Today, AiM were continuing our excavation at KGV playing field, Wednesfield. It was the first day that had been advertised to the public, and despite competition from a Royal Wedding and a Football match, we had lots of interest in the site from members of the local community. We were also joined by local volunteers, and students from the University of Birmingham Archaeology Society.
Site Information
A barrow was recorded at KGV playing field, Wednesfield, in the 17th Century, and was referred to as "North Lowe". At this time, "Low" was another term for a barrow. Similar to other barrows in the surrounding area, this barrow may have been linked to the Battle of Wednesfield/Tettenhall, which took place during the 10th Century AD.
Despite this, barrows are normally prehistoric in date, and were characteristic of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Consequently, it is possible that the potential barrow at KGV playing field is prehistoric in date, and the size and morphology of the barrow indicate that it could be a Bronze Age round barrow, though it is yet to be properly dated and identified.
Barrows are normally earthen or stone mounds above the ground surface. Consequently, few barrows survive in the archaeological record due to urban development and agricultural processes. The potential barrow at KGV playing field is no exception to this damage. There is no surface evidence of the mound now, though previous scholars noted the existence of this mound above the ground surface during the 17th Century. During the 20th Century, the KGV playing field was utilised for crop production, therefore these processes may have destroyed evidence of the potential barrow mound.
For more detailed information about the site history of the potential barrow at KGV playing field, please see Site Information on our KGV Excavation 2018 page.
Aims of the Excavation
Initially, the KGV 2018 project has three main aims and objectives:
- Determine whether the feature that we are excavating is the barrow
- If the feature is not the barrow, then determine what the feature is
- Recover potential dating evidence for the site
The Excavation
Today we were continuing the excavation, and it was the first day of volunteers on-site. It was great to have local volunteers and students from the University of Birmingham Archaeology Society on-site, and we made great progress throughout the day.
We continued the excavation of Trenches 3 and 4. In Trench 3, we found the ditch and extended the trench by 50cm so that we could excavate the full extent of the ditch. In Trench 4 we found a potential feature or animal burrow, but this extended beyond the limit of the trench.
As we were excavating, we were also sieving the material that was being removed, as shown in the pictures below.
We also had a stand set up for visitors and local people who stopped by to see what we were up to. The stand had lots of information about how to get into archaeology, the local history of the site, and what we were up to. There was even a chance for children to have a go at some real archaeology and wash some finds that we had recovered from the site yesterday!
The photographs below show our progress throughout the day!
For more photographs of our excavations, please see our Facebook page!
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