Excavation continued over the summerat Lyminge, Kent, where archaeologistsare investigating evidence for aremarkably well preserved Anglo-Saxonroyal complex. Finds included thefoundations of three timber halls whichsucceeded each other on the same spot,each larger than the one before, withcarefully laid floors made with Roman-

style mortar with a crushed tile finish. Afourth hall was built with substantialtimbers, buttressed on the outside withraking posts. Lyminge is known to have had adouble monastic community (with menand women presided over by a royalabbess) by ad700; tradition ascribes itsfoundation in 633 to Queen Aethelburh,daughter of Aethelberht I and widow ofKing Edwin, though this is unproven.Discoveries made by antiquarianexcavations in the 19th century close tothe surviving medieval church had beeninterpreted as remains of a seventhcentury minster church, and the villagename (after the river Limen with the

suffix ge) had been read as indicative ofan Anglo-Saxon royal settlement. Thelocation seemed to offer great promisefor understanding how the founding ofChristian monasteries in Anglo-SaxonEngland exploited earlier seats of pagan power.Today Lyminge – one-time Kentvillage of the year – is a communityspreading into surrounding farmland,but it retains large areas of open space,and thus potential for excavation,around the historic core. Fieldwork,directed by Gabor Thomas, associateprofessor in early medieval archaeologyat Reading University, started with apilot phase in 2007. Large-scaleexcavation within thevillage began thefollowing year.Since 2012 the projecthas been funded by theArts & HumanitiesResearch Council(AHRC). Excavationmoved to Tayne Field,now used as a villagegreen, 125m north-east ofthe church and earliermonastic focus. In thefirst season a large andrare Anglo-Saxon royalfeasting hall wasdiscovered (Britain inarchaeology, Nov/Dec2012/127). Archaeologists

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sNews is writtenby Mike Pitts

Were Anglo-Saxon halls home to kings?

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had “hit the jackpot”, said Thomas. The evidence suggested that thevillage originated in the late fifthcentury with a typical Anglo-Saxonsettlement in the valley bottom. A royalpagan focus subsequently imposeditself, to be succeeded by monasticoccupation from the late seventh to theninth centuries on higher ground southof the church. Radiocarbon dates areawaited, but artefacts, including a giltbridle fitting, make it likely the feastinghall was built before ad650. A curiousfinding that comes from the very wellpreserved animal remains, is a hugeincrease in the consumption of marinefish by the monastic community.

Right: Excavationat Lyminge in 2013,looking south-westtoward the villagechurch in the trees

Below: Many peoplecame to visit on adig open day

Far right:Foundation trenchesof three successivetimber halls; thelargest below wasthe most recent

Excavating in July and August 2013,archaeologists continued to investigatethe royal complex. Only part of thelargest hall was uncovered, but Thomastold British Archaeology it wasdistinguished by massive wall trenches,with huge raking posts that took theweight of the roofs; one of the posts waslarger than any seen in the feasting hall.In the wall trenches could be seen“ghosts” of paired upright oak planks,where the wood had decayed in situ andbeen replaced by fine earth, in one casewith a third parallel row of planks, in astyle of construction not seen before in

Anglo-Saxon buildings.The other halls were smaller thanthat found in 2012 (the largest is 15mlong, compared to 21m for the feastinghall), but their architecture was morecomplex. The trenches of the threehalls cut into each other, providing anunusual architectural sequence in whichone building must have been takendown before the next was raised, eachlarger and more elaborate than itspredecessor. The final structure, saidThomas, was distinguished by “hugeportals with stupendous doors”. Eitherside of the entrance stood massiveplanks 80cm by 15cm thick set in very

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large pits. Door-posts belonging to so-called Anglo-Saxon “great halls”typically stood in individual pits, buthere they were set together in a 3m-longtrench. The doorway itself was only ametre across. Towered over by posts,almost certainly carved and decorated,such an entrance must have beendesigned to make a big impression.Of key significance was the discoveryof lumps of “pseudo opus signinum” thathad once formed the halls’ floorsurfaces. Opus signinumwas a Romaninvention, described by naturalist andwriter Pliny, in which ceramic tiles werecrushed up with mortar to makea tough building material.Its only other known usein Anglo-Saxon England is in monastic churches,including the pre-conquest (before 1066)phases of St Augustine’s Abbey,Reculver, Glastonbury andWearmouth/Jarrow. At Lyminge, alime-based mortar laid over local riverpebbles was topped with a red opussigninum skim; pieces of broken upflooring were found in the wall trenchesof the second and third halls. Also fromwall trenches came daub from olderwalls, with wattle impressions and awhitewashed surface.As in 2012, associated finds includequantities of high class material such asfragments of fine glass vessels, and abone and copper-alloy gaming piece.Alexandra Knox, a postdoctoralresearch assistant at ReadingUniversity, said the gaming piece is “ofgreat significance”. The onlycomparable British pieces known – a setof nine, laid out as if ready for play –

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were found in an exceptionally rich,princely Anglo-Saxon burial at Taplow,Buckinghamshire, in the 19th century.They are commoner in Italy.Such regular structural replacementwas not seen at the feasting hallexcavated in 2012. Thomas suggeststhat the whole sequence may span lessthan a century, so that each hall mayhave stood for less than a generation. If they functioned as royalaccommodation, then perhaps each wasbuilt by a new king seeking to make hismark on the community and impressimportant guests.

Could Thomas name the kings?Radiocarbon dating will be critical, hetold British Archaeology. Severaldates obtained from the largequantities of animal bonefrom all three buildings,combined with thestratigraphic sequence andthe evidence of diagnosticartefacts, should allow anunusually precise chronology.Perhaps, even, in parallel with theunique identification of a king in theperson of Richard III from remainsexcavated in Leicester (feature May/Jun2013/130), it will be possible to fit ahistorical king list to the Lyminge halls.The team will return to the field in2014 for the final AHRC-funded seasonof excavation.

Left: Pit for largesquared planks(shown in outline atthe base with a fewpacking flints still inplace) flanking adoorway into thelast of the threeroyal halls. Thelarge scale in allphotos is 2m long

Far left: A walltrench dug for threeparallel rows ofvertical squaredplanks, part of amassive buildingthat was only partlyuncovered

Below: Opussigninum from hallfloors (larger lump c 15cm across)

Above: Rare gamingpiece made fromseveral layers ofbone fixed by acopper-alloy rivet (c 3.5cm across)