Publications
Hamsey near Lewes, East Sussex: the implications of recent finds of Late Anglo-Saxon metalwork for its importance in the Pre-Conquest period, by Gabor Thomas, published 2001 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 139, article, pp.123-132) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 14916] & The Keep [LIB/500292] & S.A.S. library View Online
Abstract:Items of Late Anglo-Saxon metalwork discovered from a site in the parish of Hamsey are described and the implications of the finds discussed. The dates attributed to the metalwork allow activity on the site to be assigned to the 9th to the 11th centuries AD. Comparative evidence suggests that the metalwork may be associated with a precursor of the later medieval manorial curia of 'Hamme' (Hamsey), comprising the parish church of St Peter and the adjacent site of a medieval manorial residence. It is concluded that metal-detected finds represent a neglected source of evidence, with the potential to advance our understanding of settlement and of the regional economy of Sussex during the Mid-Late Saxon period.
An archaeological discovery on Brack Mount, Lewes, East Sussex, by Gabor Thomas, published 2001 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 139, shorter article, pp.224-227) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 14916] & The Keep [LIB/500292] & S.A.S. library View Online
Refining the biography of a marketplace tenement: a recent excavation and archaeological interpretive survey at 'The Marlipins', Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, by Gabor Thomas, published 2005 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 143, article, pp.173-204) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15610] & The Keep [LIB/500361] & S.A.S. library View Online
Abstract:In advance of its recent redevelopment, The Marlipins - New Shoreham's sole remaining known medieval vernacular building and a local museum since the 1920s - was subjected to a programme of archaeological survey and recording which has shed new light on its constructional history. Emphasis is placed on integrating new details relating to the earliest (12th-century) phase of the building, including the tree-ring dates returned by the heavy timber joists spanning the ground floor, which must now have a strong claim to be the earliest in-situ survivals of domestic structural timber-work in Sussex, and the buried foundations for a previously unknown north wall incorporating a rectangular stone-lined pit - interpreted as the subterranean remnant of a first-floor garderobe. In addition to refining the chronology of its constituent phases, the opportunity is taken to reassess the likely function of the building as originally intended. A wider archaeological context for the historic range was provided by the results of an adjoining excavation which uncovered the footings for a medieval timber building or buildings, a group of medieval and post-medieval pits and foundations for 18th- and 19th-century workshops and sheds. Finds from this sequence included the first closely-dated assemblages of post-medieval pottery and glass to have been recovered from the town.
The Symbolic Lives of Late Anglo-Saxon Settlements: A Cellared Structure and Iron Hoard from Bishopstone, East Sussex, by Gabor Thomas and Patrick Ottaway, published 2008 in The Archaeological Journal (vol. 165, article, pp.334-398) View Online
Abstract:This paper examines the character and significance of a cellared structure discovered during recent excavations on the site of a later Anglo-Saxon settlement at Bishopstone, East Sussex. The structure in question formed a focal element within an estate centre complex administered by the Bishops of Selsey from c. AD 800, otherwise surviving in the celebrated pre-Conquest fabric of St Andrew's parish church. The excavated footprint of this cellared structure is examined in detail and conjectural reconstructions are advanced on the basis of comparative evidence garnered from historical and archaeological sources. The collective weight of evidence points towards a tower, possibly free-standing, with integrated storage/cellarage accommodated within a substantial, 2 m-deep subterranean chamber. This could represent a timber counterpart to excavated and extant masonry towers with thegnly/episcopal associations. The afterlife of this structure is also considered in detail on the grounds that it provides one of the most compelling cases yet identified of an act of ritual closure on a Late Anglo-Saxon settlement. Alongside being dismantled and infilled in a single, short-lived episode, the abandonment of the tower was marked by the careful and deliberate placement of a closure deposit in the form of a smith's hoard containing iron tools, agricultural equipment and lock furniture. One of the few such caches to be excavated under controlled scientific conditions, it is argued that the contents were deliberately selected to make a symbolic statement, perhaps evoking the functions of a well-run estate centre.
The Later Anglo-Saxon Settlement at Bishopstone: a downland manor in the making, by Gabor Thomas, published 31 December 2010 (280 pp., Council for British Archaeology, ISBN-10: 1902771834 & ISBN-13: 9781902771830) accessible at: East Sussex Libraries
Abstract:Well known for the Early Anglo-Saxon settlement previously excavated on Rookery Hill and its impressive pre-Conquest church, Bishopstone has entered archaeological orthodoxy as a classic example of a 'Middle Saxon Shift'. This volume reports on the excavations from 2002 to 2005 designed to investigate this transition, with the focus on the origins of Bishopstone village. Excavations adjacent to St Andrews churchyard revealed a dense swathe of later Anglo-Saxon (8th- to late 10th-/early 11th-century) habitation, including a planned complex of timber halls, and a unique cellared tower. The occupation encroached upon a pre-Conquest cemetery of 43 inhumations.
Review by John Manley in Sussex Past & Present no. 125, December 2011:This is a hugely impressive volume and the author and his 25 contributors are to be congratulated for bringing the results of a complex excavation that completed in 2005 to publication in 2010. Would that every other archaeologist could match this speed! Since this project commenced when Gabor was employed as Research Officer for the Sussex Archaeological Society, the Society can afford to give itself a modest pat on the back.
This was a classic chalkland excavation, just to the north of the present church at Bishopstone (near Newhaven, East Sussex): strip the turf and thin topsoil, and the dark impressions of post-holes and pits showed up nicely against the white-ish chalk. So what was found? Two broad phases constitute the pre-Norman archaeology - a number of shroud burials (8th and 9th centuries) that may have formed part of a field cemetery prior to the building of the church and a subsequent elite settlement comprised of rectangular timber buildings associated with a large number of pits.
It is the settlement, with its rich array of finds and environmental data, that provides the most fascinating insights into late Anglo-Saxon life, but also raises the greatest challenges in interpretation. The timber buildings showed different construction techniques, and some may have been arranged around courtyards. However, the lack of stratigraphic depth meant that phasing the buildings was problematic. One can sense the excavator's frustration when four competing interpretations are laid out for one structural complex. Exceptional among the buildings was a deeply-cellared tower-like structure that may have been a strong room. Some 78 pits were found, a number beginning life as timber-lined storage pits, ending up as cess or rubbish pits.
The animal bone report makes for intriguing reading, presenting conclusions from an analysis of 28,135 fragmentary bones. The significant percentages of pig and marine fish suggest high-status occupants, who occasionally feasted, and lived an almost protourban lifestyle. An elevated status was also enjoyed by one local feline who seems to have been fed a lot of sea fish - an aristocratic puss that no doubt lorded it over its largely feral companions on site. There are a number of hints in the report that the lifestyles of some of the occupants incorporated un-Christian practices: the 'closure hoard' of iron-work buried in the tower's cellar, and the 43 'associated bone groups' from the pits echo earlier prehistoric and Romano-British behaviours.
In laying out his definitive interpretations of Bishopstone Gabor is at pains to be evenhanded. Through the lens of history Bishopstone could be considered as an Anglo-Saxon minster. Switch lenses to an archaeological one, and the site could be viewed as the centre of a successful estate. The time-depth of the current site suggests that the end of the nearby early Saxon settlement of Rookery Hill could have been broadly contemporary with the first burials at Bishopstone.
This volume represents an important contribution to the later Anglo-Saxon history and archaeology of Sussex and of southern Britain. I am sure it will be quoted extensively by other scholars, and its interpretations and data will be both repeated and no doubt re-worked. From inception to publication it's a great piece of work - well done to all concerned.
This was a classic chalkland excavation, just to the north of the present church at Bishopstone (near Newhaven, East Sussex): strip the turf and thin topsoil, and the dark impressions of post-holes and pits showed up nicely against the white-ish chalk. So what was found? Two broad phases constitute the pre-Norman archaeology - a number of shroud burials (8th and 9th centuries) that may have formed part of a field cemetery prior to the building of the church and a subsequent elite settlement comprised of rectangular timber buildings associated with a large number of pits.
It is the settlement, with its rich array of finds and environmental data, that provides the most fascinating insights into late Anglo-Saxon life, but also raises the greatest challenges in interpretation. The timber buildings showed different construction techniques, and some may have been arranged around courtyards. However, the lack of stratigraphic depth meant that phasing the buildings was problematic. One can sense the excavator's frustration when four competing interpretations are laid out for one structural complex. Exceptional among the buildings was a deeply-cellared tower-like structure that may have been a strong room. Some 78 pits were found, a number beginning life as timber-lined storage pits, ending up as cess or rubbish pits.
The animal bone report makes for intriguing reading, presenting conclusions from an analysis of 28,135 fragmentary bones. The significant percentages of pig and marine fish suggest high-status occupants, who occasionally feasted, and lived an almost protourban lifestyle. An elevated status was also enjoyed by one local feline who seems to have been fed a lot of sea fish - an aristocratic puss that no doubt lorded it over its largely feral companions on site. There are a number of hints in the report that the lifestyles of some of the occupants incorporated un-Christian practices: the 'closure hoard' of iron-work buried in the tower's cellar, and the 43 'associated bone groups' from the pits echo earlier prehistoric and Romano-British behaviours.
In laying out his definitive interpretations of Bishopstone Gabor is at pains to be evenhanded. Through the lens of history Bishopstone could be considered as an Anglo-Saxon minster. Switch lenses to an archaeological one, and the site could be viewed as the centre of a successful estate. The time-depth of the current site suggests that the end of the nearby early Saxon settlement of Rookery Hill could have been broadly contemporary with the first burials at Bishopstone.
This volume represents an important contribution to the later Anglo-Saxon history and archaeology of Sussex and of southern Britain. I am sure it will be quoted extensively by other scholars, and its interpretations and data will be both repeated and no doubt re-worked. From inception to publication it's a great piece of work - well done to all concerned.