13th June 2019:

OA North has published two new volumes in its Lancaster Imprints series.

Roman and medieval Carlisle: The northern Lanes volume 1, the Roman period presents the Roman evidence from one of the largest excavations undertaken in northern England. The fieldwork, carried out in the mid-1970s ahead of the construction of the Lanes shopping centre in Carlisle, uncovered evidence for a probable military camp, early Roman mansiones or stopping-places, and 2nd-century building plots belonging to an expanded settlement. Good preservation of waterlogged organic materials was a feature of the earlier levels, which yielded a wealth of environmental information and many artefacts of wood and leather.

St Michael’s Church, Workington: excavation of an early medieval cemetery examines the origins of this early medieval church and associated cemetery. The post-excavation analysis focused on the evidence for pre-Norman ecclesiastical activity and the earliest phases of the parish church, together with analysis of the artefacts, which included sculptural fragments and items of personal dress and jewellery. The work also provided an opportunity to conduct a series of scientific investigations on the skeletal remains, including radiocarbon dating, isotope analysis and osteological analysis.

The analysis has allowed a better understanding of the lives of this community and their changing burial traditions. Perhaps most importantly, the site provided the chance to marry the patchy historical framework of the region with archaeological evidence, providing information for how people responded to the changing tastes, politics and events within the landscape of the North West in the early medieval period.

Both books can be purchased from Oxbow Books.