Worked Stone

A single worked stone fragment was recovered from a stratified context (016). This consisted of a fine-grained bluish grey vesicular quernstone fragment that is identifiable as Niedermendig Műlstein lava (also known as Rhenish or Mayen lava) from the Eifel region in Germany (Kars 1983). Although such querns were frequently used during the Roman period, and are common finds on Middle and Late Saxon sites, they are much rarer in the Medieval period as their use was controlled following the Norman Conquest and many people were instead compelled to use centrally regulated mills (Watts 2002, 38-42). Therefore, although it occurred residually in a later context, this example is likely to be pre-12th century in origin.

In addition, an unstratified whetstone fragment was also recovered from Trench 1 <122>.