Record ID: MAS-6105BA
Object type: FIREARM
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Published
This gun is a QF (quick firing) 6-pounder Hotchkiss, a light 2.25 inch (57 mm) naval and coastal defence gun from the late 19th century. The design appears to be pre-1890 as it does not have the recoil system that was introduced at that time. The original 1885 Mk I was a built-up gun with a vertical sliding-block breech. The name comes from the French manufacturing company, Hotchkiss, who were the major supplier of light QF guns in the world. This type of gun became a standard torpedo defence weapon; many navies bought this same type of gun (Friedman 2011).
Created on: Monday 25th July 2016
Last updated: Friday 26th August 2016
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-1F5444
Object type: BEAD
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Published
Twenty-six long drawn beads with a single cylindrical central perforation extending along the length of the bead. Varying in size, the beads measure approximately 25 mm in length and 8 mm in diameter, and some signs of wear are visible. The beads all have an opaque white core, cased in opaque red, cased in opaque white and finally cased in translucent blue on the exterior. The inner layers form a star pattern. The diameter cross-section is roughly cylindrical in the centre, whilst at the upper and lower ends the cross-section changes to become faceted in an octagonal shape, allowing th…
Created on: Wednesday 3rd August 2016
Last updated: Friday 30th September 2016
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-100012
Object type: LANDING CRAFT INFANTRY
Broad period: MODERN
County: Suffolk
Workflow stage: Published
This hulk is situated on the River Deben, just outside of Melton (Suffolk) and is estimated to measure 11.5 m in length and 3 m in width. The structure is rectangular in shape with squared edges and straight sides. One end suggests the presence of a bulkhead and a hatch or doorway, while the other end is missing. Parts of possible rudder components are located close to the bulkhead, suggesting that this is the stern. Internal frames can be seen throughout the remaining structure; estimated measurements reveal a spacing of approximately 0.42 m. The hull is constructed of wood in a doubl…
Created on: Friday 30th September 2016
Last updated: Monday 10th October 2016
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-100011
Object type: CLAY PIPE (SMOKING)
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Published
This is a very worn example of a 'cutty' (short) pipe (total length 115 mm) with a round-based spurless bowl imitating a briar pipe, and decorated with multiple 'thorns' - small pointed protrusions around the stem and bowl. This type of bowl was in use between c. 1850 and 1910 (Atkinson and Oswald 1969: type 30), and the thorn design was one of the many decorative types popular during this period (e.g. Ayto 1994:11; Hammond 2009: figure 7). Clay tobacco pipes were manufactured (using two-piece moulds) in huge quantities in many towns and cities around the UK and were also imported fro…
Created on: Wednesday 28th September 2016
Last updated: Wednesday 12th October 2016
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-100007
Object type: SPOON
Broad period: MODERN
County: Devon
Workflow stage: Published
This spoon is made of a metal alloy, possibly copper alloy, and was probably originally plated. Its manufacture would have been cast. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) crest is stamped into the end of the spoon. The crest features the RAAF monogram with a laurel wreath surmounted by a crown. This crest is the same style as that used for cap badges and is modelled from a Royal Air Force (RAF) crest. The more widely adopted RAAF crest was commissioned and designed in 1937 and accepted in 1939. It is composed of the imperial crown mounted on a circle featuring the words 'Royal Austra…
Created on: Thursday 8th September 2016
Last updated: Wednesday 14th December 2016
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-100017
Object type: MAMMAL REMAINS
Broad period: UNKNOWN
County: Essex
Workflow stage: Published
This cattle mandible, or lower jaw, is comprised of two incomplete sections; cattle mandibles are rarely encountered in the archaeological record as conjoined pairs (Zhang et al. 2013). The smaller piece is an incomplete section featuring both pre-molars and molars. The larger piece is fairly complete, with the exception of teeth, extending all the way to the part in which the incisors and canines would be located. This front section is separated from the molar and pre-molar root holes by the diastema. Providing a relative date for this cattle mandible is challenging without further e…
Created on: Tuesday 18th October 2016
Last updated: Monday 16th January 2017
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-100016
Object type: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Essex
Workflow stage: Published
This assemblage of metal objects includes an iron handle possibly inscribed with letters; a lead sailmakers palm guard; a bronze scribe; a small gun powder measure; a cup; and what are possibly a musket ball and a rivet; along with several other metal objects of unknown function. All the items appear to be post medieval in date. It is thought that these finds are either being washed into the area from another location or are being exposed by erosion, as each visit to the location reveals more objects.
Created on: Monday 17th October 2016
Last updated: Tuesday 15th August 2017
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100042
Object type: BOWL
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
County: Dorset
Workflow stage: Published
Fragment of white ceramic bowl or lid marked with black and white geometric design and number '23'. Number appears to be hand-painted or stamped. Found loose on the seabed with a little marine growth present. This is a naval issue bowl probably used for drinking rather than smaller, handled cups, as they were more practical on board a ship. The number refers to the mess number, and the bowls were designed to be stored upside-down. The find dates to the late 19th or 20th century.
Created on: Monday 29th May 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 26th September 2017
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100115
Object type: CARTRIDGE
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Published
Images of this find were sent to Trevor Parker of the Ordnance Society. He confirmed that these three shell cases belong to a six-pounder Hotchkiss gun. This particular type of gun was introduced in 1884 for use against torpedo boats. They were used during First World War on the Arethusa and early 'C' class cruisers and a few submarines as well as on Monitors M.15 through M.33. Originally French in origin, they were introduced to Britain in 1886 (Tucker 2013). Many were subsequently used as sub-calibre and saluting guns which meant that they were still available in 1939 (Naval Weapons,…
Created on: Friday 8th September 2017
Last updated: Thursday 5th October 2017
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100065
Object type: BOTTLE
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Published
Six stoneware seltzer bottles, of a type used to carry mineral water from various Continental (mainly German) spas. The term 'seltzer' takes its name from the town of Selters in the lower Rhineland, one of the original producers of effervescent mineral waters. This cylindrical bottle type was used from the early 19th century through to the First World War. These types of bottles were produced by the specialist potters known as Krugbacker, or pot bakers, in the Westerwald region of Germany. These bottles, which changed little throughout the 19th century, were slender and cylindrical and…
Created on: Monday 24th July 2017
Last updated: Thursday 5th October 2017
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100066
Object type: BOTTLE
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Published
Four stoneware bottles (three large and one smaller) that were probably used for beer, ale, stout or porter. Stoneware bottles provided the ultimate in protection from the detrimental effects of light but were very heavy. They were produced in Britain in the 1800s and many bottles found in the United States were even imported from here. All of these bottles have a feldspathic glaze over an ochre dip on the upper parts of the bottle giving them a darker colour on top. Feldspars (natural rocks of aluminosilicates) are used in stoneware and porcelain glazes because they fuse only at hi…
Created on: Monday 24th July 2017
Last updated: Thursday 5th October 2017
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100068
Object type: WINE BOTTLE
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Published
Two green glass wine bottles that appear to have the flat band-like collar around the rim which is typical of Continental (particularly French) wine bottles; the type appeared around the middle of the 19th century. This particular shape was - and still is - referred to as a 'hock' or Rhine wine and was one of the three dominant styles of wine bottles that bridge the time from at least the mid-19th century to the present day. Hock wine bottles are of German or French origin and during the 19th century, typically contained both red and white Rhine and Mosel wines. The distinctive shape…
Created on: Monday 24th July 2017
Last updated: Thursday 5th October 2017
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100076
Object type: ROUNDED BOWL
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Published
Six small convex bowls that may have also functioned as cups or tea bowls. All the bowls are made of a refined whiteware and three of them display a hand painted decoration.The term 'whiteware' is used in historical archaeology to denote refined ceramics with a whiter and denser body than pearlware that generally postdates c.1830. Whiteware is a class of ceramic products that include porcelain and china. They are usually, but not necessarily, white and consist typically of clays, feldspar, potter's flint, and whiting (calcium carbonate). It is thought that these examples may be tea war…
Created on: Monday 24th July 2017
Last updated: Thursday 5th October 2017
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100074
Object type: INK BOTTLE
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Published
A collection of four ink bottles; one large and three small. The larger stoneware ink bottle displays a pourer on the rim and is glazed with a feldspathic glaze. This type of ink bottle was introduced in the 1860s and were superseded by glass bottles by the first decade of the 20th century. Cylindrical stoneware ink bottles were made in England in large quantities throughout the Victorian era. The bottles varied widely in size and were not all brown. The larger or master bottles with a pouring lip brown bottles were commonly used for ink. The pouring spout would be used to distribute …
Created on: Monday 24th July 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 21st November 2017
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100084
Object type: BOTTLE
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Published
Three cylindrical glass bottles. The two larger bottles are full size wine bottles. One is of the 'Burgundy' type and is most likely Continental. The half-size wine bottle, originally thought to be a champagne bottle, also has a Continental style neck. The Continental style neck appears around the middle of the 19th century (Dumbrell 1983). All are of nineteenth or twentieth century type.
Created on: Friday 11th August 2017
Last updated: Wednesday 6th December 2017
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100087
Object type: DOMED LID
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Published
One ceramic serving dish lid made of a refined whiteware with transfer-printed design in red.The term 'whiteware' is used in historical archaeology to denote refined ceramics with a whiter and denser body than pearlware that generally postdates c. 1830. Whiteware is a class of ceramic products that include porcelain and china. They are usually, but not necessarily white and consist typically of clays, feldspar, potter's flint, and whiting (calcium carbonate).
Created on: Friday 11th August 2017
Last updated: Wednesday 6th December 2017
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100085
Object type: CLAY PIPE (SMOKING)
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Published
A selection of seven clay pipes. Two of the pipes are of 'Irish' type (Atkinson and Oswald 1969, type 31, dated post-1840), with spurs and milled bowl rims, and the remaining five are of a spur-less form copying the briar pipe (ibid., type 30, dated c. 1850-1910). All of the clay pipes are 'cutty' (short) pipes. The spur-less examples are all stamped with the mark 'H B W Russell Co.'. This appears to be the mark of an agent or retailer rather than the pipe manufacturer (as is more usual). H. B. W. Russell may have a connection with Liverpool - pipes stamped 'HBW Russell of Liverpool' …
Created on: Friday 11th August 2017
Last updated: Thursday 7th December 2017
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-F100110
Object type: POST
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: East Sussex
Workflow stage: Published
Heavily eroded and abraded timber fragment with marine borer and growth present. As it is so worn, it is difficult to tell what type of wood it is and whether this fragment was originally completely shaped and worked, or just partially worked to achieve its function. The timber does not exhibit any evidence or staining from fastenings, however, there is one hole that could have been a fastening point at some stage. It is thought that this fragment may be a broken post or groyne timber that has come from a beach rather than material relating to a wreck. Groynes are wooden barriers bui…
Created on: Wednesday 23rd August 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 8th May 2018
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-F100109
Object type: BOAT
Broad period: MODERN
County: East Sussex
Workflow stage: Published
This find is an unidentified curved aluminium sheet that measures approximately 0.94 m by 0.24 m and has a thickness of 5 mm. The sheet displays one riveted hole and one area still exhibits faint traces of red paint. The sheet is covered in a layer of marine growth. Initially it was believed that this object could be associated with aviation remains, however, after consulting our historic aircraft specialist, it was confirmed that the material is too thick to belong to an aircraft. The colour red does not often appear, other than on external markings or Luftwaffe radio equipment, both…
Created on: Wednesday 23rd August 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 8th May 2018
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-F100108
Object type: PORTHOLE
Broad period: MODERN
County: East Sussex
Workflow stage: Published
This object is the remains of a brass porthole ring measuring 250 mm across with a brass rim 28 mm wide. It is thought that this frame would have been on the outside of the hull of the vessel while an internal frame on the inside of the vessel would have contained the glass element and a hinged deadlight (a metal plate that was both a curtain and a reinforcement against heavy seas). Portholes have been used for centuries to allow light and ventilation to enter the lower, darker levels of vessels and in some early cases, as a means of seeing out of a submersible. Portholes are waterti…
Created on: Wednesday 23rd August 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 8th May 2018
Spatial data recorded.