Front Cover.

A spectacular reconstruction of 5yon Abbey as it may hm'e looked c.1500 viewed from the Thames.

Picture: jonatan Foyle.

Current Archaeology No. 192 Vol. XVI No 12 Published June 2004 This issue edited by: Neil Faulkner Editors in chief: Andrew & Wendy Selkirk Contributing editor: Nadia Durrani Publisher: Robert Selkirk 9 Nassington Road, London NW3 2TX Tel: 020 7435 7S17Fax: 020 7916 2405 email: editor@archaeology.co.uk web: www.archaeology.co.uk Current Archaeology is published 6 times a year for a subscription of £20 for 6 issues. Foreign subscriptions £25 or US$40 Subscriptions should be sent to: Current Archaeology 9 Nassington Road, London NW3 2TX Tel: 020 7435 7517. Fax: 020 7916 2405 Subs queries to: subs@archaeology.co.uk Web subs: www.archaeology.co.uk Back issues £4 each (1-6,8, 11, 14, 16, 18, 24,38,49,62,73,75,116,118-9,126-131, 133-140, 151, 154-157 out of print). Binders (to hold 12 copies) £8 (Small binders for issues 1-120 available.)

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Highlights More Iron Age gold has been found in north-wesr orfolk. Our lcad srmy rhis issue comes from my own sire ar Sedgeford. Ser up as an Anglo-Saxon clig in 1996, nor only have we now hir rhe Iron Age, we have hir rreaslU'e - not once bur rwice, fu'Sr wirh a hoard of 39 gold srarers inside an animal bone, then with the end of a gold tore missing for 40 years.

Then we come south to London and enter the Roman period. In CA 182 we reported the cliscovery of one of the most important Roman inso'iptions fOlUld in London, famed for its reference to 'Londoners'.Now we report on the sire fi-om which ir came - Tabard Square in Southwark. There, archaeologists have fowld what looks like a major religious complex, complete with two Romano-Qltic remples, a "pilgrims' rest-house", and a wealrh of apparent ofrcrings, including an Wlopened por of moistwising crcam.

Also from London we have a report by Jonarhan Foyle, rhe guest expert on one of d,e most successful of all Time Team digs. Syon Park is Em,OUS for rhe great 16th cennuy house d,ar srancl~ dlere, bur ir was originally the site of an abbey - d,e only one in England belonging to d,e Order of Sr Bridger. Ir nmlS out dlis was no orclinaly abbey: built by kings in the fifteendl cennuy, it wa~ d,e size ofWestlninsrer Abbey and one of rhe most spectacular sires on d,e Thames in LallGlStI'ian, Yorkist alld early Tudor times.

Then we rum to Anglo-Saxon sworcl~. Wid, anodler specraeulal' fUld - a set of five gold halld1e fittings fi-om a liverbank in LincoulShire - WcapollS expert Heinrich Harke of Reading University gives us a rOlmd-up. What do we know abour who owned swords, how dley were used, alld what was dleir significance as srams-s)onbols in Anglo-Saxon Englalld'

From d,e glitter of gold to d,e pollen in pear-bogs. Using me hwnble ('videnceof pollen sanlples, arcilaeologistS at Exerer University have gained new iJlSights into d,e lives of funning folk during rhe Roman alld Ol1llall periods, alld have made discoveries about c1langcs in me Iron Age and rhe Dark Ages.

Finally, we join d,e celebration of Slll"rey Archaeological Sociery's 150 yeal'Sof cligging. Here, we offer a selection of images from d,e archive - including perhaps d,e fil"St excavation photograph in histmy!

- Neil Faulll1u:r

Wim dlis issue, volwne XVl of Current Anbneology is complete, alld we conclude widl all index. May we also dlallk all rhose who have helped us in dlis vollUlle - d,e contriburors, me'sources', me photographel'S, d,e illustrators, me issue eclirors alld all mose who have made me articles possible. And ow' dlal1ks roo, ro yOl~ our rcadet'S, for your support, stimulus alld illSpiration!

- Andrew Sell1irk