OVER 1,000 years of history have been found in just a few feet of soil at the Jenner Garden in Berkeley.
In their second week on site students from the University of Bristol's archaeology unit have been learning more about the history of the land around the Jenner Museum and Berkeley Castle.
Led by television presenters and lecturers at the university Dr Stuart Prior and Prof Mark Horton the students are hoping to prove they have discovered a female ‘double house minster’, which was an Anglo-Saxon religious community enclosed by walls. If they do it will be the first ever excavated in this country.
The Gazette is keeping up to date on the exciting discoveries the team makes as they happen.
This week they have made significant in-roads in understanding the history of the site. In the trench dug in the Jenner garden 1,000 years of history can be seen in just 40cm. Starting with Sub Roman items dating back to between 410 and 650AD, also known as the Dark Ages, then Anglo-Saxon and then Norman items. Pieces of Anglo-Saxon pottery from Cheddar and Roman roof tiles have been found and oyster shells from what would have been a rubbish bin from sub-Roman times.
Dr Prior said: "This is exactly what we wanted to find, I am finally understanding what we have got on this site after five years of coming back to Berkeley."
