Mystery woman will be given Christian reburial
Published on 02/02/2007
The Hexham Courant
Who was she? The skull of the woman found in the grounds of the Angel Inn, Corbridge, Northumberland.
Waking the dead: Project supervisor Jo Beaty clears the earth from around the skeleton.
By HELEN COMPSON
HER identity is unknown, but the remains of a woman discovered in Corbridge last week will be given a full Christian burial.
One of two medieval skeletons unearthed during building work behind the Angel Inn on Main Street, her remains were lying east to west – a sign that she had a Christian burial originally.
So by law, once archaeologists have finished studying her skeleton, it has to be reburied with due Christian ceremony in a churchyard within the village.
A team of archaeologists from North Pennines Archaeology Limited, based in Nenthead, worked against the clock this week to exhume the two skeletons.
Builders had uncovered them while clearing an old beer garden behind the pub in preparation for constructing a restaurant extension.
Their work ground to a halt while five archaeologists – paid for by Angel Inn owner John Gibson under the terms of his planning permission for the extension – moved in to comb the site.
It was thought the other skeleton might date back to the young Viking age, from the era pre-1066. But pottery uncovered directly below it has now established that the person actually died during the 13th century.
The cause of death and why he or she was buried lying north to south, contrary to Christian tradition, remains a mystery.
Establishing the sex of each skeleton is also proving tricky, because both pelvises and the skull on the non-Christian skeleton have been shattered.
The Christian skeleton, however, is thought to be a woman because the skull lacks the more prominent brow ridge of the male.
Once a human bone specialist at Durham University has finished his work, the non-Christian skeleton will be sent to the Museum of Antiquity in Newcastle.
Archaeology supervisor Tony Liddell said: “We only had until Wednesday to glean as much information as possible before construction work began again, but the site has revealed some interesting finds.
“We’ve discovered the foundations of three medieval buildings, rather than just one long one, which was what we thought was here.
“We’ve got a lot of industrial waste – iron slag and charcoal marks – which indicates there was industrial work going on here in the medieval period.
“There are strong signs of fire, which could be attributed to the industry, but they are so widespread that at some point the buildings could have burned down.”
The site has also thrown up lots of animal bones, most of them derived, as Tony put it, from just about every animal you could ride or eat.
However, one skull in particular has them intrigued. With an intact set of teeth that look like they could have inflicted some real damage in their day, it might have belonged to a dog that died, on first evidence, during the Victorian era.
“It’s a vicious looking sod, so it would be interesting to find out what breed it was,” said Tony.
“Dating the bones will help us do that, as many breeds common today weren’t around in Victorian England.”
Before the archaeologists finished their work, one of them spent a day drawing a painstaking map of the site, with every little find and stone of interest drawn to scale.
www.hexham-courant.co.uk
Published on 02/02/2007
The Hexham Courant
Who was she? The skull of the woman found in the grounds of the Angel Inn, Corbridge, Northumberland.
Waking the dead: Project supervisor Jo Beaty clears the earth from around the skeleton.
By HELEN COMPSON
HER identity is unknown, but the remains of a woman discovered in Corbridge last week will be given a full Christian burial.
One of two medieval skeletons unearthed during building work behind the Angel Inn on Main Street, her remains were lying east to west – a sign that she had a Christian burial originally.
So by law, once archaeologists have finished studying her skeleton, it has to be reburied with due Christian ceremony in a churchyard within the village.
A team of archaeologists from North Pennines Archaeology Limited, based in Nenthead, worked against the clock this week to exhume the two skeletons.
Builders had uncovered them while clearing an old beer garden behind the pub in preparation for constructing a restaurant extension.
Their work ground to a halt while five archaeologists – paid for by Angel Inn owner John Gibson under the terms of his planning permission for the extension – moved in to comb the site.
It was thought the other skeleton might date back to the young Viking age, from the era pre-1066. But pottery uncovered directly below it has now established that the person actually died during the 13th century.
The cause of death and why he or she was buried lying north to south, contrary to Christian tradition, remains a mystery.
Establishing the sex of each skeleton is also proving tricky, because both pelvises and the skull on the non-Christian skeleton have been shattered.
The Christian skeleton, however, is thought to be a woman because the skull lacks the more prominent brow ridge of the male.
Once a human bone specialist at Durham University has finished his work, the non-Christian skeleton will be sent to the Museum of Antiquity in Newcastle.
Archaeology supervisor Tony Liddell said: “We only had until Wednesday to glean as much information as possible before construction work began again, but the site has revealed some interesting finds.
“We’ve discovered the foundations of three medieval buildings, rather than just one long one, which was what we thought was here.
“We’ve got a lot of industrial waste – iron slag and charcoal marks – which indicates there was industrial work going on here in the medieval period.
“There are strong signs of fire, which could be attributed to the industry, but they are so widespread that at some point the buildings could have burned down.”
The site has also thrown up lots of animal bones, most of them derived, as Tony put it, from just about every animal you could ride or eat.
However, one skull in particular has them intrigued. With an intact set of teeth that look like they could have inflicted some real damage in their day, it might have belonged to a dog that died, on first evidence, during the Victorian era.
“It’s a vicious looking sod, so it would be interesting to find out what breed it was,” said Tony.
“Dating the bones will help us do that, as many breeds common today weren’t around in Victorian England.”
Before the archaeologists finished their work, one of them spent a day drawing a painstaking map of the site, with every little find and stone of interest drawn to scale.
www.hexham-courant.co.uk