Craig Cessford

A new dating sequence for Çatalhöyük

A recent series of accelerator mass spectrometry dates from the earliest excavated deposits at Çatalhöyük has allowed the origins of the site to be more precisely dated. These dates also provide a reliable basis for the construction of an overall intra-site chronological sequence.

The St. John’s Hospital Cemetery and Environs, Cambridge: Contextualizing the Medieval Urban Dead

The excavation of four hundred complete and partial in situ burials from the Hospital of St. John the Evangelist, Cambridge, represented one of the largest medieval hospital osteoarchaeological assemblages from the British Isles. The significance of the group is enhanced by the detailed investigation of a carefully maintained network of pathways associated with the cemetery, the archaeological sequence that pre- and post-dated its use and a number of contemporary properties that were situated immediately outside its bounds. This evidence allows the cemetery to be placed within its urban context in a way that is rarely possible. The overwhelming majority of the burials were extended west-east aligned supine inhumations without grave-goods. Atypical burials included examples aligned east-west and south-north, a double burial, a prone burial and individuals buried with a jet crucifix and a brooch. Other significant finds included a nearby pit with four bodies in it, an anthropomorphic bone handle and a reused cruciform horse harness pendant. The proportion of males and females in the burial population is similar, whilst individuals who died under the age of sixteen are relatively uncommon and individuals aged under five are completely absent.

An Assemblage of Collegiate Ceramics: Mid-Nineteenth Century Dining at Trinity Hall, Cambridge

A large assemblage of ceramics related to dining at Trinity Hall, in which many of the vessels were marked with the name and/or the crest of the college, was recovered during recent excavations undertaken at Newmarket Road, Cambridge. The material, which was produced c. 1845–77 and deposited c. 1877–80, indicates that three distinct dining services were employed by Trinity Hall at this time. In addition to shedding considerable light into dining at this mid- nineteenth century college, the assemblage also indicates how ceramics were employed to visually denote status differences within the college. Other material within the assemblage, allied with the location of its disposal, provides significant information on how the material moved between its contexts of use and deposition. This also allows insights into how such large assemblages may be categorized and interpreted.

The Dolphin Inn Hoard: Re-examining the Early Nineteenth-Century Discovery of a Mid-Thirteenth-Century Hoard from Cambridge

This paper discusses the evidence relating to a mid-thirteenth-century hoard of coins and jewellery discovered beneath a cellar in Cambridge in 1817. Five gold rings with gemstone settings survive from this group and are now in the possession of Trinity College library; these rings are examined, and their date and significance explored. The history of the material—from its initial discovery up until the mid-nineteenth century when the rings were donated to the college—is also investigated. Finally, the original context of the hoard is discussed, including its possible association with the medieval Jewry of Cambridge.

Middle Anglo-Saxon Justice: the Chesterton Lane Corner execution cemetery and related sequence, Cambridge

A Middle Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Chesterton Lane Corner, Cambridge, has been radiocarbon dated to the seventh to ninth centuries with its floruit in the eighth century and evidence that many of the individuals buried there were executed. Intriguingly, there is also a Late Roman decapitation burial at the site. The evidence for Middle Anglo-Saxon Cambridge is reviewed and the relationship between justice and central places is considered.

'To Clapham's I go': a mid-late 18th-century Cambridge coffeehouse assemblage

The archaeological investigations at Corfield Court — known as St John’s Triangle at the time — were funded by St John’s College.The analysis of the material has been aided by generous grants from the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, and the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology.

Moving in mysterious ways: the use and discard of Cambridge college ceramics

Artefact biographies are a valuable means of conceptualising the relationships between people, places and objects in the past. It is rare, however, that the detailed contextual information required by such approaches can be extracted from the archaeological assemblages typically found in the often dense and confusing palimpsests of complex urban sites. Eighteenth- to twentieth-century ceramic wares associated with Oxbridge colleges provide one way of exploring this issue. Detailed historical records of property owners and tenants can be combined with ceramics linked to individual colleges by corporate markings such as coats of arms or badges. This enables fine-grained reconstructions which show, in many cases, that ordinary vessels had far from ordinary histories of use and discard.

Throwing away everything but the kitchen sink? Large assemblages, depositional practice and post-medieval households in Cambridge

The work at Grand Arcade was jointly funded by Grosvenor Developments Ltd and the Universities Superannuation Scheme, as the Grand Arcade Partnership.

Corporate Branding and Collegiate Coats of Arms as Logos: Marked Ceramics and the University of Cambridge

Corporate branding and logos are typically conceived of as mid-twentieth-century phenomena. This study provides a greater time depth to these concepts, by considering ceramics used by the colleges of the University of Cambridge between the late eighteenth century and the current day. It also considers corporate branding and logos in terms of well-established institutions, which were already deeply associated with pre-existing symbols such as coats of arms. As well as being functional items collegiate ceramic tablewares fulfilled a range of symbolic functions, including both reinforcing overall group identity as well as internal status divisions.

A Decorated 13th-century Sword Cross from Broad Street, Ely

Abstract During excavations undertaken by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit at the Jewson’s site on Broad Street in Ely in 2000 a heavily corroded iron sword cross (the part of the hilt that guards the hand holding the grip) was recovered. Subsequently, the sword cross has been conserved by the Collections Care Team of Lincolnshire Archives and further details have been revealed. The conservation uncovered a compact grey/black corrosion layer indicative of the approximate position of the original surface of the iron, along with evidence of decorative copper alloy inlay.