Uploads from Wessex Archaeology

Loomweight

nobody@flickr.com (Wessex Archaeology) — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:15:03 -0700

Wessex Archaeology posted a photo:

Loomweights were using during weaving to hold the warp threads on looms tight.

Loomweight

nobody@flickr.com (Wessex Archaeology) — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:15:02 -0700

Wessex Archaeology posted a photo:

Loomweights were using during weaving to hold the warp threads on looms tight.

Loomweight

nobody@flickr.com (Wessex Archaeology) — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:15:02 -0700

Wessex Archaeology posted a photo:

Loomweights were using during weaving to hold the warp threads on looms tight.

Mammoth Tooth

nobody@flickr.com (Wessex Archaeology) — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 06:25:09 -0700

Wessex Archaeology posted a photo:

This mammoth tooth was reported through the Marine Aggregate Industry Archaeological Protocol for unexpected discoveries. It is virtually complete, even retaining a root. It is the third (last molar) of an woolly mammoth, about 35 years old, and probably dates to the Late Pleistocene. Woolly mammoths were in existence in Europe during the late Middle and Late Pleistocene (350,000-10,000 years ago).

To learn more about this find, check out our website: www.wessexarch.co.uk/news/mammoth-find-protocol. To learn more about the Marine Aggregate Industry Protocol, visit: www.wessexarch.co.uk/marine-aggregate-industry-protocol-r...

Mammoth Tooth

nobody@flickr.com (Wessex Archaeology) — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 06:25:08 -0700

Wessex Archaeology posted a photo:

Mammoth Tooth

nobody@flickr.com (Wessex Archaeology) — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:31:33 -0700

Wessex Archaeology posted a photo:

Virtual Reality: Medieval Salisbury

nobody@flickr.com (Wessex Archaeology) — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 05:23:27 -0700

Wessex Archaeology posted a photo:

Our 3D Environment Artists created an immersive virtual reality (VR) reconstruction of a Medieval weaver’s cottage, Salisbury: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7w0-_U0T6g

Our weaver has placed his workshop with its loom in the south-facing upper room of the service range. The room also contains rolls of finished cloth and yarn that will be converted into cloth. Salisbury was renowned for its production of broadcloth weaves, most notably the Salisbury ray, a distinctive striped tweed, which was produced on a broadcloth loom. The loom required two men to operate it and an assistant to keep them supplied with yarn. Weavers were small businessmen. As such, our weaver probably owns the property and shares the street with other weavers who were numerically the most common group of male clothworkers.

For more about the history of Salisbury, why not check out Joining the Dots by Phil Harding, available on our website: wessexarchaeologylibrary.org/plugins/books/84/

Virtual Reality: Medieval Salisbury

nobody@flickr.com (Wessex Archaeology) — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 00:33:21 -0700

Wessex Archaeology posted a photo:

Our 3D Environment Artists created an immersive virtual reality (VR) reconstruction of a Medieval weaver’s cottage, Salisbury: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7w0-_U0T6g

Weaving could not take place without spun yarn so it is likely that the family living in this house would have spent at least some time preparing wool for the loom. These processes involved carding, to align the fibres, and spinning, to create the yarn.
These vital tasks were undertaken by the women and it is likely that the household contained at least a spinning wheel. The family living in our reconstructed weaver's cottage has elected to place the spinning wheel in the bed chamber, which was, at the time, not a room set aside purely for sleeping and privacy. It is likely that several members of the family would have all slept in the same room.

For more about the history of Salisbury, why not check out Joining the Dots by Phil Harding, available on our website: wessexarchaeologylibrary.org/plugins/books/84/

Virtual Reality: Medieval Salisbury

nobody@flickr.com (Wessex Archaeology) — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 23:48:39 -0700

Wessex Archaeology posted a photo:

Our 3D Environment Artists created an immersive virtual reality (VR) reconstruction of a Medieval weaver’s cottage, Salisbury: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7w0-_U0T6g

The parlour served as the principal room of our house. We can see that it contains a basic set of furniture including a table, chairs and benches. The table is set for dinner with wooden platters and bowls, drinking cups and ceramic jars and jugs. The earthen floor has been swept clean but contains trampled debris from the hearth.

For more about the history of Salisbury, why not check out Joining the Dots by Phil Harding, available on our website: wessexarchaeologylibrary.org/plugins/books/84/

Virtual Reality: Medieval Salisbury

nobody@flickr.com (Wessex Archaeology) — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 00:41:28 -0700

Wessex Archaeology posted a photo:

Our 3D Environment Artists created an immersive virtual reality (VR) reconstruction of a Medieval weaver’s cottage, Salisbury: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7w0-_U0T6g

Located at the back of the house we find a storeroom. This unheated room is used for keeping raw materials used by the weaver as well as finished examples of the cloth being produced in the workshop above. Other, more domestic items are also stored here including barrels of ale, of varying strengths, that the whole household will drink in preference to water from the well which was frequently contaminated from adjacent cesspits. In the corner of the room is a simple box bed where one of the household servants sleeps.

For more about the history of Salisbury, why not check out Joining the Dots by Phil Harding, available on our website: wessexarchaeologylibrary.org/plugins/books/84/

Virtual Reality: Medieval Salisbury

nobody@flickr.com (Wessex Archaeology) — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 05:03:05 -0700

Wessex Archaeology posted a photo:

Our 3D Environment Artists created an immersive virtual reality (VR) reconstruction of a Medieval weaver’s cottage, Salisbury: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7w0-_U0T6g

Here we see the kitchen, the principal source of food production. In this example, kitchen is in a building detached from the main house to minimise the risk of fire, although this arrangement was variable with kitchens frequently
located in the main building. The owner cooks many of the products that are available today including wild foods, such as seasonal fruits and berries, flour for bread, home-grown vegetables flavoured with herbs and spices all washed down with home-brewed ale. Some food is salted or dried for consumption later in the year. The cooking centres
around an open hearth with its oven in which foods were baked.

For more about the history of Salisbury, why not check out Joining the Dots by Phil Harding, available on our website: wessexarchaeologylibrary.org/plugins/books/84/

Virtual Reality: Medieval Salisbury

nobody@flickr.com (Wessex Archaeology) — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:38:19 -0700

Wessex Archaeology posted a photo:

Our 3D Environment Artists created an immersive virtual reality (VR) reconstruction of a Medieval weaver’s cottage, Salisbury: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7w0-_U0T6g

Here we view the rear of the main residence. Immediately behind the house is the well which formed the principal source of water. The ‘backlands’ often contained small outhouses, each with a hearth suggesting that these buildings may have functioned as detached kitchens, workshops or storage space according to the profession of the occupant. A pig or chickens may have been kept to consume domestic food waste and provide additional meat for the household. Our plot also includes a small kitchen garden. A privy (toilet), covering a chalk-lined cesspit, which would have needed to be cleaned out periodically, has been located at the far end of the plot.

For more about the history of Salisbury, why not check out Joining the Dots by Phil Harding, available on our website: wessexarchaeologylibrary.org/plugins/books/84/

Virtual Reality: Medieval Salisbury

nobody@flickr.com (Wessex Archaeology) — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 07:52:18 -0700

Wessex Archaeology posted a photo:

Our 3D Environment Artists created an immersive virtual reality (VR) reconstruction of a Medieval weaver’s cottage, Salisbury: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7w0-_U0T6g

Here we strip away the outer wattle and daub panels of a timber-framed house to reveal a two-storey building with two ground floor rooms and two upper rooms. In many medieval houses the front room would have functioned as a shop where goods were sold; however, in excavations in this part of Salisbury it seems that the front room probably provided the principal living room, heated with a hearth in one corner. The chimney stack was undoubtedly the most durable, fire-resistant feature of the building.

For more about the history of Salisbury, why not check out Joining the Dots by Phil Harding, available on our website: wessexarchaeologylibrary.org/plugins/books/84/

Virtual Reality: Medieval Salisbury

nobody@flickr.com (Wessex Archaeology) — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:10:15 -0700

Wessex Archaeology posted a photo:

Our 3D Environment Artists created an immersive virtual reality (VR) reconstruction of a Medieval weaver’s cottage, Salisbury: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7w0-_U0T6g

Here we see a street filled with timber-framed houses, with jettied fronts and low tiled roofs. These are not the houses of wealthy merchants but were occupied by people with diverse occupations, many based on wool.

For more about the history of Salisbury, why not check out Joining the Dots by Phil Harding, available on our website: wessexarchaeologylibrary.org/plugins/books/84/

Investigating the Dungeness Shipwreck