Founded 1906
Archaeology Report Autumn 2014
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Selected Articles from the BHAS Bi-Annual magazine "Flint" Autumn 2014
Packing and Labelling for Fun The Whitehawk Camp Community Project gets under way If the idea of packing and labelling doesn't appeal, how about spending several days striding over Whitehawk Hill, trying to keep even steps across tussocky grass and lumpy ground while negotiating trees and bushes? There's no end of fun as a BHAS volunteer - and these have been enjoyable activities, believe it or not. In the last edition of Flint our President, Don Richardson, announced the success of the HLF bid for funds to reassess what was already known about the Whitehawk Causewayed Enclosure from previous excavations and investigations, to conduct a geophysical survey of the site and to carry out limited further excavation. BHAS is a partner with Archaeology South East (ASE) and Brighton and Hove City Council in this project. The project started in May with a week of magnetometry over the accessible parts of the Neolithic site i.e. not actually inside the racecourse grandstand and associated buildings, although a relevant bit of the racetrack itself was surveyed. Two teams of BHAS volunteers (mostly called John or Jon) led by two of ASE's professionals (also called John) plodded up and down, sometimes literally, the site to carry out the first full survey of the site using modern technology. We were blessed with mostly fine weather although there was one morning when the seafret rolled in and transmitter, racecourse and all vanished from view. The following week found us at ASE's HQ in Portslade, attempting to get to grips with the interpretation of the data we'd collected. Understanding the dots and squiggles proved quite a challenge but the pros were happy with the results and identified several possible new features on the edge of the scheduled monument. These results informed the decision on where to locate the excavations which were to take place in August. In June and July BHAS members worked alongside volunteers from the environs of Whitehawk in an attic of Brighton Museum, repacking and labelling the artefacts found during the excavations of the Whitehawk site in 1929, 1933 and 1935. Many of these have not been examined since they were first deposited in the museum and were still in the brown paper envelopes used at the time, which were by now getting rather tatty. Our job was to repack them in plastic bags, perforated for ventilation, label the bags with all the context data and put the same data on labels to go inside the bags. We also had to check each artefact off on a copy of the original accession record, to see what might be missing - and there were a few gaps. The artefacts were also photographed or scanned for future online publication. It may not sound like fun but it was fascinating to see what had been found: Neolithic pot sherds, flint tools galore, some enigmatic chalk blocks with apparently deliberate markings on them. As a reward, we were treated to a couple of visits to the museum's stores, in the Royal Pavilion's former wine cellars, to see some of the other archaeological items kept there and, on the final day, a good look at the four skeletons found as more or less complete inhumations during those original digs. ASE's human bones expert was there to look them over and give an initial assessment, which mostly coincided with the opinions of those who first looked at them 80 years ago: two young women in their late teens or early twenties, one with a newborn baby, a slightly older man and a child of about eight years. This all came from the bare 5% of the site that has been excavated. What else lies hidden below the turf? We may know more after the August dig but there will still be many secrets and mysteries surrounding this iconic site.
Two Baby Burials from Rocky Clump South Field During excavations in 2012, a baby burial was identified at the bottom of a ditch. The baby had been laid on its side facing West and had probably been wrapped given the relative completeness of the skeleton. The remains were excavated by David Ludwig and Clive Bean. During excavations in 2013 a second baby burial was identified, this time within a small pit. The remains were excavated by Brenda Collins. Osteoarchaeological analysis, which included taking measurements of the remains, suggests that both babies died at or shortly after birth and, as a result, scientific analysis of the bones would provide information relating to the mothers' diets. We successfully applied for a Margary Grant from Sussex Archaeological Society for Isotope analysis of the teeth and bone of the 2012 baby. Unfortunately, strontium and oxygen analysis was not possible due to a lack of dental enamel mineralisation which would have provided information as to where the mother had grown up. This also proved the case with the 2013 baby. However, carbon and nitrogen analysis was possible of both burials and the results suggest that both mothers had cereal based diets (pers. comm. Jane Evans, NERC). A more detailed report is in the course of preparation for submission to Sussex Archaeological Society's Past & Present.
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