Category Archives: Project Archaeologists

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

Christmas, such a festive time of the year for all to celebrate in their own little ways, making, breaking and faking tradition for gifts and toys. Fee knows it best, getting up on her feet and telling the rest, “shut up with the 12 days of Christmas it’s not yet even December“. In fact a favourite of mine the 12 days of Christmas (you know the one where we get 364 gifts for free) has some special meanings. For me let’s look at the partridge in a pear tree.

In Christian tradition the song begins as follows (sing along in your head, you can’t stop it now ha)
“O the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me, a partridge in a pear tree” in which the true love refers to yours truly, no? Fine, he actually represents God himself, the partridge in the pear tree (who really wants a pear tree? apples are where it’s at) symbolizing the sacrifice of Jesus to protect his followers, just as a mother partridge feigns injury to protect her young, by giving herself up, leaving her young to fend for themselves, grow independent, create an empire, betray one another etc etc (by the way statistically, sacrifice is a poor personal choice).

In truth, the Christian meaning and explanations for the song are a lie, but non the less helpful for those who are actually faithful. More accurately the song and the partridge in a pear tree is a mis-translation of an 18/19th century child’s lyrical game (sing a line wrong and you’re out, similar to adult drinking games where you sing a line incorrectly and you have to drink, dare I say ideas anyone?). Really the partridge in a pear tree is probably just a partidge in a tree with the pear bit translated on at some point.

Renditions of the song and the first gift have also changed through time, for example in Frank Sinatra’s version he substitutes the partridge and tree for a purple tie, and a radio version of the song by Bob Rivers replaces gifts for “annoying things to do during Christmas” in which the partridge in a pear tree is replaced by another, taller slightly piney / pokey tree.

Richard’s archaeological Partridge in a Pear Tree

As an archaeologist, My interpretation of the song is displayed in the picture, *partridge* (well we tried) bones on a high viz jacket that somehow kind of looks like a tree, with an actual steak of wood (probably a little sister or brother of an actual tree) being used as a tree. And one day it will end up in a book with some sort of meaning that I won’t be so sure about.

Honestly people on the first day of Christmas all I want is Alan Partridge and a cup of tea please.

Feature image recreated from Xavier Romero-Frias https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:XRF_12days.jpg under CC license

Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone has a wonderful break and keep an eye out for our 12 days of finds from the archive published everyday of the festive period!

Keep your eyes peeled for our 12 Days of Chirstmas

Christmas Presents for Archaeologists

It’s that time of year again…

Your Christmas tree is up, Christmas songs playing on a loop, your Christmas cards are all sent and you’ve bought enough food to feed a small army- you’re all set!

But… Oh no! You’ve forgotten to buy some stocking fillers for your beloved archaeologist child/friend/other half/pub acquaintance (delete as appropriate!)

But don’t panic, I’ve prepared a list of gifts perfect for the archaeologist in your life. Some are handy little bits of kit for the field (you’ll be hearing some trade secrets here- I hope you’re grateful!) Others are a bit more luxurious, some archaeology bling if you will, for those of us who are more desk based- and at this time of year that’s most of us!

So just relax and read on, let’s get those all-important stocking fillers sorted!

Funky T-Shirts

Archaeologists love a punny T-shirt

Archaeologists are all about the dig chic. Now you may be wondering,

‘Why? You’ll be covered in mud by the end of the day- what’s the point?’

You make a very astute point but although we archaeologists aren’t necessarily obsessed with Paris fashion week (the styles featured there show a bit too much skin to conform with Health and Safety regulations), we still like to dress to impress (even if we only impress each other!)

And as this T-Shirt shows, the punnier the better! 😉 Any archaeologist loves a good pun so with this dig related example, you can’t go wrong!

Or maybe this example of an inside archaeology joke is more their cup of tea. There’s no truth in this statement of course…

With these classy shirts, your archaeologist will be the envy of everyone come January!

Winter themed

Never enough tea

If you’d rather get them something useful for 2017, then Winter can be a cruel time for those in the field. To avoid your loved one getting frostbite here’s a few stocking sized gifts to keep them toasty.

OK, so the tea bags may not quite fit in your stocking but trust me, aside from beer, tea is the staple beverage for archaeologists. This humongous bags may seem a bit over the top but trust me, those 1200 teabags will last a good few weeks (yeah, I wasn’t joking, a lot of tea is consumed in archaeology!)

I’m more of a coffee drinker myself (dodges the thrown trowels of the tea drinking masses). So I’ve included some lovely flavoured coffee for those who need the extra caffeine to function.

Munsell Travel Mug

And regardless of our preferred hot beverage I think we can all agree that this Munsell chart travel mug is both practical and useful; a handy comparison chart to help with your contexts sheets whilst keeping your hands warm enough to write.

And if a hot drink doesn’t quite cut the mustard then buy a few of these handwarmers for them to tuck into their gloves. They’ll be eternally grateful- as will their supervisors for the improved legibility of their context sheets!

Away Work

If the archaeologist in question does a lot of away work, then there’s a few items you could get make their lives easier.

Playing cards are great on away jobs

A decent away bag is essential- a large weekend bag like this one should be perfect if like me you’ve perfected the rolled packing technique. There’s not always a lot of spare room for personal items when there’s a big team heading to one site. So, a compact bag with lots of pockets is very useful for those weeks away.

And for all those Winter evenings in cosy accommodation what can be better than a good film? But if there’s nothing on the TV and if you’re internet isn’t good enough to stream anything then a carry case is the perfect solution. The archaeologist in question can win a lot of friends by taking a range of films to suit all tastes. They can also pack CD’s for musical entertainment for those journeys to and from site. Their increase in popularity will mean they’ll love you forever!

In a similar vein, you can never go wrong with a pack of cards for evening entertainment. This British Museum pack means we can geek out whilst working out who’s the best poker player!

Treat them, they deserve it!

If you want to make them feel as important as they are, why not order them some business cards with their title on. We often give out our contact details to clients so get them this card case as well so they can look super professional when they ask to be updated on progress.

If your archaeologist is a jewellery lover they might like these stylish archaeology themed pieces. Not only will jewellery always gain you brownie points but trowels are our most treasured bit of kit, so it’s the perfect homage to our favourite tool!

Dry hands, especially those have taken on the texture of sandpaper, is never pleasant. So make sure your archaeologists’ hands are soft and hydrated with these quality hand creams from the Body Shop. And whilst you’re battling the Christmas crowds, feel free to pick up some lip balm- no one needs wind chapped lips!

A weekend treat?

One last idea that is a little more outside the box, is to buy them a voucher for an experience. My suggestion is based on personal experience. Escape rooms are a popular craze across the country and they involve being locked in a room for an hour and trying to escape using a few clues and by working as a team. Allen Archaeology’s local venues are in Nottingham and at one Escapologic, I even found an archaeology themed escape experience. The Crypt-ic room involves a pitch-black room, a couple of lanterns and finding clues in a crypt- just like the day job (except the skeleton is plastic, but it smells a lot sweeter!) I’m sure there are many more enters across the country and though not all may have an archaeology themed room, I still guarantee that anyone who’s chosen archaeology as a career will enjoy this experience- we all love a good puzzle!

So, there you go! A nice range of last minute gifts! Hope it’s given you some inspiration but just as a reminder, if you want to branch out on your own then please no dinosaur themed presents (that’s paleontology, completely different) and just you don’t mention Indiana Jones or Lara Croft, you should be fine!

Lastly bear in mind that there are a lot of practical presents on this list because despite our reputations we are quite a practical bunch, and usually more than a little work-obsessed!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Pottery training

Learning to recognise fabrics and forms

I’ve always had a ‘thing’ for pottery, stemming from my first experience of archaeological fieldwalking and finding a pile of greyware (I won’t mention the arrowhead I also found that day). Through volunteering on excavations and at the local museum I discovered there was an awful lot more to pottery than I expected. This year I have been undertaking some intensive training learning how to accurately identify, date, record and quantify pottery.

This process has involved numerous hours using a microscope and identifying minerals within the pottery fabric and comparing them to known local, national and even international fabrics. Each kiln has its own recipe of ingredients that gets mixed into the clay so if the kiln has been excavated a specific production site can be listed. The style/form of the pottery also gives indications of date. By cross referencing this information with previously identified examples a date range and hopefully a production site is revealed. As I don’t have the experience of the fabrics I have to check every sherd against a written description or an example piece and research every form with named examples from other sites. My progress is slow and occasionally frustrating but there are multiple ways to aid this process aside from 10 years of experience.

Archaeological text books can be challenging, they have huge amounts of text with pages of finds illustrated in the back. They are very difficult to read unless you are looking for something specific. To make the information more accessible I find writing the details and similar examples from other sites next to the illustration saves a lot of time flipping back and forth looking for dates and form names. I also have pages and pages of notes with sketches of rim types as a cheat sheet. Eventually I’ll be able to do this without having to look in a book every time.

It isn’t an easy thing to learn all this information and apply it with confidence to an assemblage but it has been enjoyable. The next step is going to be creating my own reference collection and building on my notes to help ease the process of remembering hundreds of fabrics and forms.

Heritage Research: What is the Desk-based Assessment

The initial stages of archaeological work can often be complex and differs greatly between sites depending on the individual peculiarities of the project. Often the first stage of work falls to the Heritage Research Department at AAL, consisting of Josh, Catriona and Jesse, and the writing of Desk-Based Assessments (DBAs).

Aerial photograph showing cropmakrs comprising circular enclosures

A DBA attempts to assess whether there is likely to be any archaeological remains on or near a planned development, and whether the development will affect the setting or significance of known (and usually designated) heritage assets, such as listed buildings. The DBA is in essence a short research project exploring all the aspects of the history and archaeology of a particular piece of land. These can be buildings due for renovation or demolition, planned housing schemes, solar farms, cable lines and a whole variety of other reasons.

The starting point for a report is usually the local Historic Environment Record (HER); previously known as Sites and Monuments Records (SMRs). They are databases of information relating to the historic environment and contain information about archaeological works, buildings, landscapes, finds and a whole range of other things associated with the human past. You can access a lot of the information from Heritage Gateway if you are undertaking personal research.

The results of a HER search will tell us what known archaeological and heritage assets are located within defined area. However, this record is not everything. A report can also include sifting through the local archives for historical documents; indicating land use of the site over time, or investigating cropmarks shown on aerial photographs, and analysing maps of the past for evidence of shrunken villages. Some sites require a closer understanding of the underlying geology to predict whether prehistoric activity is likely, and others need to check whether 20th century buildings are likely to have truncated the archaeological resource.

Ridge and Furrow spotted on a site visit

Yet, part of the job also involves getting out the office and into the field (as we are still archaeologists!). Our site visits might include visiting ancient monuments, exploring parks and gardens, inspecting and recording old buildings, and visually assessing seemingly innocuous land, searching for potential clues of archaeological remains that might lie beneath. Without visiting the site it can be impossible to know how it relates to the landscape surrounding it.

A DBA is often undertaken at the pre-planning stage in order to highlight the potential for archaeological remains in advance of construction taking place. This allows the developer to prevent damage to the archaeological resource and the associated costs of excavation by changing the specifics of the development. For instance, the developer might choose to leave open spaces for recreation on houses estates over areas of known archaeological interest in order to avoid disturbing underlying remains. You never know, your local park might be on the ground of a Roman villa or a medieval castle! In addition, DBAs allow the local planning authorities to make decisions about whether or not excavation is required for planning permission, in cases where it is not practical to change the nature of the development. That’s when archaeologists get their hands dirty!

Preparing DBAs can be really rewarding projects for people who want to expand their knowledge of British Archaeology. You have to know a little bit about everything, and know where to start looking for more information and when to spend more time exploring something.

Find of the month: September

October’s find of the month was found just this week; during works around the forthcoming Chadwick Centre, at the International Bomber Command Memorial Site. Several large pieces of waster pots were found in a pit near to where three kilns had already been excavated back in 2014. Hopefully we could find another one!

Find of the month: large pieces of waster pots

We started work at the site in 2014. During an excavation in 2014, the three kilns were uncovered and have all been dated to the Romano-British period: probably towards mid to late 3rd Century. They are all fairly small, indicating that they were more likely to have been small subsistence kiln’s filling the needs of the local area, rather than a business. Earlier work has shown that the area has generally been in agricultural use; with multiple corn dryers, which would link into the local use of the kilns in a rural area.

One of the kilns excavated this week

A pottery kiln normally consists of a dome shaped superstructure which keeps the heat in, and around, the pottery being fired. A long triangular or oval shaped stokehole pit lies in front of the circular oven , which was where the fire was originally started and also where the ashes would be pulled out of the kiln into. Stokeholes are often very distinguishable due to their black, charcoaly appearance.

Base of a pot which didn’t make the grade because of the small depression that weakens the pot

Throughout the kiln structure you can find wasters. Wasters are piece of pottery that have not made the grade for whatever reason; be it a deformity such as a crack, a poor firing reducing the integrity of the structure, or an air bubble within the clay. You are less likely to find a complete rim of a vessel, which is why the one seen here is particularly exciting You can see on the picture of the little base, a small depression which would have been an air bubble that was trapped in the clay but burst during the firing. This not only creates a poor finish but it weakens the pottery.

One kiln found during the excavation had very little pottery wasters near, or in it, which suggests that it might have been used for something other than pottery. It could have been a bread oven, or as the more imaginative of us like to think; a pizza oven!

Best site hut biscuit with Rachel

Rachel with her beautifully excavated kiln

What is your job role?
Project Archaeologist

How long have you worked for Allen Archaeology?
One year and four months

How would describe your excavation technique?
I used to be very meticulous and it would take me ages to find the edges, now I’m much better with a shovel. So I’d go with fast and furious!

How long have you been working in archaeology?
I had one commercial job before this so it’s coming up to just over two years now

How did you get into archaeology?
One of my teachers at school used to be an archaeologist and I was inspired by the practical side of archaeology, rather than just the bookish nature of history. Having said that I enjoy the multidisciplinary nature of archaeology- there’s a lot to be said for the helpful nature of oral history, as I found out on a site a few weeks ago, when I found house foundations which were missing from the map I had but one of the construction workers had handily lived there a few decades before!

What is the best thing about your job?
It’s hard to pick just one thing, I suppose the initial attraction of the job was the chance of finding something spectacular. I’ve already had some amazing finds, including a Mesolithic flint axe on my first ever commercial site. But I’ve come to realise that I really enjoy learning more about the ordinary people who lived in the settlements that we tend to excavate fully. Seeing how the ditches and pits were a part of living landscape makes me feel like our job is worthwhile.

I also enjoy training people and seeing how even after a couple of days the progress they make; that’s another part of the job I really enjoy.

Specialist skills?
Speedy shovelling and I’m quite good at excavating kilns. I developed these skills working on a site in Norfolk, when I excavated a large percentage of the examples we found!

Best site hut biscuit?
Chocolate hobnobs – you can dunk them in tea/coffee but they’re still satisfying as a speedy snack before heading back out on site!

Lincolnshire Heritage Open Days

Heritage Open Days is a festival in England over four days in September. During these four days thousands of events across the country allow you to explore the history and culture sitting at your feet. Heritage Lincolnshire has co-ordinated Heritage Open Days in Lincolnshire since 1994 they provide free access to lots of interesting properties, tours, events and activities across the county. This weeks blog is a pick of the ones our staff plan to take advantage of!

Chris (Clay) and Al both plan to visit the Old Tile Works at Barton upon Humber. Chris because he led a community project to survey the site in 2010 before it was restored, and Al because he loves all things industrial!

Jesse is going to see Earth as a Natural Building Material, as it would be intriguing to see how buildings made of materials that rarely survive in the archaeological record are constructed, and to give you a bit of ‘real-life’ experience within that historical setting!

Josh would like to visit the Museum of Lincolnshire Life, as it has numerous objects, artefacts, and trinkets, from people’s everyday life in Lincolnshire from 1750 to the present day. It will be interesting to see how life has changed over the last few centuries and how different things would have been for all of us not that long ago.

Rachel hoping to go on the guided walk along the Ice Age route of the River Trent, between Lincoln and Newark. We would like to experience this lost river route as she’s really interested in how the landscape has changed over time; as an archaeologist she tends to concentrate on how people have affected the landscape, but this walk will help her to understand the natural phenomenon that has shaped the area she now call home.

Cat is keen to get to Gainsborough Old Hall as she loves a medieval interior.

Fee is a glutton for punishment and is going to visit All Saints’ Church in Winterton and St Peter’s Church in Barton Upon Humber following a watching brief at Winterton. (Cat might sneak along as well as she loves a medieval church!)

Nasha also has her eyes on a church; St Peter at Gowts Church in Lincoln, as the stories surrounding the building sound fascinating.

Rob is also following up on a job and is planning on visiting Belton House. He ran a geophysics project their recently and is hoping to return to have a look inside the building!

Jedlee and Duncan are interested in visiting Lincoln’s Oldest Church of St Mary le Wigford to see the Saxon Tower.

Ryan is planning on going to Gibraltar Point as the walk is nice and there is lots to see and do.

Dominika plans to visit the RAF Binbrook Heritage Centre.

Alice is going to try and get to the talk on the Submerged Forest at Cleethorpes’ as she was part of the team tracing the track erosion.

Debbie has an interest in stained glass and has always wanted to have a go so she’s going to check out the Heritage Craft Demonstrations at Strawberry Glass.

Best site hut biscuit with Tae

Recording onsite at Market Harborough

What is your job role?
Trainee Project Archaeologist

How long have you worked for Allen Archaeology?
On and off over the last six months. I started my formal traineeship in June 2016.

How would describe your excavation technique?
Detailed and meticulous

How long have you been working in archaeology?
About six months

How did you get into archaeology?
Chris Casswell is a family friend (and told me the biscuits were good). I then applied for a traineeship.

What is the best thing about your job?
Solving ancient puzzles.

Specialist skills?
I make a pretty good cuppa.

Best site hut biscuit?
The gingernut