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Mark McKerracher

Archaeologist and Writer

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Category: Uncategorized

Book news: Crop, Stock and Furrow

Posted on March 17, 2022March 17, 2022 By Mark No Comments on Book news: Crop, Stock and Furrow
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Way back in December 2020, the FeedSax project held a virtual conference, attended by hundreds from around the globe. We’re now excited to announce that the proceedings of this conference will be published later this year by Liverpool University Press. The book is called New Perspectives on the Medieval ‘Agricultural Revolution’: Crop, Stock and Furrow, … Read More “Book news: Crop, Stock and Furrow” »

Days of Beer and Iron

Posted on February 10, 2019February 10, 2019 By Mark No Comments on Days of Beer and Iron
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Ipswich, in Suffolk in eastern England, is a town brimming with archaeology. Anglo-Saxon evidence is particularly abundant, as Ipswich’s urban origins can be traced back to the 7th/8th century AD, when it was Gipeswic, one of a small number of specialist craft and trading centres (wics or emporia) that arose in Anglo-Saxon England at this … Read More “Days of Beer and Iron” »

We’re going on a bere hunt

Posted on January 20, 2019January 20, 2019 By Mark 2 Comments on We’re going on a bere hunt
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Cereal farming emerged around 11 or 12 thousand years ago, in the so-called Fertile Crescent of the Middle East. Over the next 5 or 6 thousands years, arable farming ploughed its way westwards and northwards across mainland Europe, over to the British Isles, up into Scotland, even unto Orkney, Shetland, and the somewhat less fertile … Read More “We’re going on a bere hunt” »

An unusual use for ale

Posted on January 14, 2019January 7, 2019 By Mark 1 Comment on An unusual use for ale
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George Ewart Evans (1909-1988), British folklorist and oral history pioneer, has left a rich legacy of insight and information concerning rural life in England before the mechanisation of farming. His books and recordings are chock-full of golden nuggets, anecdotes and rustic remarks from ways of life that are increasingly beyond living memory. Most of his … Read More “An unusual use for ale” »

A brief history of my breakfast

Posted on January 7, 2019January 7, 2019 By Mark 2 Comments on A brief history of my breakfast
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So there was Earth. And on Earth formed the oceans. In the oceans grew simple-celled life, and these are the prokaryotes. From the prokaryotes grew complex-celled life, and these are the eukaryotes. From the eukaryotes grew multicellular life, some of which photosynthesised, and thus came plants to grow on the land and in the waters … Read More “A brief history of my breakfast” »

Farming unearthed… and transformed

Posted on April 3, 2018August 28, 2021 By Mark 4 Comments on Farming unearthed… and transformed
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I’m thrilled to say that, although I haven’t been able to write much of this blog over the past few months (or even years), I have managed to write a book which has lately been published by the excellent folk at Oxbow Books, in their Windgather Press imprint: It’s called Farming Transformed in Anglo-Saxon England: … Read More “Farming unearthed… and transformed” »

Come, ye thankful people come…

Posted on September 24, 2017September 1, 2021 By Mark 3 Comments on Come, ye thankful people come…
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Raise the song of harvest home! The harvest festival is not, it seems, an official fixture in the Church of England calendar. It is deemed a local celebration and permissible on a Sunday only if there isn’t a more significant celebration to be had that day. Some traditions hold that the harvest festival  should be … Read More “Come, ye thankful people come…” »

The History of the Countryside

Posted on May 7, 2017January 1, 2019 By Mark 1 Comment on The History of the Countryside
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Of course I had consulted it. Of course I’d cited it. But it’s taken a while to sit down and read it – properly, finally – from cover to cover. And it feels like a literary pilgrimage. What am I taking about? None other than “Rackham’s Countryside”, or more formally: Rackham, O. 1986. The History … Read More “The History of the Countryside” »

What’s up on the Downs?

Posted on July 24, 2016August 26, 2021 By Mark 4 Comments on What’s up on the Downs?
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My phone started ringing before I had unlocked the door. It was my dad. “Quick,” he said. “Turn on the news.” Whatever’s happened? I wondered. Has the Isle of Wight declared independence? As it happened, no, it was bigger than that: agricultural archaeology was on the evening news. You see, there’s a project underway in … Read More “What’s up on the Downs?” »

Get off my co-axial field system!

Posted on November 15, 2015September 1, 2021 By Mark
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I shouldn’t have been so surprised. Way back when I started this blog, I commented on how farming seems to permeate archaeology as a discipline – from the Neolithic onwards, it’s a crucial thread in so much of human history. It’s hard to ignore. But equally, it’s often a bit of a poor relation. Farming … Read More “Get off my co-axial field system!” »

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