A History of Cats
On the 6th of June we have our wonderful Feline Funday, a day of cat-themed activities to fundraise for the Minnie’s Haven Cat Rescue! To celebrate, we thought we would talk a little bit about our favourite feline companions and the impact they have made on history. Nedjem, 15th century BCE Nedjem, which in the […]
The Story of Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria
On this day in 1076 AD, Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria, was beheaded at St Giles’ Hill near Winchester. Executed for treason, he was the only English aristocrat executed during the reign of William the Conqueror. Waltheof was the great-grandson of Uhtred of Bamburgh, of The Last Kingdom fame. After the death of his father and […]
JAMCam: Breaking our Backfills
Another beautiful week for JAM, as the team battled the weather and the soil to open site. It’s hard to believe it’s only May, but as the heat continues to soar this summer, we all have to remain safe, especially us out in the field. So remember to drink plenty of water, wear sun cream, and stay cool in the shade when you […]
JAMCam: Big Updates Incoming
Hello Everyone! It really has been a long time since we all caught up, hasn’t it. My apologies, but we’ve been very busy this past wee while getting ready for the re-opening of our littlke site in Drewett’s park for the 2026 excavation season. You might have noticed the fences back up in the park with some lovely new posters in JAM’s signature colour; ‘Autumn’. You might also have noticed a big muddy hole as we […]
Re-Opening the JAM Jar
**Important Updates** We are finally opening our volunteer sign-up for JAM! Follow the link to South Tyneside’s Community Page on Plinth ->Here<- for all of our volunteering options. We have places for excavation and finds processing in July and August, and we need your help to de-turf over the next few weeks. It’s all completely […]
Spotlight: Harness Pendant
Welcome to our newest spotlight! I recently had the pleasure of working with this wonderful little harness pendant in our collections, and it led me down a rabbithole of research. This example (2025.0022 in our collections) dates from the late 14th century, so around 1350-1400 AD. It is in a quatrefoil shape – this comes from the Latin ‘quattor’, meaning ‘four’ and ‘folium’ meaning ‘leaf’. You might see this shape a lot in churches as […]