Wharram Percy

Wharram Percy

What Was Found There?

One of the most frequent questions asked by visitors to Wharram Percy is: "What have you found today?" The strongest interest was not about actual dig sites; visitors were very interested in the day's "finds" -- a term for whatever is found on a site.

It seems to most visitors that through these objects a connection was made to the medieval folk who touched them, used them and lost them. And it was on the level of such connections that people understood their medieval predecessors. It was the thread that connected all of us.

The objects found at Wharram Percy were objects that peasants used. There were no swords -- though knives have been found there -- or Viking coin hoards -- though coins have been found there. Was was found in considerable quantity were the remnants of simple agricultural lives -- iron objects, stone and bone objects, some copper objects and some lead objects. Below, I have included drawings of some of the finds -- most of which you will recognize because they are objects in our lives also.

They came from both Site 10 and 6 and from all periods from the 9th c. to the 15th c.

Ken Tompkins
ken@odin.stockton.edu