Archaeologist and Writer
Hello again! While I fully intend to inject some more archaeology into this blog in due course, I’d like to flag up a companion website which is the new home of my fantasy fiction series Creatures of Flyn: https://www.markmckerracher.co.uk Please do take a look, especially if you’re on the lookout for an escapist summer read. … Read More “A summer read” »
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” »
Whatever you think about post-Roman and medieval corn-dryers, you have to admit: they’re not exactly over-studied. The published literature is not overwhelming, by any stretch of the imagination – even if you include malting ovens. The subject is somewhat better served in Irish than in British archaeology, but still, to the best of my knowledge, … Read More “Book news: Drying kilns” »
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also … Read More “Let them eat corn” »
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” »
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” »
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” »
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” »
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” »
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…” »