New archaeological discoveries reveal birch bark tar was used in medieval England

Scientists from the University of Bristol and the British Museum, in collaboration with Oxford Archaeology East and Canterbury Archaeological Trust, have, for the first time, identified the use of birch bark tar in medieval England - the use of which was previously thought to be limited to prehistory. Birch bark tar is a manufactured product with a history of production and use that reaches back to the Palaeolithic. It is very sticky, and is water resistant, and also has biocidal properties mean that it has a wide range of applications, for example, as a multipurpose adhesive, sealant and in medicine. Archaeological evidence for birch bark tar covers a broad geographic range from the UK to the Baltic and from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia. In the east and north of this range there is continuity of use to modern times but in western Europe and the British Isles the use of birch bark tar has generally been viewed as limited to prehistory, with gradual displacement by pine tars during the Roman period. The new identifications, reported today in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports , came from two early medieval sites in the east of England. The first was a small lump of dark material found in a child grave of the Anglo-Saxon period (440-530AD) in Cambridge (analysed by the Organic Geochemistry Unit, University of Bristol, for Oxford Archaeology East).