Chris's page

<< Chris and Mary Mackie

Chris's main off-duty interest over the past  years has been the 'dig' at Sedgeford (near Hunstanton in West Norfolk) and though this season he has had to take a back seat because of health problems he is delighted to see many old friends returning and he will be visiting the site as often as he can to keep up to date with developments. be .  For all details, visit the main website at SHARP.org.uk

Norfolk is rich in archaeological material and West Norfolk especially noted for gold coin hordes and the magnificent torcs (neck ornaments from the Iron Age) which seem peculiar to this county. In Sedgeford, a field long-known as 'the Boneyard' has, since 1996, been the centre of investigations by a team of archaeologists led by archaeologist, author and lecturer Dr Neil Faulkner.

Chris Mackie has been involved with the project, known as Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project (SHARP) ,since its beginning in 1996. The pictures on this page show some of the treasures they have unearthed in those years, along with nearly three hundred skeletons from a mid-Saxon Christian burial ground.

Like Mary, Chris is an active member of the Princess Theatre Club in Hunstanton. He enjoys broadcasting and has appeared on radio many times and on TV quite a lot too, notably the Richard and Judy show where, as friends remarked, he 'Mackied' the pair of them during an interview concerning the torc terminal (see top picture, right).

Pictures from twelve summers of digging

The SHARP team hard at it. Chris in light shorts.

Skeleton of a horse, ritually buried in the Iron Age

Broken end of a gold torc, now reunited in the British Museum with the rest of the necklet, found forty years ago!

An ancient gold coin, rather worn 

One of a horde of thirty-nine gold coins buried 200 years ago inside a cow-bone. Note stylized horse motif. The Iceni tribe of Norfolk (Boudicca's people) are thought to have revered the horse as their totem animal

 

 

 

 

 

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