Tag Archives: archaeology

Five gold rings

Gold jewellery has been present in the archaeological record since about 4000 BC, but we are unfortunately short of golden rings in our stores. I did find a carved glass bead once inset into a ring and who knows it could have been gold.

Instead we have gone for an Intaglios; an engraving carved onto a flat surface, often mounted onto a ring. Intaglios start in the 7th century BC in the near east but our example is Romano British and depicts a female figure raising a spear in the air. Originally they were a sign of status and made of semi-precious stones such as jasper or amber. They were both decorative and functional being used to impress a seal into liquid wax. Like many prestige items the general population caught onto the fashion and began to reproduce them in more affordable materials. This style eventually developed into the cameo so popular with the Victorians, where a portrait was carved in relief instead of inset showing the change in use from functional to decorative.

Romano-British Intaglio

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

Four Calling Birds

Four Calling Birds is a slightly complicated find to track down. While Calling Birds could be a type of Songbird in the case of the song it is also thought to be a variation on the original of Colly bird; a blackbird. Unfortunately we have neither of these in the archive, and there are a lot of birds in this song….

Instead we have decided to stick with the idea of calling bird and have selected this little bell.

A small bell

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

Three French Hens

French hens were a luxury import in the 16th Century and are therefore said to represent the expensive gifts gold, frankincense and myrrh. Alternatively they are also thought to symbolise faith, hope and charity. As there are no apparent French hens in the archive I have chosen three French minted Roman coins.

3 French Hens (or coins….)

The largest of the three coins is also the earliest. It dates to 307-318 AD and was minted in Lyon during the reign of Constantine I. The two smaller coins were both minted in Arles. One dates to 364-378 AD and shows the Roman Emperor Valens. The other coin dates to 367-383 and depicts Gratian.

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

Two turtle doves

The Bible depicts doves as loyal, honest and loving. In Leviticus 12:8, two turtle doves replaced a lamb sacrifice. Mary and Joseph sacrificed two turtle doves in Jerusalem at Christ’s birth. Turtle doves are still associated with the Christmas tradition.

Turtle doves symbolize love and faithfulness

Our turtle doves are represented by this delicate copper alloy and enamel bird brooch excavated from a Roman context off Newport in Lincoln.

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

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

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!

Why post-medieval archaeology matters (to some of us)

As archaeologists, our job is to study the past through the analysis of material culture. But how far into the past does something have to be to warrant the attention of archaeology? Occasionally in the course of our work it is possible to encounter the view that whilst the significance of remains of the distant past is appreciated, the more recent the period being dealt with, the more people become baffled the remains are considered to merit study. This attitude is of course understandable – prehistoric, Roman and medieval sites have little or no documentary evidence relating to them, they do not appear on maps or photographs and very often their very existence is unknown until they are revealed by archaeologists. It is easy to assume that, for more recent sites, the historical record “tells us all we need to know”.

However, it must be remembered that in the future even the present will be really, really old. With our unprecedented appreciation of the value of heritage, I think that we must seize the opportunity to make sure that we have as full a record as possible of significant archaeological remains of more recent times, especially given that in some areas such sites are disappearing at an alarming rate.

In this post, then, I’ll (Al) give a couple of examples where I think that the archaeological study of more recent sites has proven its worth. I know not everyone will be convinced….

Figure 1: Women working in engineering, Manchester, 1916

Many years ago I carried out an evaluation on the site of an engineering works in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, which had originated as part of the Gateshead Iron Works, founded by William Hawks in the 18th century. One of the trenches was targeted on an outbuilding identified on OS mapping as a fairly late addition to the site – a building which turned out to be a toilet block. So far, so very unglamorous. During post excavation, a search of building control documentation revealed that the toilets had been added to the works in 1917. At first this puzzled me. Why, with the most destructive war in human history in full flow in Europe, would an engineering works undoubtedly running at full capacity on Ministry of Defence contracts build a new toilet block, of all things? It occurred to me at that point that there was no evidence in the ground for a urinal, just individual cubicles, and a possible interpretation emerged.

It seems possible that the new toilets became a necessity at that time due to the replacement of the traditionally male workforce with women, as more and more men were conscripted into the armed forces. The work done by women during the First World War is often presented as a factor in the softening of the attitude of the powers that be to the idea of granting women suffrage, although the long struggle that it took to achieve this should not be dismissed. Although the interpretation is not certain, to me it provides an example of how archaeological and documentary evidence can be combined to add to understanding of the social history of not only the specific site, but the region and nation as a whole.

From another metalworking site on Tyneside, that of Spencer’s Steelworks in Newburn, there is further example of how archaeology can add to our understanding of the development of the site. Documentary records tell us that the works, which was founded in the early 19th century, expanded in the 1870s as new plant for bulk steel production was installed. Records have not survived, however, detailing the construction methods and materials used in this fairly late expansion. Archaeology revealed remains of some of the first commercially viable Siemen’s regenerative steel furnaces in England. Interestingly, it also revealed that the construction of the furnaces had necessitated the import of refractory bricks from Glenboig, near Glasgow.

Figure 2: Example of a Glenboig firebrick, because there had to be a brick…………

At this time the north east coalfield had many firebrick works, producing products which were nationally renowned, along with those from around Stourbridge. Indeed, many firebricks from West Durham brickworks were used at Spencer’s – unsurprisingly, as the freight charges would have been minimal. So, what the archaeology suggested was that, despite their excellent reputation, local refractory bricks were still not suitable for lining Siemens furnaces. The Glenboig brickworks, close to Coatbridge where Siemens plant had been built in the late 1860s, seem to have developed bricks especially for this task, and historical evidence shows that they made it a selling point. So the investigation of a site in Newburn informs us not only about industry there, but also about related industry in Scotland.

Although there’s only space to provide a couple of examples, I hope that I have manage to express why I believe that it is important to treat archaeology of more recent times as a significant and diminishing resource. The work AAL does continues to build our understanding of the post-medieval and modern eras, with recent work on the Crown Brewery and maltings in Lincoln, communal air-raid shelters from the Second World War in Sunderland, and this…

Figure 3: A lovely example of a Royal Observer Corps monitoring post dating from the Cold War period.

Image sources:

Figure 1: American Machinist, vol 44, issue 25, page 1060 via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WW1_Churchills_Pendleton_women_at_work_1916.png
Figure 2: Image reproduced with Creative Commons License from https://www.flickr.com/photos/nottsexminer/6824143320
Figure 3: AAL’s archive

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.

Islamic Palaces 1 – The Alhambra Royal Workshops Project

Over the past 6 months I have been working with universities in the south of Spain to investigate workshops and production areas within medieval Islamic palaces. This, the first of two blogs, will focus on trips taken earlier this summer to the Alhambra in Granada.

Arabesque and tiles

For those of you unfamiliar with the site, the Alhambra is a large palace and fortress complex situated on a promontory at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, overlooking Granada. It was constructed in the 13^th century AD during the Nasrid dynasty, a late Muslim dynasty in the south of Spain, and the palace is best known for its highly ornate arabesque reliefs, glazed tiles, pottery, glass and of course the beautiful gardens; and it was these gardens that had attracted the attention of academics from the Universities of Bournemouth, Newcastle and Granada. The question they were all asking – where exactly were the tiles, pottery and glass produced when the site was initially constructed?

The current gardens are a relatively modern addition and much reconstruction work of existing structures had been done to tidy its appearance; however, upon closer inspection some of these structures formed ‘keyhole’ shapes in plan, typical of kilns or furnaces.

Keyhole kiln

Prof Kate Welham and Dr Derek Pitman from Bournemouth University took the lead in May, undertaking a non-invasive survey of an area of garden using a whole suite of geophysical techniques (fluxgate gradiometer, electromagnetic survey, magnetic susceptibility and ground penetrating radar (GPR)), plus portable X-ray fluorescence (p-XRF). This approach was taken because of the likely nature of deposits beneath the surface – the site had been occupied by Napoleon’s forces during the Peninsular War, but upon his retreat significant parts of the fortress were destroyed including, most probably, the area of garden under survey. As little or no archaeological work had been carried out before, no one knew quite what to expect.

Surveying

Now, my first piece of archaeological fieldwork took place in 2000, and I’ve been in and out of the field ever since, but until this moment I’d never performed a geophysical survey. I’d always been that guy who can dig and, in more recent years, the GIS geek, often working with geophysical data but never collecting it. So just to prove to everyone that it did actually happen I got someone to capture the moment…

Using GPR at the Alhambra

I’m afraid I’m not able to reproduce the results in this blog, but I can say that several areas indicated the presence of high temperature activities. These results informed the implementation of an excavation strategy, and a couple of months later, two trenches were opened to investigate various magnetic enhancements recorded during the geophysical survey. These were directed by Dr Chloe Duckworth from Newcastle University and Dr Alberto Garcia Porras from University of Granada, and I was invited along to survey their findings and introduced them to the use of SfM to reconstruct a 3-dimensional image of each trench.

A trench being excavated

It was their first digging field season and the main priority was to take the topsoil off and map the uppermost deposits and any structural remains. Once this had been achieved it became increasingly apparent that the site was more complex than first thought. It had been occupied on and off for the past 800 years and many of the remains date to later activity, including the modern reconstructions which now mask the true nature of the kilns.

I hope to return in 2017 when these remains can be investigated fully and the full extent of production within the Alhambra is likely to reveal itself.