Archaeological news about the Archaeology of Early Medieval Europe from the Archaeology in Europe web site

Saturday 9 March 2013

SCRAP OF WOOL UNRAVELS CHRISTIAN CHURCH FIND


MARYPORT DIG: Site director Tony Wilmott, left, and Professor Ian Haynes last summer


A tiny scrap of wool found during an archaeological dig in Maryport has unlocked a piece of history.

Archaeologists revealed this week that the dig at Camp Farm last summer has unearthed what appears to be a Christian church, dating back to the 5th or 6th century.

Experts believe the possible church, built in an east-west direction, was positioned so it could be seen at Whithorn, the cradle of Christianity in Scotland, on the other side of the Solway Firth.

They revealed their findings exclusively to a Maryport audience crowded into the town’s Senhouse museum on Tuesday night.

Tony Wilmott, site director, said that volunteers on the dig had discovered what appeared to be Christian long cist graves. In one they found fragments of bone and a tooth.


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