August - November 2025
About
About 30 years ago, a shocking discovery was made at Jarrow… 70 boxes of animal bones were missing! It took until 2020 to find them, all the way up in Berwick.
The boxes had multiple species of animals in them: sheep, chickens, ducks, cows – even a dog. The bones are all that’s left of the animals that lived in Anglo-Saxon Jarrow. There are chickens that the monks might have fed, and cows that grazed by the sea. They all have stories to tell.
Megan Leake, a PhD student working with Jarrow Hall from Newcastle University and Durham University via the Northern Bridge Consortium, has been studying this collection of animal bones. Her work has unlocked fascinating new information about the animals that have lived at St Paul’s in the past.
Our current temporary exhibition, ‘Zooarchaeology’ tells us these stories through animal bones from Anglo-Saxon Jarrow. Learn more about life at St Paul’s in the Anglo-Saxon period and about how people lived alongside and interacted with animals. Zooarchaeology also gives us an insight into the work zooarchaeologists like Megan do and how this subject of study has changed over time. The little ones can go on a scavenger hunt around our museum and farm or even play some games inside the exhibition space
The exhibition is free to annual passholders and is open from August to November 2025.
Highlights
Zooarchaeology
Monastery Animals
The Research
Science in Archaeology
Ravenous Rats
Zooarchaeology
“Hi, I’m Meg! I am an archaeologist who works with the team at Jarrow Hall to learn more about Anglo-Saxon animals.
Archaeologists are people who study the material left behind by people from the past. These can be things like pottery, coins, bones or jewellery. Studying them helps us to understand what it was like to live in these communities and periods of time.
Specifically, I am a zooarchaeologist, which means I work with animal bones.
This exhibition is all about what we’ve learnt about the animals that were found at St Paul’s, Jarrow.”
Monastery Animals
We imagine monks chanting in the church, or reading in the refectory while they eat.
Songbirds singing in the trees.
Incense and woodsmoke drifting in the air.
Insects buzzing in the herb garden.
Woollen tunics spread over bushes to dry in the sun.
Leather shoes set neatly beside a bed.
But where did the vellum for the book come from?
What did they eat in that refectory?
Where did they get the wool for the clothes, the leather for the shoes?
Animals.
The Research
About 4 years ago, a discovery was made. Over 40 boxes of animal bones that had been excavated at Jarrow were found all the way up in Berwick, over 65 miles north of here.
The boxes had lots of different species of animals in them: Sheep, chickens, ducks, cows, and even a dog. These bones are all that’s left of the animals that lived in Anglo-Saxon Jarrow. There are chickens that the monks might have fed, and cows that grazed by the sea. They all have stories to tell.
A joint project was set up between Newcastle University, Durham University, and Jarrow Hall – Anglo-Saxon Farm, Village and Bede Museum to tell these stories. Everyone involved in the project was especially interested in these questions:
- Where were the animals grazing?
- What were the monks using them for?
Science in Archaeology
When a zooarchaeologist receives some bones they are often stored in boxes and can sometimes be a bit of a mess! It is our job to piece together the lives of the animals and their stories from the broken bones we are given. To do this, we need to work out five main things.
Bone: Firstly, what bone is it? The femur (thighbone) looks very different from the scapula (shoulder blade). Knowing which bone it is helps understand if the whole animal was at Jarrow, or if part of it was moved there.
Species: What type of animal is the bone from? Bones vary in size and shape depending on the species. Knowing the species helps understand what the bone/animal was used for, and whether the monks wanted it there.
Age: How old was the animal when it died? Bones fuse together as animals grow older. Knowing the age helps us understand how the animal was used. If a cow grows old it was probably used for milk, but if a sheep is killed young it is probably used for meat.
Ravenous Rats
The monks at Jarrow were living with rats! Little rat bones have been found in different areas of the site. The most interesting rat was found in the Riverside Buildings. It lived (and died) in the first workshop built by the monks.
The isotope results from this little rat were really interesting. It had very sulphur values, meaning it was eating marine food. It had very high nitrogen values, meaning it was high up the food chain. It had very high carbon values, meaning it was eating marine proteins such as fish.
The rat was eating fish! As rats are mainly scavengers rather than hunters, these scraps were probably left lying around the monastery. The high isotope value suggests that this rat was getting a lot of fish.
These ravenous rats were feasting on the leftovers of the monks.
