ANGLO-SAXON DISCOVERY
Journey through Anglo-Saxon life and death

This gaming piece was found in one of the houses (House 27) excavated by E.T. Leeds at Sutton Courtenay in Oxfordshire.

It is made from a piece of Roman pottery, probably from a broken pot. This shows us that the Anglo-Saxons would reuse Roman objects which they found abandoned (see the glass below).

From the plan of this house, we can see that Roman tiles and charcoal were found, which may have been a hearth.

There are at least 3 post holes (marked P.H. on the plan). These would have contained large wooden posts which were used to support the roof.

There were other objects found in this house including:

• spindle whorl

• a bone thread picker

• fragments of pottery
• a fragment of glass (probably found on an old Roman site nearby)

• pieces of animal bone and a tooth
• iron hook and iron nails

What do these objects tell us about this house?

The cooking pot and hearth suggest that someone was cooking and probably living in this building. They were eating animals. The bones from these animals would then be either thrown away or used to make things like the thread picker. There could have been someone spinning and weaving in this building. It seems they may also have been playing games in this building. These are all the types of activity that would have been done in an Anglo-Saxon house.