Unearthing Staffordshire's Past: Archaeological Discoveries and Insights

Nov 18, 2025 0

While the discovery of a second Staffordshire Hoard remains elusive, recent archaeological endeavors have significantly broadened our understanding of life in Staffordshire throughout the ages. These investigations have unveiled remarkable sites and artifacts, shedding light on how people lived, worked, and died in this region over thousands of years. Here's a glimpse into some of the key findings:

Replica of items from the Staffordshire Hoard.

Significant Archaeological Discoveries

Medieval Moated Site: Excavations preceding the construction of a large housing estate exposed a medieval moated site.
Iron Age 'Arena': Investigations before a new residential development revealed what is believed to have been an Iron Age 'arena.' Around 3,000 years ago, hot stone technology and salt were used here, possibly as part of some form of ritual cleansing of recently deceased.
Mesolithic Trackway and Bronze Age Burial Mound: Archaeological investigations before the construction of a new school unveiled evidence of human activity predating the first farmers in England. Hunter-gatherers in the Mesolithic period (over 12,000 years ago) built a trackway across boggy ground to a natural island, leaving behind stone tools. The island was later used as a burial mound in the Bronze Age (around 4,000 years ago), and a large amount of Roman (almost 2,000 years ago) pottery was found dug into this.
Anglo-Saxon Pottery: Small pieces of Anglo-Saxon pottery from this site provide a hint of daily life in Anglo-Saxon Stafford.
Romano-British Farmstead and Medieval Settlement: Excavations in advance of new housing developments revealed a Romano British farmstead dating to the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, and part of a medieval settlement which was abandoned in the late 14th century, possibly due to the Black Death.
Romano-British Military Buildings: Archaeological monitoring during groundworks for the construction of a new housing estate revealed evidence of Romano-British activity. This included the remains of what seem to have been military buildings, and possible evidence of street food selling in the form of two large storage pots which were found in situ. Both of the pots were originally made in Spain.
Anglo-Saxon Settlement Extension: Archaeological excavations at Barton Quarry revealed an agricultural extension to the former significant Anglo-Saxon settlement at Catholme. This included the remains of a number of sunken featured buildings, one of which contained the burnt remains of its wooden superstructure.
Peat Deposit Analysis: A thick deposit of peat discovered during ground investigation works in advance of the Stafford Western Access Route was analysed using pollen analysis and radiocarbon dating to show how the landscape around Stafford had changed over the past 15,000 years.
16th Century Weir: Archaeological monitoring during the creation of a temporary river bypass encountered the remains of a 16th century weir that once stood in the former course of the River Dove. The structure was made up of horizontal and vertical structural timbers which were packed with brushwood and soil. The vertical timbers, which were mainly oak, were up to 5m long and had been sharpened at one end.

Cultural Heritage Projects

The county council was a key partner in the Transforming the Trent Valley project. As part of this, the Historic Environment team developed and supported the delivery of two cultural heritage projects. The other project concentrated on heritage at risk and involved advising landowners/land managers on caring for heritage assets on their land.

Archaeology, Heritage, and Wellbeing

As the theme of this year’s Festival of Archaeology is wellbeing, I want to end by talking about the link between archaeology, heritage and wellbeing. Firstly, archaeology helps people foster a sense of identity and a sense of place. Learning about how our ancestors lived, getting involved in an archaeological excavation or survey, or visiting one of the county’s numerous historic sites, can be really therapeutic experiences. For those of you who don’t fancy getting your hands dirty there is always old re-runs of Time Team on YouTube or Digging for Britain on catch up. There is a fantastic network of voluntary groups in and around Staffordshire who run their own excavations, care for their local heritage, carry out research, organise talks and lectures, or run young archaeologists’ clubs. If you or someone you know is interested in helping to better understand and preserve the historic features on Cannock Chase, you may want to become a member of our Chase Through Time Volunteer Group.

"The Staffordshire Hoard: a treasure of the early Anglo-Saxon period"

ASOR's 2025 Annual Meeting: A Glimpse into the Ancient World

Boston Park Plaza, the venue for the ASOR 2025 Annual Meeting.

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ASOR’s 2025 Annual Meeting will take place November 19-22 at the Boston Park Plaza. All sessions and workshops will be able to include both in-person presentations in Boston and virtual presentations online via Zoom. Paper and workshop presentation proposals may be submitted per the instructions on the Call for Papers from February 15 - March 15. *Sessions (and workshops, when feasible) will be offered as part of the hybrid program with virtual and in-person participation unless otherwise noted.

The meeting promises a diverse range of sessions covering various aspects of ancient Near Eastern studies. Here's a glimpse into some of the session topics:

Session Topics:

And the Land had Rest? Orientalism in Biblical Archaeology and Scholarship: A Legacy or a Prevailing Methodological Obstacle?
Epigraphy: This session focuses on epigraphic material from the ancient Middle East, North Africa, and eastern Mediterranean.
Traces of practices relating to dress and the body: Traces of practices relating to dress and the body are present in many ways in the archaeological, textual, and visual records of the ancient world, from the physical remains of dressed bodies, to images depicting them, to texts describing such aspects as textile production and sumptuary customs. Previous scholarship has provided useful typological frameworks but has often viewed these objects as static trappings of status and gender.
The Archaeology and History of Feasting and Foodways: The Archaeology and History of Feasting and Foodways session addresses the production, distribution, and consumption of food and drink.
Archaeology of Anatolia: This session is open to research on the archaeology of Anatolia, which may include, but is not limited to: current fieldwork, material and visual culture, and new theoretical and methodological approaches in the wider field.
Archaeology of the Arabian Peninsula: This session seeks contributions covering a wide spatio-temporal swath from the Paleolithic to the present centered on the Arabian Peninsula but including neighboring areas such as the Horn of Africa, East Africa, and South Asia. Contributions might be tied to the region thematically (e.g. pastoral nomadism, domesticates, or agricultural strategies), methodologically (e.g.
Archaeology in Cyprus: This session focuses on current archaeological research in Cyprus from prehistory to the modern period. Topics may include reports on archaeological fieldwork and survey, artifactual studies, as well as more focused methodological or theoretical discussions.
Archaeology of Jordan: This session is open to any research from any period relating to the archaeology of Jordan.
Archaeology in Lebanon: This session is focused on current archaeological research in Lebanon, including the results of fieldwork and/or other research projects. It welcomes papers on any aspect of Lebanon’s archaeology and cultural heritage, regardless of the period.
Bioarchaeology in the Near East: This session welcomes papers that present bioarchaeological research conducted in the Near East.
Archaeological Site and Collections Conservation: This session explores theory and practice in the areas of archaeological site and collections conservation, presentation, education, and management.
Digital Humanities: This session will present papers that describe significant advances in or interesting applications of the digital humanities. Topics may include public digital initiatives, 3D scanning and modelling, spatial analysis (GIS and remote sensing), social network analysis, textual analysis, textual geographies, digital storytelling, data management etc.
Glyptic Studies: This session invites submissions touching on any aspect of glyptic studies. Papers may approach seals and sealings as object, text, and/or image, and rely on multiple strands of evidence. Applied methodologies from a variety of disciplines are encouraged. While seals and sealings form the core subject of investigation for this session, papers that rely on a wide range of comparative objects are welcome.
Biogeochemical Research in the Ancient Near East: Biogeochemical research on the human condition in the ancient past is a rapidly growing field. Isotopic investigations targeting questions about climate change, human mobility, animal trade, herding strategies, crop management, diet and subsistence, and infant-feeding practices in the broader ancient Near East have increased in number over the past decade. However, biogeochemical techniques and understandings continue to develop and be re-evaluated, necessitating venues for scholarly exchange, comparison, and discussion. The objective of this session is to encourage a dialogue among researchers conducting and using biogeochemical techniques in the region, integrating analytical methods with social and historical questions.
Regional-Scale Problems of Settlement History: This session brings together scholars investigating regional-scale problems of settlement history and archaeological landscapes across the ancient Near East. Research presented in the session is linked methodologically through the use of regional survey, remote sensing, and environmental studies to document ancient settlements, communication routes, field systems and other evidence of human activity that is inscribed in the landscape.
Archaeology and Historical Education through Storytelling: The papers in this session represent a multidisciplinary discussion of approaches to the study of archaeology of the Near East with a focus on archaeological and historical education through storytelling - movies, television, digital and analog games (“archaeogaming”), immersive experiences, escape rooms, virtual reality, and in news media.
Reintegrating Africa in the Ancient World: This session, co-sponsored by the American-Sudanese Archaeological Research Center, builds on the successful Reintegrating Africa in the Ancient World workshop. This session allows paper contributions on the archaeology, bioarchaeology, and history of northeast Africa, engaging with a specific theme each year to highlight the rich prehistory and history of ancient Sudan and the greater northeast Africa region. The session welcomes work on a range of ancient northeast African cultures, including but not limited to Nubia (Kush), Aksum, Garamantes, and Egypt.
Alterity in the Ancient Near East: Alterity in the Ancient Near East seeks to explore the topics of social norms and social difference in the Ancient World from the 4th to the 1st millennium BCE. Papers should explore modes of “difference-making”; how communities seek to mark, mitigate, or exacerbate social difference. What processes, practices, or technologies are employed to demarcate social groupings? We especially seek perspectives that disrupt simplistic dichotomies of ‘us’ and ‘them’, shifting the dialogue to the complex array of dynamics that emerge through intergroup contact. Contemporary theoretical perspectives, such as schismogenesis or middle-ground theory, may be engaged to think through these dynamics.
Pseudoarchaeology: Archaeology has inspired endless theories about aliens, lost civilizations, apocalyptic predictions, and mysterious technologies. While many of these theories may seem laughable, the political and religious ideologies they promote and in which they are grounded can have serious implications. Pseudoarchaeologies build on narratives of racism, nationalism, and conspiracy theories with roots in the 19th century and earlier: the study of alternative archaeologies has taken on new urgency in the wake of Covid-19, the politics of disinformation, and the proliferation of anti-science attitudes in the West and beyond. This session invites contributions that examine the impact of pseudoarchaeological narratives on society and consider our responsibility as scholars to engage with such discourse publicly. Together, we will discuss: How have historical and archaeological research been used and intertwined with the evolution of modern religious and political ideologies? How are we to respond when the past gets appropriated for problematic means in the present?
Ancient Languages and Linguistics: This session invites papers engaging in a broad spectrum of topics related to ancient languages and linguistics. Submissions may focus on grammatical, lexicological, or phonological evidence, or draw from a range of textual and archaeological sources. We also encourage contributions that move beyond traditional linguistic analysis to explore the meaning and function of language in its ancient contexts.
The Destruction of Settlements: The destruction of settlements is a pervasive phenomenon throughout the archaeological record. It has had a detrimental impact on the histories of societies and the modern ability to reconstruct these histories through the analysis of destruction layers. But destruction events also create significant cultural and theological shockwaves, that can resonate long after the ruins have been resettled through cultural narratives that interpret the historical events in diverse ways. Recent scholarship has turned to dealing with the aftermath of destruction events. The concepts of squatter activity, life among the ruins, landscapes of memory, and cultural memory and myths were developed within the discussion of the lingering physical, symbolic, and cultural impact of destruction. This session seeks to deepen the integration of the discussion by bringing together scholars dealing with these topics from varied research perspectives, examining material remains, textual and pictorial representations, and comparative literature that represent reactions and impacts of destruction events.
Memory in the Ancient Near East: This session seeks to continue building a robust, theoretically innovative, and empirically grounded conversation about the topic of memory across the sub-disciplines of ancient Near Eastern studies. During the previous three years, the session brought together specialists working all over the geographical and chronological spectrum to explore memory through three intertwined themes: space, place, and the built environment (2022); things, bodies, and assemblages (2023); and events, rituals, and routines (2024). Building on the momentum of these lively sessions and the connections that they fostered, the session will now approach memory through three new themes that, once again, seek to open up new perspectives and encourage dialogue among those working with archaeological, art historical, and/or written evidence.
Archaeology of the Nabataeans: The purpose of this session is to include projects not only at Petra, but also from throughout the vast Nabataean kingdom and beyond where ever Nabataeans were active (the Mediterranean, Yemen, and Mesopotamia). The capital city of the Nabataeans has been the focus of numerous recent international archaeological projects, including many ASOR projects: the Great Temple, the Temple of the Winged Lions, and the Byzantine Church in the past, and currently the North Ridge, the Hellenistic Petra Project, the Garden Pool and Terrace, and the Ad-Deir Plateau complex. The art and architecture of Petra continues to be the subject for art historians. The immediate environs of Petra (Wadi Musa, Baydh, Ba’aja, and Humayma) have also seen renewed interest. In addition, there are recent projects in the Nabataean regions of Saudi Arabia (French, Italian, Polish), Syria (French), the Negev (Israeli), and the Sinai and Egypt (French, American).
Archaeology of Religion in the Levant: The Archaeology of Religion in the Levant during the Second and First millennia BCE is aiming at fostering a scholarly stage for an interdisciplinary discussion on a wide range of approaches, perspectives, and interpretative frameworks of religion and its materiality. The 2025 session is dedicated to human-animal relations and their reflections in religious practices in the Levant during the second and first millennia BCE.
Art, Archaeology, and History of Central Asia: This session is dedicated to the presentation of new and ongoing research concerning the art, archaeology, and history of Central Asia from prehistory to the present. Contributions may focus on a wide array of topics geographically tied to the region such as the presentation of findings from a recent season of fieldwork, intensive artif...

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