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OBJECT OF THE MONTH - January 2003
 
 
 
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The "Sidbury" Medieval wooden barrel - Click on image to Go Back
The "Sidbury" Medieval Barrel.

Usually organic materials such as wood or other plant or animal remains don't survive for long in the ground, and when they are found they can be a very important source of information on life in the past.

Only the bottom half of the barrel had survived, the end had been removed, and it had been carefully set into a small pit, supported by stones, to be used as an outside lavatory, probably during the 15th century AD.

It was what was found inside the barrel which was particularly exciting for the archaeologists - the remains of seeds, bones, pollen, beetles and parasite eggs. The barrel would have had to be cleaned out regularly, so what was found inside the barrel must represent the last few months or even weeks of its use.

The seeds showed that the people living here had been eating a wide variety of fruits. Some of these would have been grown locally, such as gooseberries, strawberries and apples, but others (figs and grapes) were probably imported from the Continent. Other seeds included pear and bilberry, and herbs such as chervil, coriander and fennel. Damson and sloe stones were also found, though these had presumably been thrown in along with hay and straw to cover the contents of the cess-pit - chicken and fish (eel, herring and river fish) bones probably also made their way into the barrel in this way.

The beetle remains were typical of medieval cess-pits, and eggs of whipworm and roundworm showed that people here were infected with these intestinal parasites.

Some wool cloth fragments were also found, coloured brown and blue, and may be waste from tailoring.
 
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