Bamburgh Castle archaeologists launch funding appeal in hope of returning to finish dig

Archaeologists have launched a funding appeal so they can learn more about their exciting discovery at Bamburgh Castle.
Sam Serrano Ferraro, Constance Durgeat, Paula Constantine and Graeme Young of The Bamburgh Research Project.Sam Serrano Ferraro, Constance Durgeat, Paula Constantine and Graeme Young of The Bamburgh Research Project.
Sam Serrano Ferraro, Constance Durgeat, Paula Constantine and Graeme Young of The Bamburgh Research Project.

The foundations of a ‘substantial’ roundhouse, around 12m in diameter, were recently unearthed by members of the Bamburgh Research Project.

Archaeologists believe the original structure could be over 2,000 years old and date back to Roman occupation of Britain, holding vital clues between the transition from the Roman period to Anglo Saxon England.

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Now, they hope to raise £3,000 to enable them to finish excavating this new discovery.

Prohect director Graeme Young, on the Go Fund Me page, explained: “Every summer, we run a field school for university students and interested amateurs. This summer had to go quite differently: we took a small team of our staff and colleagues and began to bottom-out our longest-open trench, Trench 3 in the west ward. What we found was unexpected to say the least…

"We were quickly coming down onto what we had anticipated was bedrock, but a small arc of rubble appeared. The inner part of the arc seemed to be remnants of a floor surface with household waste, charcoal, and daub that had been used as wall cladding. As we stood back, suddenly the footprint of a roundhouse took shape.

"While roundhouses are commonly associated with the Bronze and especially Iron Age, they are still a tried-and-true design in use in Britain up until the departure of the Romans.

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"The location of this surface, sandwiched between our well-documented medieval phases and the dolerite bedrock we are expecting underneath, suggests we are looking at a Romano-British or Post-Roman structure. This could be a big opportunity to add to the corpus of knowledge of northern sites in Late Antiquity and the Migration period.

"Because we couldn’t run our field school, we had to self-fund this last bit of excavation. We will be running the field school again when it is safe to do so, but right now we are operating mostly on goodwill (and biscuits). So we turn to our long-time supporters and new friends alike: can you spare any amount to help us finish excavating this new discovery and ensure our work telling these stories of Bamburgh can continue?”

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Bamburgh Castle dig unearths remarkable roundhouse which could be over 2000 year...

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