Archaeologist and Writer
If you read my last post, you’ll recall how I got excited about the impressive waterlogged remains of pressed grapes, hinting at agricultural change in 8th century Byzantine Italy. This … Read More “How fascinating is a buried soil?” »
Those pondering how to reinvigorate the economy in 21st-century Britain may have been perusing the report recently published by Michael Heseltine. But I haven’t. I’ve been pondering how to reinvigorate … Read More “The unexpected interest of wet grapeskins” »
The answer: when it’s a socio-cultural strategy. OK, bear with me. Cast your mind back to a previous post about Neolithic farming in Britain. As you may recall, archaeobotanists Stevens … Read More “When is an agricultural strategy not an agricultural strategy?” »
Then cometh clerkys of Oxford and make their mone, For their school here they must have money, Then cometh the tipped-staves for the Marshalse, And saye they have prisoners mo … Read More “Speed well the plough” »
A relative of mine has recently asked me how agriculture came about in the first place. It’s a fair enough question. We’re all so familiar with the concept of farming, … Read More “Britain goes nutty” »
One of the quirkier perks of studying agricultural history (and archaeology) is discovering unusual terms and phrases which, I’m sure, I wouldn’t otherwise have encountered. So it is with “lazy … Read More “Who are you calling lazy?” »
In an earlier post I pondered on the theoretical limits of “agricultural archaeology” as a sub-discipline, and vaguely concluded that such limits are rather difficult to define. The history of … Read More “Woodlands, and recommended viewing” »
Last week’s post was vaguely theoretical, and theoretically vague. This week, by contrast, I have decided to think about something altogether more solid and down-to-earth: staddlestones. The word may be … Read More “Staddle up” »