Archaeologists plan to excavate Eastbourne burial site of hundreds of bodies
This article originally appeared on Culture24.
Search to begin at site where tall and well-built osteoarthritis sufferers were discovered in 1970
Archaeologists are planning an excavation in Eastbourne at the end of August© Courtesy EBCThe ancient Ocklynge cemetery, established around 1,300 years ago in the 600 to mid-700s AD, lay undiscovered and continuously developed until residents began to discover its hidden secrets.
Scientific testing carried out in 1970, as part of the Eastbourne Ancestors project, established that those buried in the site lived and grew up in the area.
The majority of the skeletons belonged to people under the age of 18, with the rest aged over 26 and the eldest 80, indicating that those who managed to survive into adulthood stood a good chance of living up to the age 40 – an average age which was reasonable in Britain at the time.
Tall and well-built, with men reaching an average 1.76m - not dissimilar to the current average male height in the UK of 1.77m - they showed signs of early age osteoarthritis, indicating that hard manual labour was a common part of their lives.
Nearly all of the individuals had a seafood-rich diet, suggesting that fishing was a major part of their lifestyle.
Eastbourne Heritage Service is confident that at least the southern part of the cemetery was planned out and well organised, and that the graves would probably have been marked individually, as all of them came back with the same dating results.
East Sussex County Council’s Archaeology Team will endeavour to properly delineate the cemetery’s boundaries to avoid any accidental damage to the burials in the future and help private landowners in planning processes and endeavours.
Establishing and recording ancestral information gives the project national significance, despite the location previously going unnoticed by past developments in the area which buried the site further.
Councillor Margaret Bannister, the council’s Lead Cabinet Member for Culture, Tourism and Enterprise, said the “vital” work would have “multiple benefits” for Eastbourne’s cultural and heritage offering.
“A ground penetrating radar survey of the area was carried out in March,” she added.
“But as the results were unclear, a more in-depth excavation is necessary to discover more about this ancient burial site.”
Residents, visitors, and the curious will be given the chance to observe the minutiae of the excavation as it progresses on Ocklynge Hill, close to Willingdon Road.
The work runs from August 17-30 and will be scrupulously carried out by hand, avoiding the need for any loud machinery.
- For more information about the excavation visit eastbournemuseums.co.uk.
Three museums to discover history in:
Wiltshire Museum, Devizes
The collections contain Early Bronze Age items, along with objects related to the World Heritage Sites of Avebury and Stonehenge including gold ornaments and jewellery made of various materials. The displays also include outstanding and Iron Age, Roman, Saxon and Medieval collections.
Malton Museum, Malton
Home to an interesting array of Roman finds, from manicure sets to wall plaster paintings. Most of these have been discovered locally, the most recent find being a burial urn discovered by a local workman installing a new street light on a housing estate in nearby Norton.
Alnwick Castle, Northumberland
Combining magnificent medieval architecture with sumptuous Italianate interiors, Alnwick Castle starred as Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films and more recently featured in ITV's Downton Abbey.
