Cowlam: Anglian Settlement in East Yorkshire

This is one of three digital archives relating to fieldwork undertaken within the parish of Cottam, East Yorkshire from 1989-2003 under the auspices of the University of York. The overall aims of the project were:
(1) The examination of a number of so-called Anglo-Saxon 'productive sites'
(2) The study of settlement development from the Anglian to Anglo-Scandinavian periods, including a better understanding of the process of village nucleation
(3) The investigation of Anglo-Saxon estate structure and organisation
This archive concerns an evaluation at Church Farm, Cowlam, by M. Hummler, J.D. Richards and S.P. Roskams undertaken as part of a University of York student training programme. Magnetometer and resistivity survey revealed a number of features corresponding with a concentration of Anglo-Saxon metalwork recovered D. Haldenby. The settlement features lay on the edge of the deserted medieval village (DMV) of Cowlam excavated by T.C.M.Brewster and at the head of a glacial V-shaped dry valley or slack, Cowlam Well Dale. Seven test pits, 2x 2m, were excavated around the perimeter of the Anglo-Saxon concentration. These indicated the variable depth of bedrock, from 0.2 to over 1m below the present ground surface. Auger survey supervised by T.P. O'Connor allowed the reconstruction of a number of soil profiles of the valley. A small excavation, 8x10m was undertaken in order to examine the intersection of a number of geophysical anomalies in the centre of the concentration of Anglo-Saxon finds. The largest anomaly was identified as a two-post sunken building or grubenhaus, with vertical sides and a base cut into the natural chalk. Other features represented settlement enclosure boundaries and drainage ditches. A series J silver sceatta, dated AD 710-725, was recovered from the fill of the building.