Hi Liz,

Just to add to Marks list, there's a short summary article by Mark Robinson on saxon flax remains which is useful (see attached).
All of the sites that I have come across from Late Iron Age and Roman central-southern Britain consist of a few flax seeds and capsule fragments.
Outside of Britain, Latalowa 1998 in VHA discusses an early medieval flax bundle from northern Poland.

Robinson, M. (2003). Saxon flax retting in river channels and the apparent lack of water pollution. In P. Murphy & P. E. J. Wiltshire (Eds.), The Environmental Archaeology of Industry Symposia of the Association for Environ- mental Archaeology 20 (pp. 141–142). Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Latalowa, M. (1998). Botanical analysis of a bundle of flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) from an early medieval site in northern Poland; a contribution to the history of flax cultivation and its field weeds. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 7, 97–107.

Best wishes,

Lisa

On 4 Apr 2014, at 14:45, Mark McKerracher wrote:

Hi Liz,

I'm aware of the following instances in the Anglo-Saxon record, encountered whilst researching for my thesis, which may be of relevance:

- Westbury-by-Shenley: see J. Letts p.424 in Ivens et al. 1995. 'Tattenhoe and Westbury. Two deserted medieval settlements in Milton Keynes' (Aylesbury).

- Yarnton: see M. Robinson in Hey ed. 2004 'Yarnton' (Oxford Archaeology), at pp.367 and 408.

- St Aldate's, Oxford: see Brown pp.170-2 in Durham 1977. 'Archaeological Investigations in St Aldate's, Oxford', Oxoniensia 42, pp.83-203.

- Dorney: see R. Pelling's report on the CD-ROM in Foreman et al. 2001. 'Gathering the people, settling the land' (Oxford Archaeology).

- Brandon: see Murphy's paper in J. Rackham ed. 1994 'Environment and Economy in Anglo-Saxon England' (CBA Res Reports).


More generally, I also found this useful:
Troldtoft Andresen, S & Karg, S 2011. 'Retting pits for textile fibre plants at Danish prehistoric sites dated between 800 BC and AD1050', Veg Hist Archbot 20, pp.517-526.

Hope that helps.

Best wishes,
Mark


Mark McKerracher, St Cross College, Oxford, OX1 3LZ
Candidate for DPhil Archaeology
"Farming Unearthed"

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Sent: 04 April 2014 14:20
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Subject: Flax processing waste

Does anyone know of sites which have produced archaeobotanical  assemblages predominantly made up of flax processing waste (ideally also with an associated weed assemblage)? I've looked at material which is dominated by cultivated flax seeds, capsule fragments and ?flax stem fragments only twice - one waterlogged assemblage (Herefordshire, report attached), and now recently a charred assemblage (Worcestershire) and am looking for comparison sites. I've checked the ABCD Archaeobotanical database for British sites but for those sites where flax is listed, the material is generally quite sparse.

Any suggestions would be welcome...


Regards,

Liz Pearson
Worcestershire Archaeology
The Hive
Sawmill Walk
The Butts
Worcester WR1 3PB
Tel 01905 765736
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