Category: Featured

The speaker for the online meeting at 7.30 pm on Monday 11^th January 2021 is Craig Cessford, Senior Project Officer, Cambridge Archaeological Unit.

To join the talk please email us at hisimp.archaeology.group@gmail.com. We will send you a link 3 days in advance.There is no charge for this event

Context: This talk was originally planned in the middle of 2019 as part of the HIAG series of ten talks for 2021 and was due to take place at Histon Baptist Church in March 2020. It had to be cancelled as part of the response to the pandemic. Little did most of us realise then how severe a pandemic in the 21^st century could be for the country and the world. Clearly the subject of this talk maybe sensitive for many people but we hope the information and dialogue will be both interesting, helpful, and constructive.

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Biography: Craig Cessford has worked as a professional archaeologist for nearly thirty years, the last twenty of them in Cambridgeshire. He is currently a Senior Project Officer with the Cambridge Archaeological Unit and a co-investigator on the ‘After the Plague’ research project at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. Craig has a particular interest in Medieval and later urban archaeology and has directed and published numerous local excavations, including the Grand Arcade, Old Divinity School and New Museums sites in Cambridge.

Talk synopsis: The Black Death devastated Europe in the mid-14th century, killing 40-60% of the population. This included the town of Cambridge, and plague outbreaks continued to regularly strike the town until 1665/66. Historians have long used textual evidence to consider the impact of the Black Death and later plague outbreaks and archaeologists have also used a range of evidence. More recently the ability to detect and identify the ancient DNA of Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague, has revolutionised our understanding of this disease. Recent work by the After the Plague project has more than doubled the number of sites from the British Isles where Yersinia pestis has been identified. This work also represents the first time that Yersinia pestis linked to outbreaks of 1348/49-1665/66 has been identified from individual rather than mass burials. The talk will provide an overview of older work on the Plague in Cambridgeshire and current ancient DNA analysis.

The Local Context: There was a population crash in Histon & Impington in the late medieval period (14^th and 15^th centuries.) A majority of the 75 test pits dug in Village gardens over the last 4 years show evidence of high medieval occupation (11^th -13^th centuries) but only half of these showed late medieval pottery sherds. This evidence fits with archival records from the period.  This must have been a time of shock and great social change.

The poster: shows at the top a picture of a funeral of plague victims painted  in 14^th century Tournai by Pierart dou Tielt; a photograph of the cemetery of the Hospital of St. John the Evangelist Cambridge during excavation in 2010; a small map of the spread of the plague; and a plague doctor in preventative costume – with the long beak for herbs etc to counter the smell of the plague – it was thought that the smell was the way the disease spread.

Our formal quarterly litter picking event is on Saturday 5th December. As this is a form of outside exercise it is viewed that it is safe to litter pick, observing the Social distancing rules, not picking up litter by hand and wearing gloves provided. Wearing of face-masks is up to the individual.

Existing members who have their own patch and litter pick throughout the year, but new members who would like to help on the day are asked to contact Cedric Foster by email (cedric.jl.foster1944@btinternet.com). This is to allocate a road or area prior to the event and to give Health & Safety advice.

On Saturday 5th December, Cedric will be in The Village High Street Car Park (opposite Tylers Estate Agents), to hand out equipment and PPE from 9.00 to 9.30 am.