From: O'Meara, Don Sent: 09 September 2025 09:57 To: Annie Moore Subject: Re: Arrhenatherum elatius var bulbosum in Bronze Age cremations in Britain Hi Annie, Great to hear from you, and great to hear you are still in archaeology! You might be working with a friend of mine (Mike Wallace), who is also part of the Headland post-ex team. Great to hear also that you are working on archaeobotancial material. Where are you doing your post-grad? Arrhenatherum in cremations is an interesting topic, and there are lots of things to consider - particularly whether it was deliberately part of the cremation pyre, or whether it is introduced via turves cut from the topsoil used to create the funeral pyre. This was I think first discussed by Mark Robinson in his analysis of material from Rollright stone. You might have come across this during your research, but just in case: Robinson M. (1988). The significance of the tubers of Arrhenatherum elatius (L.) Beauv. from Site 4, cremation 15/11, p.102 in Lambrick, G., The Rollright Stones, megaliths, monuments and settlements in the prehistoric landscape. English Heritage Archaeological Report 6. London: HBMC(E). I have done a small number of cremations from Cumbria, and from memory they never really produce rich assemblages, and tend to be just charcoal. I recently was providing comments on an early Bronze Age cremation from near Sunderland, and as with my own sites this was also just charcoally. So there might be some sort of North-South divide here, or also perhaps more importantly a paucity of evidence. Sorry to not be more help with this. Do stay in touch though, and hopefully I will see you at some environmental archaeology/archaeobotanany event in the future. Should you wish to join the Archaeobotany Working Group then that is also a good way to keep in touch with the wider archaeobotany community. All the best, Don Don O’Meara Science Advisor North East and Hadrian’s Wall Policy and Evidence Historic England, Bessie Surtees House, 41-44 Sandhill, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 3JF Mobile: 07824 529245 Ensu ring our herit age lives on and is love d for long er. histo ricen glan d.org .uk This e- mail (a nd any attach ments) is conf idential and m ay con tain pe rsonal views which are not the vi ews of Histori c Engl and un less sp ecifical ly state d. If yo u have receiv ed it in error, please delete it from your s ystem and no tify the sende r imme diately. Do not use, c opy or disclos e the i nforma tion in any wa y nor a ct in re liance on it. A ny info rmatio n sent to Hist oric En gland may b ecome publicl y avail able. F or infor mation about our us e of yo ur pers onal d ata ple ase vis it: histo ricengl and.or g.uk/te rms/pri vacy From: Annie Moore Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2025 11:14 To: O'Meara, Don Subject: Arrhenatherum elatius var bulbosum in Bronze Age cremations in Britain -- WARNING: This is an external message. Please use caution when replying, opening attachments or clicking on any links in this e-mail.-- Hi Don, I hope you don’t mind me writing to you. We met many moons ago (I think it was 2012!) in sunny Maryport and I thought you might be a good person to get in touch with! I am currently undertaking some research for my postgraduate dissertation into the presence of Arrhenatherum elatius var bulbosum in Bronze Age cremations in Britain. As you might imagine, I’ve found loads of data for sites in the south of England and a fair few in the Midlands. But, as a Cumbrian lass in my southern exile, I’m keen to find some examples from the north! I know it’s a big ask (and you are totally welcome to say no), but do you know of any such sites? I’m going through to see if there are any trends in all of the other aspects of the cremation (such as charcoal type and volume, bone weight, urn/unurned, age of the individual, location within the site etc.) and some interesting stuff has cropped up for the south. Just seems a shame to be so limited! I’ve found a few sites in Cumbria through trawling the Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society but not a whole lot otherwise. Anyway, all this to say any help you can give would be much appreciated. There is no rush as I’m a fair way off even starting to write the thing and, again, feel free to turn me down! Kind regards, Annie Anni e Mo ore Post- excav ation Supe rvisor BA ( Hons ), MA (Hon s) Head land Arch aeolo gy South & Ea st Buildi ng 68 C | W rest P ark | Silso e | Be dfors hire | MK45 4HS t 0152 5 648 022 www. headl andar chae ology .com Headla nd Arc haeolo gy Sou th & Ea st Buildin g 68C | Wrest Park Silsoe | Bedfor dshire I MK45 4HS t 01525 861 57 8 Headla nd Arc haeolo gy Mid lands & West Unit 1 | Clearvi ew Cou rt | Tw yford R d Herefor d | HR2 6JR t 01432 364 90 1 Headla nd Arc haeolo gy Yor kshire & Nort h Units 2 3-25 | Acorn B usiness Centre | Balm e Road Cleckhe aton | BD19 4 EZ t 0127 4 93 801 9 Hea dlan d Ar chae olog y No rth West RSK Four ways Hou se | 57 Hi lton St Man chest er | M1 2 EJ t 0161 236 2757 Headla nd Arc haeolo gy Scot land 13 Jane St Edinbur gh | EH 6 5HE t 0131 4 67 770 5 He ad la nd Ar ch ae ol og y (U K) Lt d is a co m pa ny re gis te re d in Sc otl an d un de r nu m be r 34 29 45 . Re gis te re d of fic e: 65 Su ss ex St re et, Gl as go w, G 41 1D X. Co nfi de nt ial ity N ot e: Th e inf or m ati on in thi s e m ail is co nfi de nti al an d m ay be le ga lly pri vil eg ed . It is int en de d so lel y fo r th e ad dr es se e. Ac ce ss to thi s e m ail by an yo ne els e is un au th ori se d. If yo u ar e no t th e int en de d re ci pi en t an y di scl os ur e, co py in g, di str ib uti on or an y ac tio n ta ke n or o mi tt ed to be ta ke n in rel ia nc e on thi s e m ail is pr oh ibi te d an d m ay be un la wf ul.