Bulk Finds: broken pottery sherds

Behind the scenes at Segedunum we have a number of stores where we house the objects which have been found during the excavations of the Roman Fort as well as the finds from other excavations within Tyne and Wear. Every object excavated must be cleaned and numbered, and every object of interest drawn or photographed. This information helps the archaeologists to piece together the life of people living and working in Tyne and Wear over the past 2000 years!

These pictures show the stores before, and after, Dawn, our Preventive Conservator and Alex, our Curator of Archaeology set to work on re-organising the store following the allocation of a small grant which paid for some new shelving to be bought. The result was a much more workable space where the research can continue.

The store before the team set to work...

Alex explained that, ” in these boxes are the bulk finds from various excavations in the region. ‘Bulk’ finds are things like pottery, animal bone and tile that are found in large quantities on sites – hence the name! This is the stuff that rarely ends up on display, but it usually provides a lot more information about life in the past than the pretty objects in the museum galleries. It just takes up a lot of space…..”

Dawn said, “This is just one example of ongoing work to improve storage across Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums and its diverse range of collections.” 

…job done!