Sulicena filia Vassurae — Things I have dropped, forgotten or tossed

CONTEXT: Where are we? When are we? Who am I? – The Glastonbury Lake Village is a pre-Roman Iron Age community located near Godney, about 3 miles northwest of Glastonbury on the Somerset Levels in southwestern England (maps in appendix C). The village covers about three and a half acres (400 feet north-south by 300 feet east-west), in its heyday housing about 15 families (approximately 200 people) and village workings in close to 80 buildings – mostly circular, wattle and daub roundhouses and outbuildings. This community was probably first established between 250-160 BCE (Minnitt & Coles and Marshall et al. 2020). The main phase of occupation lasted for perhaps 75-135 years (approximately three generations), before a gradual decline prior to abandonment sometime between 100 and 50 BCE, most likely due to flooding caused by rising water levels (Minnitt & Coles, 15-19).

The village is built on an ever settling human-made island of clay, rubble, and bracken packed onto a foundation of brushwood and timber, all resting on the peat, in swampy wetlands in a bend of the River Brue. The site of the island is surrounded by many different forms of wetland (Cunliffe, 269). I was named Sulicena (SOO-lih-KEE-nuh). I am the daughter of Vassura (va-SOOR-uh). My mother’s family moved here when she was young, and I was born on the island around 170 BCE. I am often busy with the tasks of life: child rearing, animal husbandry, textile and ceramics production, care of the dead, and the processing, preparation, and preservation of foodstuffs and medicinal remedies. 

CONTEXT: The collection as a whole – The ground is often wet and muddy here, even with the brush and clay and stone that we’ve brought in to build up areas of dryer ground. As the title indicates, the objects that I’m sharing with you are all things that I’ve dropped, misplaced, thrown, or thrown away over the course of my life. I don’t want you to think that I’m careless with my things, it’s just so easy to lose them in the soft earth and waters once you’ve dropped them. Especially if they are small or one doesn’t notice them missing right away. And even with care things do break and wear out. But they all had meaning for me, and some I have missed very much since their loss.  Of course, I have lost, broken, and used up more than eight objects over the course of my life. Many times over, in fact. I selected these items because I hope they will help me tell you what life is like in our settlement. Follow the link below to learn more about each object.

Optional Additional Links 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZA0_F3Y-HZHSSbreKPCSjiXTmWQWq_Zx-q6LAh-mz74/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.wfslwpp8oq4n

Elysabeth Underhill — Recreation of a 6th Century Anglo-Saxon Ceramic Pot

The goal of this project was for me to recreate an extant Anglo-Saxon pottery vessel in as historically accurate a manner as I possibly could, including firing it in a pit or bonfire. The pot I chose was from a recent 2021-22 dig that took place in Wendover, Buckinghamshire England (https://doi.org/10.5284/1120962).  Along with this recreation, I also did a lot of historical background research into Anglo Saxon funerary practices, and how pottery was associated with them.

Please see the link below to view my display poster, listen to a power point presentation about my project, and read additional information I was not able to include in that presentation. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1RpHVCptXFFlU3FrC_K6e8hoecP7nuQqa?usp=drive_link

Muirgel Bera — “I Dyed for This”

This project was started in the late summer of 2025 with 9th century England in mind, however it has evolved over the months to branch to Italy in the latter half of the 16th century (specifically, The Republic of Venice in 1548). Woad, weld, and madder were all still being used by the dyers of Venice, but new and exciting imports from the Spanish conquest meant access to a new source of red. Challenged by a friend to knit a pair of stockings similar to the burial stockings of Eleanora di Toledo who passed in 1562, I attempted and failed to dye lace weight silk yarn red. The frustration from this attempt helped with my decision to focus on a dyeing project that would set a baseline of the natural dyes weld, madder (both Rubia tinctorum and Rubia cordifolia), woad, and cochineal all with either iron, tannin (such as oak gall), copper, alum, or no mordant on silk and wool yarns so that my next attempt to dye silk yarn would be a success. I dyed both wool and silk yarn (pictured) using each of the 5 mordants. After completing this, I did an additional acidic and base modifier to both the silk and wool yarns for a total of 150 samples (unfortunately not pictured). 

After finishing this project, not only did I have success in dyeing silk a lovely crimson red, but I also solved the mystery of why a hat I dyed with woad, followed by iron and oak galls, and then followed by madder turned purple (although in retrospect, it was not much of a mystery). This project also helped me to plan out three more projects that I am happily anticipating on working on. 

Optional Additional Links: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sHSmTXG35obx5oZDkIvuhvcfZ3J_OZTe?usp=sharing  (Google Drive with documentation and supporting files).

Thomas de Marr’ Powdered Hippocras

o recreate the period recipe for the spiced wine found in “The Good man of Paris” “To make powdered hippocras, take a quarter of very fine cinnamon selected by tasting it, and half a quarter of fine flour cinnamon, an ounce of selected string ginger, fine and white, and an ounce of grain of paradise, a sixth of nutmegs and galingale together, and bray them all together. And when you would make your hippocras, take a good half ounce of this powder and two quarters of sugar and mix them with a quart of wine, by Paris measure. And note that the powder and the sugar mixed together is the Duke’s powder.” – “The Goodman of Paris” Translated by Eileen Powers, Folio Society 1992 Edition, pg 196

This recipe appears to be a prep cook receipt rather than a complete step by step instruction to make the hippocras. My reasoning is that the quantities used here make enough for many 2 quart batches of wine and it seems unlikely the unused spiced would be thrown out after the first batch, it’s an expensive waste both today and in 1393 Paris. Secondly the recipe says, “And when you would make your hippocras,” as if it were a separate process being instigated, only mentioned because the author wants us to know about adding the sugar to the spice at that point in time. I did this recipe both ways, as strictly written, and as hypothesized with the process of making hippocras commonly used.  Presented here is the hippocras made using standard practices of the times. 

Documentation https://thomasdemarr.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/powdered-hippocras-as-championship.pdf

Christian Woolfe — 17th Century Clay Pipes

An overview of 17th century clay smoking pipe construction with details around how the items can be dated given their physical characteristics. This project involved research and documentation around the making of these pipes including a hand carved hardwood clay mold used to create the pipes form.

Additional Documentation: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LIhS8T6nTLrKhiAKxDyBPBS3t-TEs8ui/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=103849751791663771298&rtpof=true&sd=true

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