Archaeologist and Writer
Many moons ago, as a teenager, I plumped for ancient history and archaeology on my university applications. In response, another lad said something along the lines of, “I don’t really get history myself – it’s all been and gone, hasn’t it?” It’s not an uncommon response, and in many ways it’s not unreasonable: why are … Read More “An open (field) relationship” »
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” »
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?” »
Max Planck (1858-1947) was a trailblazer of quantum theory, that confusing branch of physics which describes the inherent unpredictability of the very small. It’s kind of appropriate, then, that researchers at his namesake foundations – two of the Max Planck Institutes in Germany – are shedding uncertainty in the tiny world of molecular archaeology. It’s … Read More “The Ghost of the Sea” »
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!” »
So there they were, poised to knock up a retail distribution centre outside Chippenham, when up pops a Roman barn. Turns out there’s a nationally important Romano-British rural settlement on the site, and Historic England (formerly English Heritage) has scheduled it accordingly – so the development has stopped. This news nugget caught my eye in … Read More “Barnstorming in Roman Wiltshire” »
Continuing this blog’s impromptu ‘DNA season’, I’d like to flag up another recent article. Now this is ingenious stuff. It made me chuckle with admiration, in an I-wish-I’d-thought-of-that sort of way. First, the problem: historic livestock. How can we know what breeds of livestock were kept in the past? How far back can we trace … Read More “Sorting the sheep from… the other sheep” »
My guest post from the “Not Just Dormice” blog: https://notjustdormice.wordpress.com/2015/02/08/no-spelt-please-were-saxon/
After a long pause, the blog is back – and it’s a blog of surprises. These particular surprises reached my attention through both British Archaeology magazine and the online news pages of Science. For those of you lucky enough to have full-blown access to Science, the reference is this: Smith, O., Momber, G. et al. … Read More “Fashionably early?” »
It’s been a while since I last blogged, and especially since I last blogged about the Lyminge Archaeological Project – a fantastic research excavation undertaken by Reading University which I’ve been following with great interest. I popped back down to visit the dig in sunny Kent this summer to catch up with the 2014 campaign … Read More “The Hidden Mysteries of Midden Histories” »