The hipposandals being discovered on the excavations. . Once an artefact is found during the excavations, it undergoes conservation in our onsite laboratory. It is stabilized, conserved and prepared for display or storage. Research on the object is weaved throughout this process. One of our top finds of the 2018 season was a group of four hipposandals, found in two sets of two and discarded in the fill of a ditch dating to AD 140-180. Hipposandals are, along Hadrian’s Wall, a rare find. The Vindolanda collection only holds one other hipposandal which is in a much poorer condition. However, they are not uncomm Read more...

The excavation season may well be over, and the coldest months of the year may be upon us, but work does not stop during the winter at Vindolanda. Research continues even when, like in January, we are closed to the public for essential maintenance and re-displaying of cases. A number of specialists visit the Vindolanda Trust every year during the winter season, in order to conduct research on our artefacts. One of them is Rhys Williams, a graduate tutor and PhD candidate at Teesside University studying the processes of preservation in bone, and specifically the chemical and microbiological reasons for which certain bones buried  Read more...

Here we are, at the end of 2018 excavation season, ready for a recap of what we have uncovered during this summer of extremes. From the Beast from the East snowstorm welcoming our period 1 excavators, to the heatwave mid- season; from the topsoil and the Smith’s Chester farmhouse to a depth of 4.50m down, here are 5 things that the 2018 excavation season has taught to our volunteer excavators and post excavators, as well as to the visitors joining us at the trench side. 1) The position of Smith’s chester Croft’s and the depth of post roman layers. The precise location and extent of the 17th to 19th century  Read more...

Pottery is something we find in great quantities at Vindolanda during each excavation season - usually into the tens of thousands of sherds per year. A volunteer excavator is almost guaranteed to find some when they are here. The types of pottery we find vary in origin, manufacture, size, shape, material, colour, design and decoration. Here we focus on one of them - Samian Ware. (Samian Ware bowl from Vindolanda) What is it? Samian Ware, or Terra Sigillata, is basically fancy Roman tableware. It is the most commonly used high quality pottery from Roman Britain. Where does the name come from? Sa Read more...

Today we host a guest post written by one of our volunteer excavators, Emily. Emily was one of the two winners of the Vindolanda young person bursary 2018. This yearly opportunity sponsors students between 16 and 18 years old, and up to 25 years old if in full time education. It covers the costs of participating to the excavations as well as the cost of full board on site accommodation. This is what Emily had to say about her Vindolanda experience: ‘My first - and only - experience of archaeology prior to Vindolanda consisted of a 6-week online course and while this course was an excellent introduction to the field, it never Read more...

A guest blog post by Professor Elizabeth Greene. (The VALP team) In the past 6 weeks, a team of five (see image above) from the University of Western Ontario in Canada have been working on the Vindolanda Archaelogical Leather Project (VALP) directed by the Vindolanda Museum Curator, Barbara Birley, and Western professor, Elizabeth Greene. Vindolanda is a site that is famous for its stunning organic preservation, leading to an enormous collection of wood, tablets, textiles, and leather. Because these materials were used extensively by the Romans, the artefacts made from them can reveal much about Roman life at Vindoland Read more...