Modern history West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village

stone relief depiction of stanley west holding archaeological trowel @ west stow.

the man responsible initiating archaeological investigation of anglo-saxon village stanley west, had first become interested in anglo-saxon england when working assistant @ ipswich museum. in 1947, joined west stow excavation being run brown unearthed 2 romano-british pottery kilns. during investigation, became clear excavators there had been later anglo-saxon settlement on site, evidenced finding of anglo-saxon potsherds in rabbit-burrow scrapes on area , discovery of section of hut in site s north-eastern corner. proceeding publish findings on kilns in 1952, west went on excavate anglo-saxon areas of ipswich mopbw alongside studying archaeology in academic capacity @ university of cambridge. in april 1958, attended conference on anglo-saxon pottery in norwich organised council british archaeology. here, met professor vera evison of birkbeck college, london, , posed question why archaeologists had far focused on excavation of anglo-saxon cemeteries rather settlements; replied latter far harder detect former. in response, west informed anglo-saxon potsherds had emerged @ west stow, , intrigued, began excavating @ site ministry of public building , works (mopbw).

meanwhile, inspired mary leakey s discoveries in olduvai gorge, west traveled eastern africa excavate @ tanganyikan city of dar es salaam, returning england 5 years later, in 1965. here, evison , john hurst, inspector of mopbw asked him take charge of west stow excavation, agreed to. on next 7 years opened area of approximately ¾ of acre each season. funded mopbw, west hoped excavate of site possible, ultimately, excavation remained restrained settlement site, not exploring surrounding field systems, idea proposed dr. van es, head of dutch archaeological service. excavation undertaken team of site supervisors , 6 builders labourers, aided 30 volunteers drawn both universities , local area.

the top stratigraphic layer on site, sediment of blown sand known layer 1, removed backhoe, exposing old ground surface (layer 2) beneath it. evidence of late medieval ridge-and-furrow ploughing found in layer, , dated through discovery of 13th century pottery. layer 2 consisted largely of dark soil removed backhoe. below revealed layers in anglo-saxon village had been constructed. towards end of final season, excavators @ west stow made use of pioneering system of retrieving seeds , plant remains flotation, had been developed archaeologists @ university of cambridge.

reconstruction: 1977–present


stanley west, 2001.

the st edmundsbury district council planned turn area rubbish dump servicing city of bury st. edmunds following culmination of excavation, decision reviewed annually. decided against decision, forming west stow saxon village trust, experimental archaeological group, in order reconstruct of anglo-saxon buildings in hope of learning more anglo-saxon building techniques , architecture. work undertaken group of undergraduate students cambridge university called west stow environmental archaeology group. these experimental reconstructions ensured made use of woodworking techniques , technologies have been available in anglo-saxon england.

one of halls excavated @ west stow provided basis reconstruction erected @ bishops wood environmental centre near stourport-on-severn in worcestershire; known saxon hall , took 4 years build, , used teach local schoolchildren life in medieval. burned down in 2008 when ember cooking fire set building alight; john rhymer, head of bishops wood centre, told press , team devastated . however, hall rebuilt on following 2 years @ cost of £34,000. @ official reopening on 21 january 2011, anglo-saxonist stephen pollington gave speech in old english while historical reenactor, paul mortimer, appeared in character raedwald, king of east anglia. other attendees included terry herbert, had discovered staffordshire hoard in 2009, members of kidderminster art society , children on school trip northleigh manor school in oxfordshire.

the fan-made short film born of hope (2009), prequel j.r.r. tolkien-based inspired movie trilogy lord of rings, largely filmed in west stow anglo-saxon village.