UK: Archaeologists are using survey equipment to find out more about a lost medieval village in East Sussex. Exceat village, now lost beneath downland near Seaford, is being mapped by GPS surveyors who are also carrying out a geophysical survey of land surrounding the foundations of a stone church that was rediscovered 100 years ago. A team from Cuckmere Archaeology has brought in a ground-penetrating radar to check the site in 20-metre sections.
Records show that Exceat had a church in 1255, but the village is thought to have disappeared within 100 years after being attacked by the French and then falling victim to the Black Death.
Initial excavations were carried out in 1913 after the teenage son of a local rector spotted the outline of a building in the field after the hot summer. Investigations at the time uncovered a small church, with walls up to five feet thick in places. It’s believed the church may have been the smallest in Sussex, with a nave measuring just 31-feet long.
The original investigation found broken pottery around the church but no signs of other buildings. It’s hoped the modern survey equipment now being used will be able to discover traces of the lost settlement.
Source: surveyequipment.com
