim, with a large shell attached to his scrip. Our shell, smaller than the one we found before, has two holes pierced in the bulbous end to allow it to be stitched on to something.
There are still some basic pieces of research we have to do, though. For example are either of our shells from the pecten maximus, or great scallop, which occurs along the European Atlantic coast from northern Norway to the Iberian peninsula? That’s the true shell of St James, the wearing of which was the badge of pilgrimage to the saint’s shrine at Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain. According to one 12th century source, the shells were sold at market stalls outside the Cathedral at Compostela – and you can still buy them there today. Confusingly, the scallop symbol, though not necessarily the real shells, later became associated with other pilgrim destinations such as Canterbury and Mont St- Michel in France. I’m grateful to the Confraternity of St James (the UK association which supports and promotes pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela) for sending me a very useful article from their Bulletin, which provided some of the information above.
I’ve mentioned the structure built on to the north side of the late 12th or early 13th century east end several times before – the one we’re referring to as the ‘sacristy’. We’re still struggling to understand its complicated history. Sheila Duthie, an archaeology student at Aberdeen University, is seen in the next picture trying to work out its relationship with the later 15th century choir.
One current theory is the simplest one, that the east and west walls of the perhaps 14th century sacristy, were ‘cut’ when the outer walls of the 15th century choir were built. To Sheila’s left you can see the west sacristy wall, while at the right edge of the picture is the north wall of the 15th century choir. But what’s in between those two walls, to right of Sheila’s hand? Is that the filled-in foundation trench for the 15th century wall – or is it more complicated? We may know next week…….We’re also finding a lot of pottery in the lower levels of the sacristy building – in a large pit which also contained copper alloy fragments and a magnificent Cairngorm crystal – and in another small pit or posthole near the west wall (just out of the last picture, to left). You can see that latter group of pottery in the next photo. Some of the pieces may be from European imports of the 12th century, others may be later in date.
Our human bone expert from Glasgow University, Paul Duffy, visited the site again this week, and confirmed some diagnoses, including a possible case of prostate cancer, appearing next as an oval group of ‘spicules’ on the surface of the pelvic bone towards the upper left edge (the ilium).
The next photo shows what looks to have been a very painful foot problem. The individual suffered from ankylosis, a stiffness or fusion of joints caused by osteoarthritis or trauma. In this case, the tarsals and metatarsals have become fused. Do I have a vague memory connecting one of those bones, trauma and the World Cup earlier this year?
For further information and comment, please contact judiths@aberdeencity.gov.uk: 01224 523658.
