{"id":348,"date":"2022-12-07T07:55:03","date_gmt":"2022-12-07T07:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.northwag.org\/?p=348"},"modified":"2022-12-07T07:55:05","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T07:55:05","slug":"day-7-of-the-nwag-advent-calendar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/07\/day-7-of-the-nwag-advent-calendar\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 7 of the NWAG Advent Calendar!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The December chill is settling in, so let&#8217;s gather round the fireplace for today&#8217;s NWAG Advent Calendar!<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.northwag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/taper-burn-mark-1-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-349\" width=\"443\" height=\"332\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/taper-burn-mark-1-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/taper-burn-mark-1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/taper-burn-mark-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/taper-burn-mark-1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/taper-burn-mark-1-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 443px) 100vw, 443px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Taper burn marks at Hillgrove, Ombersley (\u00a9 North Worcestershire Archaeology Group)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>This photo was taken during our recent fieldwork at Hillgrove in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ombersley\">Ombersley<\/a>, and shows a dark teardrop-shaped groove in the centre of the wooden mantel beam above the cottage&#8217;s fireplace. These features are commonly found on historic buildings, and are known as &#8216;burn marks&#8217;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a long time it was thought that these marks were accidental scorches made by errant candles, tapers, or <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Rushlight\">rushlights<\/a>, the main form of lighting in pre-modern homes. But why on earth would you need to light an open fireplace? And, in the case of the Hillgrove burn mark, how would you do it &#8211; would the candle float in mid-air, hovering beneath the beam but above the ground? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Similar questions are raised by the many thousands of similar burn marks recorded in historic buildings across Britain. They&#8217;re particularly interesting since experiments show that the only way to achieve the &#8216;teardrop&#8217; shape is by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1179\/0305547714Z.00000000021\">tilting a candle at a 45<sup>0<\/sup> angle for 5-10 minutes<\/a>. It&#8217;s unlikely to be accidental!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So what was going on at Hillgrove? <a href=\"https:\/\/triskeleheritage.triskelepublishing.com\/mediaeval-mythbusting-blog-8-burn-marks\/\">Most archaeologists now think<\/a> that &#8216;burn marks&#8217; are one of many forms of <a href=\"https:\/\/ritualprotectionmarks.com\/2022\/08\/20\/incendiarybehaviour\/\">&#8216;ritual building protection&#8217;<\/a>, weird and wonderful acts that were intended to ward off bad luck or evil spirits. Since the Hillgrove burn mark is right above a fireplace, we quite like the idea that it was meant to stop witches flying down the chimney!<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.northwag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/witch-854x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-350\" width=\"346\" height=\"416\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/witch-854x1024.jpg 854w, https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/witch-250x300.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/witch-768x921.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/witch.jpg 936w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 346px) 100vw, 346px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Witches flying up a chimney in the <em>Ingoldsby Legends <\/em>(1881) (Public domain <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/britishlibrary\/11276749235\/in\/photolist-ibuhEX\">courtesy of the British Library<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Our work at Hillgrove ended just a few months ago, and we&#8217;re currently completing the report on the site. We look forward to sharing more information about it with you soon!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The December chill is settling in, so let&#8217;s gather round the fireplace for today&#8217;s NWAG Advent Calendar! This photo was&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[31,18,29,15,30,12],"class_list":["post-348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-magic","tag-nwag","tag-ombersley","tag-post-medieval","tag-ritual","tag-worcestershire"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.6.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Day 7 of the NWAG Advent Calendar! - North Worcestershire Archaeology Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gather around the fireplace for Day 7 of the NWAG Advent Calendar - starring a mysterious &#039;burn mark&#039; from Hillgrove, Ombersley.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/07\/day-7-of-the-nwag-advent-calendar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Day 7 of the NWAG Advent Calendar! - North Worcestershire Archaeology Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gather around the fireplace for Day 7 of the NWAG Advent Calendar - starring a mysterious &#039;burn mark&#039; from Hillgrove, Ombersley.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/07\/day-7-of-the-nwag-advent-calendar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"North Worcestershire Archaeology Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/North-Worcestershire-Archaeology-Group-104284425760070\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-07T07:55:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-07T07:55:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.northwag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/taper-burn-mark-1-1024x768.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin7695\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@NWAG_Archaeo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@NWAG_Archaeo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin7695\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/07\/day-7-of-the-nwag-advent-calendar\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/07\/day-7-of-the-nwag-advent-calendar\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin7695\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/#\/schema\/person\/184a7e228bfc32a35f2a7efdb0b04e89\"},\"headline\":\"Day 7 of the NWAG Advent Calendar!\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-07T07:55:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-07T07:55:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/07\/day-7-of-the-nwag-advent-calendar\/\"},\"wordCount\":306,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"magic\",\"nwag\",\"ombersley\",\"post-medieval\",\"ritual\",\"worcestershire\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/07\/day-7-of-the-nwag-advent-calendar\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/07\/day-7-of-the-nwag-advent-calendar\/\",\"name\":\"Day 7 of the NWAG Advent Calendar! - North Worcestershire Archaeology Group\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-07T07:55:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-07T07:55:05+00:00\",\"description\":\"Gather around the fireplace for Day 7 of the NWAG Advent Calendar - starring a mysterious 'burn mark' from Hillgrove, Ombersley.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/07\/day-7-of-the-nwag-advent-calendar\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/07\/day-7-of-the-nwag-advent-calendar\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/07\/day-7-of-the-nwag-advent-calendar\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Day 7 of the NWAG Advent Calendar!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/\",\"name\":\"North Worcestershire Archaeology Group\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"North Worcestershire Archaeology Group\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/North-Worcestershire-Archaeology-Group-104284425760070\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NWAG_Archaeo\"],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/cropped-NWAG-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/cropped-NWAG-logo.jpg\",\"width\":188,\"height\":105,\"caption\":\"North Worcestershire Archaeology Group\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/#\/schema\/person\/184a7e228bfc32a35f2a7efdb0b04e89\",\"name\":\"admin7695\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96030a7393c41bf54d0cc4abc88599e94ed2ca5dfbaa996001c1ee21903cd6eb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96030a7393c41bf54d0cc4abc88599e94ed2ca5dfbaa996001c1ee21903cd6eb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin7695\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.northwag.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/author\/admin7695\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Day 7 of the NWAG Advent Calendar! - North Worcestershire Archaeology Group","description":"Gather around the fireplace for Day 7 of the NWAG Advent Calendar - starring a mysterious 'burn mark' from Hillgrove, Ombersley.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/07\/day-7-of-the-nwag-advent-calendar\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Day 7 of the NWAG Advent Calendar! - North Worcestershire Archaeology Group","og_description":"Gather around the fireplace for Day 7 of the NWAG Advent Calendar - starring a mysterious 'burn mark' from Hillgrove, Ombersley.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/07\/day-7-of-the-nwag-advent-calendar\/","og_site_name":"North Worcestershire Archaeology Group","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/North-Worcestershire-Archaeology-Group-104284425760070\/","article_published_time":"2022-12-07T07:55:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-12-07T07:55:05+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.northwag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/taper-burn-mark-1-1024x768.jpg"}],"author":"admin7695","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@NWAG_Archaeo","twitter_site":"@NWAG_Archaeo","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin7695","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/07\/day-7-of-the-nwag-advent-calendar\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/07\/day-7-of-the-nwag-advent-calendar\/"},"author":{"name":"admin7695","@id":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/#\/schema\/person\/184a7e228bfc32a35f2a7efdb0b04e89"},"headline":"Day 7 of the NWAG Advent Calendar!","datePublished":"2022-12-07T07:55:03+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-07T07:55:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/07\/day-7-of-the-nwag-advent-calendar\/"},"wordCount":306,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/#organization"},"keywords":["magic","nwag","ombersley","post-medieval","ritual","worcestershire"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/07\/day-7-of-the-nwag-advent-calendar\/","url":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/07\/day-7-of-the-nwag-advent-calendar\/","name":"Day 7 of the NWAG Advent Calendar! - North Worcestershire Archaeology Group","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-12-07T07:55:03+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-07T07:55:05+00:00","description":"Gather around the fireplace for Day 7 of the NWAG Advent Calendar - starring a mysterious 'burn mark' from Hillgrove, Ombersley.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/07\/day-7-of-the-nwag-advent-calendar\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/07\/day-7-of-the-nwag-advent-calendar\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/07\/day-7-of-the-nwag-advent-calendar\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Day 7 of the NWAG Advent Calendar!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/","name":"North Worcestershire Archaeology Group","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/#organization","name":"North Worcestershire Archaeology Group","url":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/North-Worcestershire-Archaeology-Group-104284425760070\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/NWAG_Archaeo"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/cropped-NWAG-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/cropped-NWAG-logo.jpg","width":188,"height":105,"caption":"North Worcestershire Archaeology Group"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/#\/schema\/person\/184a7e228bfc32a35f2a7efdb0b04e89","name":"admin7695","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96030a7393c41bf54d0cc4abc88599e94ed2ca5dfbaa996001c1ee21903cd6eb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96030a7393c41bf54d0cc4abc88599e94ed2ca5dfbaa996001c1ee21903cd6eb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin7695"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.northwag.org"],"url":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/author\/admin7695\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":351,"href":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions\/351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northwag.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}