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Adve ntur e s in Ar cha e ol ogy August 2010Past Hori zonsO n l i n e J o u r n a l
o f v o l u n t e e ra r c h a e o l o g y
a n d t r a i n i n g
er it age E du ca ti on Co mmu ni ty B ui ld ing
Dig Diary J u ni o r A rc h ae o lo g is t s P as s ag e G r av e
Shiel ings: Life in the High Pastures
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20Wallingford
With only limited display and storage space the Wallingford
museum in England made plans to build a timber frame extension
to their existing medieval building. In order to fulfil that dream,
the townsfolk of Wallingford joined ranks to raise the necessaryfunds to give their museum a whole new leas e of l ife.
Issue 13
August 2010
Editors:
Felicity Donohoe
Maggie Struckmeier
Layout:
Maggie Struckmeier
GraphicsDavid Connolly
Past Horizons
Traprain House
Luggate Burn
Haddington
East Lothian
EH41 4QA
Tel: +44 (0)1620 861643
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.pasthorizons.com
Contributors:
Stuart Dewey
Judy Dewey
Eulah Matthews
Bill Neidinger
Annie Evans
Si Cleggett
Fiona Baker
George Nash
Jane Summers
Front cover:Jamie Humble, at 64, modelling
t he s le e p ing p os s ib i l i t ie s at a
c ir c u lar c e l l s t y le hu t at Al l t
F e ar na, S c ot land
Note
Past Horizons can give no endorsement
of any listed project or guarantee the
accuracy of the information supplied.
The editors accept no responsibility
for any loss, injury, or inconvenience
sustained by anyone using the resourcescontained within this magazine and/or
the websites mentioned herein. When
considering a project, be sure to contact
the director with any questions you might
have about conditions, travel, health
issues, etc. Check for references from
previous participants, seek advice where
possible and select a project that will be
of the greatest benefit to you, the project
and the team.
All content is copyright and no
reproduction of text or images is
allowed without prior permission
from the author.
Past Horizons 2010
30Delancey Park
Delancey Park on the island of Guernsey is a Neolithic gallery
grave. One of only three in the Channel Islands, i t comprises
two parallel l ines of stone that extend for around nine-and-a-half
metres from east to we st, and this year Clifford Antiquarian Club
began excavations on the site wi th some promising results .
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8 Project Archaeology
An award-winning educational team
from America expla ins why the use of
archaeology is helping young people
apprecia te the places and objects that
def ine the past .
C
ontents
38Lost?
Children and teachers from Aboyne academy
in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, adopt a variety of
archaeological techniques to discover more about the
small, abandoned settlement of Auchtavan.
Regulars
48Bylazora
Follow the Texas Foundation for Archaeological and
Historical Research in their quest to find Bylazora, the
largest city of the Paionians, who occupied territory to the
north of ancient Macedon. Find out how their third digging
season is progressing through their weekly dig diary.
DigDiary - Bylazora
42Shielings
Shielings played a significant part in the rural practices of the
Highlands of Scotland until the 19th century. Archaeologist
Fiona Baker explains where to locate them and describes
their particular functions.
5EditorialMaking way for change.
6NewsStories from around the world.
14Exhibition FocusAlexander the Great and Uneartheds
ancient clay figures from East and West.
28A Diggers LifeSi Clegget discusses children in history.
47 ProfileFiona Baker.
54Dig InCurrent excavation opportunities.
56Dig CookCulinary escapades from Annie Evans.
59 Viewpoint
David Connolly on the benefits of teachingcultural heritage.
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www.aerial-cam.co.uk
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e
dit
oria
l
WELCOME to the new edition of Past Horizons. This
issue includes a couple of articles on the new and exciting
steps educators are taking towards history, heritage and
archaeology in both the United States and the United
Kingdom. Archaeology is now included at some schools
as a means to equip children with the skills to exploreheritage in a way that has never been presented to them before. The ability
to think critically is a very powerful tool and one that is extremely useful
when trying to uncover the truth about the past; after all , pseudo-archa eology is
everywhere and most of us have been fooled by it at some ti me or another.
The Indiana Jones movies and books such as The Da Vinci Code are mainly
harmless fun but they can make fools out of people when they do not apply the
basic tenets of archaeology, which are the presence of physical evidence and
critical thinking. Believing in something is one thing, but proving a theory can
be much harder and in the end is a much more satisfyi ng experience.
How many archaeologists would deny they have been influenced by Erik von
Danikens series of books, which carefully mix factual evidence with unsupported
speculation leaving the reader with the impression that there must be some truth
in what is written? It is usually with maturity of thought that the archaeologist
is able to look back and dissect the supposed evidence leaving a less fanciful
but more realistic pict ure of the past.
When we first challenge established beliefs and question what we have previously
accepted then the world appears a less certain place. However, the real evolution
of humanity is extraordinarily diverse and colourful, and the ability to observe,
investigate and use forensic analysis opens up a whole new way of viewing the
world and allows for genuine archaeological advancement leaving less need
to believe in pyramids built by aliens. Truth can be stranger than fiction, after
a l l .
Embracing change enables learning, and utilising the tools available in
archaeology provides an excellent framework to assess any situation whether a
news story or an accepted theory. The same is true when others scrutinise our
own work and as archaeologists we have t o be as open to challenge as we are to
challenging others.
Change can always be a positive step and this is exactly the direction Past
Horizons is taking. From next month, a new magazine format will be introduc ed
to better deal with the ever-changing and fast-paced world of archaeological
discovery. The quarterly flip-page magazine will make way for a rolling article
based web system that will maintain the same high quality writing and images
whilst responding instantl y to breaking news, bringing a better, more up-to-date
service to our readers.
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new
s
EXPERTS have determined that the human remains discovered at
Ridgeway Hil l , Weymouth, las t year are most l ikely of Scandinavian
origin. Isotope analysis on the males , which included 51 decapitated
skulls , shows that that the men had grown up in countr ies where the
cl imate is colder than in Bri tain , with one individual thought to be
from north of the Arctic Circle . Studies also found that the men had a
high protein-based diet , comparable with known s i tes in Sweden.
Samples taken from the teeth of 10 of the individuals have been painstakingly
processed by Dr Jane Evans and Carolyn Chenery at the NERC Geosciences
Laboratory, part of the British Geological survey, based in Nottingham. Evans
and Chenery analysed the samples for strontium and oxygen, which reflect local
geology and climate respectively, and carbon and nitrogen, which reflect diet.
Together, these isotopes are a useful means of exploring where the indi viduals are
most l ikely to have originated.
Dr Evans said, Isotopes from
drinking water and food are fixed
in the enamel and dentine of teeth
as the teeth are formed in early lif e.
By completing a careful preparation
and chemical separation process
in the laboratory, the elements
are extracted and their isotope
composition can be measured.
The extraordinary burial site wasdiscovered in June 2009 during
Executed men were of Viking or igin
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the earthwork operation for a relief road, and
was excavated by Oxford Archaeology over
the following months. The remains of bodies
belonging to the skulls had been discarded
haphazardly in another area of the same grave,
which was a re-used quarry pit .
Many of the executed men suffered multiple
wounds to the skull and jaw as well as theupper spine, inflicted by a sharp-bladed
weapon and thought to relate to the process of
decapitation. Other wounds so far identified
include a cut to the pelvis, blows to the chest
and defensive injuries to the hands.
Oxford Archaeology project manager David
Score said, The find of the burial pit on
Ridgeway was remarkable and got everyone
working on site really excited. To find out
that the young men executed were Vikings isa thrill ing development.
Any mass grave is a relatively rare find, but
to find one on this scale, from this period of
history, is extremely unusual and presents an
incredible opportunity to learn more about
what is happening in Dorset at this t ime.
Radio carbon dating placed the remains between AD910 and AD1030, and specialists are
continuing to examine the remains to tr y to piece together the events surrounding the gruesome
discovery.
I f you are viewing this magazine on SCRIBD, then
you wi l l not be able to see the video.
You can view i t on ei ther the ful l f l ip page vers ion of
the magazine:
www.pas thor izons .com/magazine
OR
Here: http:/ /www.youtube.com/
watch?v=3UVLG7j9zLA&NR=1
Images courtesy of Oxford Archaeology
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D ig d ir e c t or D . Bar r y Hob s on ( hand r ais e d in whit e s hir t ) , a r e t ir e d ge ne r al p r ac t it ione r , we lc ome s a gr ou p of v is i t or s t o t he
e x c av at ion s it e . D r . Hob s on t ook a d e gr e e in Ar c hae ol ogy at Br ad f or d U niv e r s it y af t e r hi s r e t ir e me nt .
Tip i p r oj e c t
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CONFRONT ING THE
CHALLENGE o f cultura l her i tage preservat ion
IN TODAYS world, we face many challenges
in negotiating multicultural landscapes, and
to equip the next generation for this task, i t is
necessary to provide them with an educational
foundation that is grounded in a respect for social and cultural differences. The discipline
of archaeology provides a useful tool to help
insti l l a reverence for the places and objects that
define our past , a respect for our shared cul tural
heritage, and to emphasise the importance of
protecting i t now and in t he future.
Int e r ac t iv e s he lt e r mod u le s
Images and text by the Project Archaeology Team
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In the United States, the Archaeological
Resources Protection Act (ARPA), amended
in 1988, instructs Federal land managers to
implement educational programmes to informthe public about the significance of cultural
and archaeological resources on public
lands and the need to protect them. Project
Archaeology was founded two years later to
employ education in the protection of cultural
resources on publicly owned lands throughout
the nation.
Because the programme is designed to be
delivered primarily by classroom teachers,
all Project Archaeology educational materials provide ways for educators to teach science,
social studies, language arts and mathematics,
promoting citizenship, civic dialogue, and
cultural understanding through the examination
of heritage preservation issues.
In 1990, the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM), an agency within the United States
Department of the Interior that administers the
253 million acres of public lands, developed
a new heritage education programme that
would promote an appreciation of the nat ions
cultural legacy. That same year, the America
2000 Education Strategy called for Federal
agencies to lead the way in promoting
education objectives.
Under the heading Project Archaeology, the
BLM planned to develop a resource guide
and comprehensive heritage educational programme for teachers and other youth
educators, which would use a variety of
activities to teach pupils about the science of
archaeology and the stewardship of cultural
resources. I t would also advance the goals of
the America 2000 Education Strategy while
promoting the protection of Americas cultural
resources.
In the late 1990s Project Archaeology
sought out a partnership to help expand and
maintain the programme, and Montana State
W or k s hop p ar t ic ip ant s at a b u f f al lo j u mp s it e , Mont ana
Project Archaeology now
includes 28 state and
regional programmes
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University, a leader in conservation education
programming, was selected. Operations were
transferred to Bozeman, Montana, in 2001.
Project Archaeology now includes 28 stateand regional programmes and has published
a new curriculum, Project Archaeology:
Investigating Shelter, for teachers and
pupils in upper elementary grades. Since
then, educators in 30 states have attended
Project Archaeology in-service or pre-service
workshops, reaching an estimated 225,000
pupils each year. The curriculum guide
has been distributed throughout the USA
and several other countries, and has been
adapted by various organisations, such as the
Smithsonian Institution, for other uses.
The primary means of distributing ProjectArchaeology curricular materials is through
professional development workshops for
teachers. The workshops offer a variety of
engaging, hands-on experiences, and educators
often have the opportunity to experience local
archaeological sites and listen to special guest
speakers. In Montana, for example, workshop
participants vi sit stone circle an d buffalo jump
sites, and in 2009, educators camped in tipis
on the edge of the Little Big Horn Battlefield
during Crow Native Days. Participants woketo bugle calls and the US Cavalry in full
19th century uniform crossing the river on
horseback headed to an annual re-enactment
of the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
In 2009 Project Archaeology launched its
first online course. In partnership with the
University of Utah and the Utah Museum of
Natural History, the course offers teachers
the opportunity to fit a workshop into their
busy schedules, allowing them to log inand participate in the eight-week course on
their own time. In addition, they can discuss
implementation strategies with their peers,
fulfil l ing a need for professional interaction
and mutual support. Teachers have access to
supplementary materials including regional
investigations and historic
photographs on our website,
allowing them to localise
the curricular materials,
focusing on their specificregion. The response has been
overwhelmingly positive and
three online workshops are
scheduled for 2010.
Project Archaeology activities
are hands-on, interactive, and
engaging opportunities that
both teachers and pupi ls enjoy
and the experience leads to real
learning. The new curriculum,
Project Archaeology:
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Investigating Shelter, focuses on how people
lived long ago, and takes pupils through the
processes of learni ng about a group of people
from the objects and features they left behind.
Pupils learn to think like archaeologists,
using observation, inference, classification
and context to piece together the puzzle of
past l ifeways.
Once pupils understand the basic skills,
they apply them to a particular regionalinvestigation that emphasises their own local
history. In each regional investigation, pupil s
have the opportunity to meet a descendant
who guides them through the investigation.
The descendant representatives are integral
to learning and demonstrate to the pupils
that descendant communities have not
vanished. There are currently eight regional
investigations and we plan to add more in the
future to ensure pupils have the opportunity
to study their local history and environment.The final lesson exposes learners to the
four different perspectives of developers,
archaeologists, new home owners and
descendant community members, and
allows pupils to consider the implications
of land use decisions. We hope that pupils
develop understanding of social and cultural
differences, and carry this experience with
them into the future.
The journey continues as Project Archaeology
enters i ts 21st year. The organisation continuesto grow, and in 2010 and 2011 we will expand
the online courses, explore new opportunities
with informal science education, and continue
to develop our network of educators and
archaeologists.
Many countries face the problem of looting
and site destruction. These issues are vast and
complex, but education has enormous value in
confronting them, and instil l ing respect and
understanding of the past in young peoplecan assist in protecting our cultural heritage.
A programme like Project Archaeology that
engages pupils in the past can foster the
necessary sense of stewardship to help protect
our cultural resources, now and in the future.
P r o j e c t A r c h a e o l o g y r e c e n t l y w o n t h e A w a r d
f o r Ex c e l l e n c e i n P ubl i c Educ a t i o n f r o m t h e
S o c i e t y f o r A m e r i c a n A r c h a e o l o g y .
S hawne e s it e s c ie nc e
Pupi ls learn to think l ike
archaeologists , us ing
observat ion, inference,
c lass i f icat ion and context to
piece together the puzzle of past l i feways
For more information on Project Archaeology:http://www.projectarchaeology.org
Facebook: http ://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/
group.php?gid=325400120483&ref=ts
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WHSWORK HARD OR STARVE
Find i t Here
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Alexander the Great wi l l be
brought to l i fe next month atthe Hermitage Amsterdam,
the f i rst t ime a Dutch museum
has devoted an exhibit ion
to the Macedonian King. The
Immortal Alexander the Great
charts the k ings journey to
the East and explores the
inf luence of Hel lenism through
the last 2500 years , with over350 masterpieces inc luding the
famous Gonzaga cameo f rom
the State Hermitage Museum
in St Petersburg.
The exhibition presents several themes exploring the myths, reality and heritage
of Alexander (356-323 BC) using art , terracotta figurines, papyrus, tapestry and
various multimedia. Born in 356 BC as the son of King Philip II of Macedonia,
Alexander was taught by Aristotle who
had a lasting influence. At just 20-years-
old he succeeded his father and two years
later embarked on the great expedition
that would assure his fame, taking him to
Syria, Egypt, Persia, Bactria and India.
His presence in these regions had a lasting
impact on architecture, art , language and
culture, and over time they displayed Greek
influences in a process that became knownas Hellenism.
Exploring the myths of Alexander, this
part of the exhibition use s images from the
seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries and
decorative arts display his heroic deeds
and conquests, with paintings by Pietro
Antonio Rotari and Sebastiano Ricci, and
a tapestry depicting The Family of Darius
before Alexander the Great.
exhibition
foc
us
The Im mort al Alexander the Great
Ar c hit e c t u r al e le me nt wit h l ion s he ad ( me t op e )Par t hia. 2nd c e nt u r y BC-1s t c e nt u r y AD
Te r r ac ot t a, 25. 3 x 14. 4 c mAl l image s S t at e He r mit age Mu s e u m, S t Pe t e r s b u r g
Re l ie f f r agme nt : Pe r s ian s old ie r f r om D ar iu s or Xe r x e s r oy al
gu ar d . I r an. C. 500 BC. L ime s t one , 22. 3 x 20. 2 c m
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Alexanders legacy is then explored
through artefacts such as fourth-
century reliefs from Palmyra
demonstrating the endurance of
Greek traditions outside Greece,
along with papyruses bearing texts
in Greek, which were stil l being produced in the ninth century.
In the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries, he played a prominent
role in Persian li terature in which
he is known as Iskander. He is also
recognisable in finely-executed
miniatures. Bringing Alexander
into the present day, photographer
Erwin Olaf presents the king
through a photographic series and
short fi lm, skilfully conveying his
character traits and features.
Spanning 2500 years, the exhi bition
reflects the international, t imeless
appeal of Alexander the Great,
depicting his l ife, legacy and
relevance even in modern times,
and runs from 18 September, 2010
- 18 March, 2011 at the Hermitage
Amsterdam.
He ad of Mit hr id at e s
VI E u p at or
Pe r gamon. 90-80 BC
F ine -gr aine d mar b lewit h y e l low t int
h 38 c m
An exploration of his l ife in Macedonia then examines
his teachers, heroes and ideals, and also includes
his Great Expedition to the East, his campaign of
conquest lasting over 10 years, s upported by a 50,000-
strong army. Objects from Egypt and Persia, fr om the
nomads and the Babylonians, show the rich cultures
he encountered on his travels, and can be traced by
visitors using interactive maps and computers.
Here, the exhibition also highlights the Greek influence
on those cultures. Terracotta figurines depicting men
and women, gods and satyrs, musicians and Eros, and
stone fragments of architecture, testify to the artistic
wealth that characterised the Hellenistic territories
from the fourth century BC to the first few centuries
AD. While many of these works reflect the Greek
spirit of cheerfulness and playfulness, the Greeks also
took an interest in the atypical, such as disabilit ies
and deformities.
Por t r ait s t u d y of a Pt ole maic k ing
E gy p t . 3r d -1s t c e nt u r y BC
Lime s t one , h 10. 5 c m
HERMITAGE AMSTERDAM
W: http://www.hermitage.nl
E : [email protected]: Amstel 51, Amsterdam
T: +31 (0)20 530 74 88
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Unearthed, The latest
exhibit ion f rom theSainsbury Centre for V isual
Arts in Norwich, England,
promises to impress
vis i tors with i ts col lect ion
of remarkable ancient c lay
f igures, some 5000-years-old
and drawn f rom two regions:
Japan and the Balkans.
The col lect ion at the
Universi ty of East Angl ia has
captured the imaginat ions
of archaeologists and art ists
al ike , explor ing the shape of
the human form in miniature.
Af fect ionately known as
the Toy Department , the
exhibit ion hopes to push the
l imits of our understandingof ancient f igurines and
encourages v iewers to
think about their personal
responses to the human
form in miniature.
The oldest expressions of human form are very small, and the making and keeping
of small figurines is widely shared by certain human societies. In prehistoric Japan
and the Balkans people had begun to explore new ways of identifying themselves,
and figurines played an important role in showing how these pioneering villagers
may have experienced the world and expressed thei r place within it . However, after
a century of painstaking archaeological investigation, recording and interpretation,
the figurines remain mysterious; some appear distinctly male or female whereas
others are less identifiable , and do not look human at all . However, several theories
for their purpose have been proposed. Some archaeologists focus on ritual and
spiritual l ife as an explanation for the figurines, other interpretations suggest
functions such as magical i tems, afterlife accessories, fertil i ty images, votive
objects and initiation objects.
ex
hibition
foc
us
Unearthed
F igu r ine J ap an, F inal J mon Pe r iod - h. 19c m
Rob e r t and Lis a S ains b u r y Col le c t ion
U E A 1091, Phot o: J ame s Au s t in
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J mon f igu r ine s and f r agme nt s
f r om S annai Mar u y ama, J ap an
Mid d le J mon Pe r iod Aomor i Pr e f e c t u r al Boar d
of E d u c at ion
Through sight and touch, these figurines provoke a number
of responses in the viewer such as vulnerability, protection,
excitement, fear, confusion and intimacy, and continue to
make an impact in the present. The exhibition sits alongside
contemporary artworks that invite visitors to understand and
appreciate the objects in new ways, providing inspiration
for contemporary artists working in a variety of media,
from prints and drawings to animation and performance.
The creators of these objects thousands of years ago
attempted to convey some meaning through their figurines,
and the contemporary works remind us of the spectrum of
possibili t i es they embody.
Unearthed is curated by Professor Douglass Bailey, San
Francisco State Universit y; Dr Andrew Cochrane, University
of East Anglia; Dr Simon Kaner, Sainsbury Institut e for the
Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, University of East
Anglia, and developed by the Sainsbury Centre for Visual
Arts. The research project is led by the Sainsbury Institutefor the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, University
of East Anglia, and is funded by the Arts and Humanities
Research Council.
Japan: Over 18,000 clay figures, or dog (li terally spirit and clay) have nowbeen recorded from across Japan. Those featured in unearthed are from central and
eastern Japan, from Sannai Maruyama, and the important historical coll ections from
University Museum at the Uni versity of Tokyo.
Sannai Maruyama, occupied from 4000-2500 BC, revealed over 1850 dog fr agments,
and with their distinct ive cross-shaped bodies they are calle d slab-shape dog and
cruciform dog. The features of their faces are depicted, incl uding eyes, eyebrows,
noses (and even nostrils) mouths, and hair. Some are shown wearing ornaments,
and all have breasts indicating that they represent women. The largest proportion
of dog were found in a fragmentary state in the piled-earthen features which were
important places for ritual practices, but other examples are complete.
F igu r ine N ak amic hi , J ap an
Mid d le J mon Pe r iod
11. 5 x 6c m, N agaok a Mu nic ip al S c ie nc e
Mu s e u m, J ap an
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The University Museum, the University of Tokyo, holds approximately 450 pieces of dog
dating to the Jmon period. A large part of this collection, kept by the museums Department
of Anthropology and Prehistory, was made from the 1890s to the earl y 20th century, a period
when anthropology and archaeology were being developed as scientific disciplines in Japan,
and its historical value is significant. Among the dog displayed in unearthed, three are
perhaps of particular interest. The shape of one (from Ikarigaseki, Aomori Prefecture, Final
Jmon) attests to a stylistic transition from the famous goggle-eyed dog, while another
(Tokoshinai, Aomori Prefecture, Middle-Final Jmon) shows a miniaturised representa tion of
the typical fe atures of the goggl e-eyed dog. A third example ( Tozurasawa, Aomori Prefecture,Late Jmon) has a very rare shape that reminds us of a monkey.
This is the first t ime that the University Museum, University of Tokyo has allowed any of
these important objects to be displayed overseas.
B alkan s: Farming, accompanied by pottery-making, first entered Europe from its region oforigin, the co-call ed Fertile Crescent of the Near East through Aantolia, modern-day Turkey,
and across the Eastern Mediterranean. These early European farmers lived in villages and
made small clay figures.
The majority of the figures from this region
in unearthed come from Romania, occupied
early by farming groups who spread along t he
Danube and its tr ibutaries. However, there
are additional figurines from the Republic of
Macedonia and Albania.
The Republic of Macedonia was, until the
1990s part of the former Yugoslavia, and
some of the most remarkable clay figures
from the entire Balkans come from this small,
landlocked country. Most of the Macedonian
figures appear to depict women and are often
discovered near the hearth, and perhaps the
most outstanding form is t hat of the body of a
woman, wearing jewellery and with a splendid
coiffure, fused on to the roof of the model o f
a house. Over 20 examples of these Great
Mother or Magna Mater figures are known.
The exhibition includes the newly-discovered
Portrait of an Eneolithi c Ancestor, excavated
at the Shrine of St Atanesie. Unusually, thisfigurine was modelled on an the face of an
adult male, his ears pierced for earrings made
of some organic material.
The Albanian figurines have not been shown
outside of Albania until now. Under the
aegis of the Universi ty of East Anglia, a new
generation of archaeologists and cultural
heritage specialist s have been trained and are
bringing the treasures of Albanian cultural
heritage into the 21st cent ury.
Re p l ic a Anzab e gov o-Vr nik l l l , Mac e d onia
5300 - 4200 BC-LN h. 39c mMu s e u m of Mac e d onia
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Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts
University of East Angl ia
Nor wich
NR4 7TJ
United Kingdom
W: http://www.scva.org.uk
T: 01603 593199
F igu r ine s and F r agme nt s f r om Cu c u t e ni , Romania, 4000 - 3500 BC, N at ional His t or y Mu s e u m of Romania
With thanks to:
Okada Yasuyuki, Sannai Maruyama site director, Sannai Maruyama
Dr Matsuda Akira, The University Museum, the University of Tokyo
Irena Kolistrkoska Nasteva, curator, Museum of Macedonia, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
Nada Andonovska, translator, Museum of Macedonia, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia.
The exhibition will run from 22 June - 29 August 2010
http://www.scva.org.uk/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.scva.org.uk/8/9/2019 13: Adventures in Archaeology August 2010 - Past Horizons
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Framing t h e Future w i t h
Wall in gford MuseumW all ingf or d Mu s e u m ( F l int Hou s e )
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FORMERLY IN Berkshire but now
within the boundaries of Oxfordshire,
the his tor ic town of Wall ingford
originated in the 9th century as one of
the two largest of Alfred the Greats
planne d towns orburhs . The extensive
Saxon ramparts and much of the Saxon
street pat tern s t i l l survive, and par t
of these banks surround a green openspace in the hear t of the town cal led
the Kinecroft , providing the backdrop
for Wall ingford Museum. The ful ly-
accredited and independent local
his tory museum is housed in a Grade
II l is ted medieval t imber-framed
building covered by a f l int faade,
and is appropriately known as Flint
House.
By Judy and St uart De we y
3D imp r e s s ion of F l int Hou s e wit h ne w a nne x e
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Ae r ial v ie w of t he e ar t hwor k r e mains of W all ingf or d Cas t le ( f or e g r ou nd )
Bu r h t o Bor ou gh c as t le e x c av at ions
The idea for a local history museum was born
out of the success of The Wallingford Histori cal
& Archaeological Societ y (TWHAS) formed in1974. There was a need to display the results
of excavations and to explain the rich story of
the towns history from its Saxon origins to
the Mediaeval period when Wallingford was
the leading town of Berkshire, dominated by
its huge royal castle. I t played an active part in
the war between Stephen and Matilda, whichresulted in Matildas son, Henry II , granting
its first Charter of Liberties in 1155.
Wallingf ord is one of only four towns mentioned
in Magna Carta in 1215. Among the castles
many royal inhabitants were King John;
Richard Earl of Cornwall, brother of Henry
III; Edward the Black Prince and his wife;
Henry Vs widow and her young son H enry VI
with his guardian Owen Tudor, grandfather
of Henry VII. During the 17th century CivilWar, Wallingford Castle was a major Royali st
stronghold, and almost the last in the country
to surrender after i t had held out successfull y
against a 12-week siege by Parliamentary
troops. It was eventually destroyed in 1652
but the impressive earthworks stil l survive
and are publicly accessible.
The museum opened in 1981. Initially the
galleries were only on the first floor with
an attic store above and a ground floorentrance lobby from a side door. In 2005 we
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were offered the lease on the ground floor as
well, so in the next year we reunited the two
parts of the building and moved the entrance
to the much more visible front door on the
High Street. At the same time we became a
charitable com pany.
Despite its long and significant history,
Wallingford has rarely been more than a
footnote in most academic texts but with
the Wallingford Burh to Borough Project,
funded by the AHRC, things were to change.
This three-year project is the result of
collaboration between the Universities of
Leicester, Exeter and Oxford, with practical
excavation input and documentary research
from TWHAS, and hosted locally by the
museum. After the first season of geophysics
and digging in 2008, TWHAS organised ahighly-successful conference and the papers
given, with additional material, have been
published as The Origins of the Borough of
Wallingford Archaeological and Historical
Perspectives. A second successful conference
on Medieval Wallingford was organised
last year on behalf of the Burh to Borough
Project by Wallingford Museum and a third,
Wallingford Castle in Context, is planned for
October 9, 2010.
Originally launched as part of the Burh
to Borough Project but now with a life of
i ts own is a garden archaeology project
under the aegis of TWHAS. The intention
is to dig test pits 1.5m by 1m and up to 1.2
metres deep in 100 gardens scattered around
the town. Each pit is fully excavated and
recorded, finds removed and analysed, and
provides a comprehensive picture of strata
and occupation levels in different parts of the
town. Whilst this technique has been used ina village situation, this is the first t ime it has
been tried in an urban context. To date 30 pits
have been excavated and reported.
The museum has a vital role to play in
the developing picture of the history of
Wallingford, but there are future concerns to
be addressed. Storage s pace for the collec tions
has become a critical issue and we have been
actively seeking a solution to this growingproblem for several years. The answer lies in
the util isation of the open yard immediately
behind Flint House, which is part of our
lease. After a couple of false starts, we had
a breakthrough in September last year when
it was suggested that we build a traditional
timber framed structure as a public spectacle
on the Kinecroft a Festival of Traditional
Skills and then crane the completed frames
into position behind the nearby Flint House.
It was an exciting idea.
G ar d e n Ar c hae ology 2010
Despite i ts long and
signi f icant history ,
Wal l ingford has rarely been
more than a footnote in most
academic texts
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The building could be entirely independent
of the listed building but would providetwo storeys of important display space
and somewhere to address groups, adults
and children, as well as providing a much-
needed collections management area and
archaeological workshop. A disabled WC
and a second, ambulant WC, plus a covered
activity area for outdoor events such as
Family Archaeology Day, would complete the
facili t ies. (See plan below.)
Apart from the attraction of buil ding in green
oak and its environmental attributes, there isa unique benefit to the proposed timber frame.
Each frame will be constructed in a different
style so that from west to east, the timber
work (visible to visitors within the building)
will tell the story of developing techniques
from Mediaeval to Victorian, a kind of 12 to
the foot scale model.
It was proposed that we should work with The
Carpenters Fellowship, the not-for-profit
trade body that represents and sets standardsfor the structural t imber framing industry
in the UK. They were also responsible for
the construction of the Abingdon School
Boathouse and the award-winning Northmoor
Trust building at Little Wittenham.
The Carpenters Fellowship had an available
window in August which gave us a very tight
schedule to design the building, get planning
permission, cost i t and raise the funds.
Preliminary plans were drawn up by Novemberand presented to our landlords, Wallingford
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Town Council, who enthusiast ically embraced
the idea and gave it the go-ahead. We held a
private launch in our local hotel and prese nted
the guests with an information pack sponsored
by a l ocal print er.
Detailed plans were completed and the
planning application submitted in early
January 2010. Nearly 300 people wrote to the
District Council in support of the scheme,
urging the planners to give it their permission,
which was granted in mid-March. Meanwhile
at a public launch in the Town Hall nearly 100
people signed up in support of t he scheme and
80 took away forms to sponsor beams in the
proposed bui lding.
Fund-raising for the target figure of 400,000
has taken various forms. A series of lectureson the history of Wallingford raised over
3000 and we received generous donations
from private individuals. We have sold many
of the 1500 10 (250mm) oak pegs which will
hold the timber frame together structurally,
and purchasers may have the opportunity to
knock their pegs in while the frames are stil l
on the ground. For children, we are hol ding acompetition for the best decorated peg.
Individual t imber beams have been priced for
sponsorship, ranging from a common rafter for
25 to 2500 for the main west window, with
lots of beams at around 250-500. Sponsors
will have their names carved into the beamsby a local woodcarver. With items donated by
local individuals and businesses, in April we
held a grand auction which raised 7000 with
5000 matched funding promis ed. At the same
time, local woodland owners were contacted
to ask them to donate oak trees to the project.
The response was remarkable. We now have
all the oak we need, around 70 trees in total,
all sourced within a radius of 10 miles of the
museum.
The tree operation has also been a key
educational tool. One of the museums
education officers has been working with three
local schools, each of which has adopted a
wood nearby. Children have visited the sites
and watched the felling in progress, and will
follow through with a replanting scheme we
are organising to replace the timber t aken out
(much of which has been removed for thinning
or because of dying trees).
We have to date submitted nearly 200
applications to grant-giving bodies but this
is where our tight t imetable proved to be
our temporary undoing. We discovered that
many of the Trustees meet only once a year
and decisions were being made too late for
an August build. In the case of two major
applications for which we had high hopes (a
total of 150,000) we were unable to complete
the applications in time because we couldnt
get the required number of quotations for eachbudget i tem before the deadline.
local woodland owners
were contacted to ask them
to donate oak trees to the
project . The response was
remark able. We now have
al l the oak we nee d, around
70 trees in total
Pu b lic lau nc h in W all ingf or d t own hal l
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In the end, we decided that the build eventwould have to be postponed for a year, so we
are now looking at a September 2011 build.
This does at least buy us time to raise more
funds and complete the grant applications.
The availability of The Carpenters Fellowship
for next year is currently under review. If
we are unable to use them, we will have to
seek a timber-frame contractor, but one who
is prepared to build the frame in public view
and maintain the community involvement.Meanwhile, raising the funds is the key issue.
Public support continues and we are stil l
selling pegs and encouraging sponsorship of
beams as well as pursui ng grant applications .
Our next big fund-raising event will be on
21 August, 2010, a Mediaeval fair on the
Kinecroft. Attractions include a living history
display, craft demonstrations and have-a-go
opportunities, a pig roast, and much more.
Further events are planned for the future.
Despite the delay we are stil l fully committed
to the project, which is crucial for a number
of reasons. The volunteer-led scheme has
fired imaginations and seems to have become
something of a flagship for the community,
recognising its key role in the economic
viability of i ts future. The museum stil l
desperately needs to expand for practical
reasons (collections, better mobility access,space for larger groups etc.) but we also wish
to seize the opportunity to enhance tourism for
the good of the town as a whole, expanding our
displays to put more emphasi s on Wallingford
& the World featuring internationally famous
locals l ike Agatha Christie, Jethro Tull and
Judge Blackstone. The annexe will allow us
to encompass all these things and continue
honour the towns heritage, and with more
support and funding we can make it happen in
the coming yea r.
How You Can He lp
Sponsor a beam (and get your name carved on it ) :
co nt act St uart De we y at [email protected]
Mak e a do nat io n: http://www.justgiving.com/wal l ingfordmuseum
Vis it our website http://www.wal l ingfordmuseum.org.uk for the latest news
Vie w of t he K ine c r of t f r om t he mu s e u m
F ind s was hing at t he mu s e u m
mailto:[email protected]://www.justgiving.com/wallingfordmuseumhttp://www.wallingfordmuseum.org.uk/http://www.wallingfordmuseum.org.uk/http://www.justgiving.com/wallingfordmuseummailto:[email protected]8/9/2019 13: Adventures in Archaeology August 2010 - Past Horizons
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he archaeologists equipment store
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A DIGGERS L IFE Surfing for barrow ditches on waves of wet
clay, fishing for Rome in urban puddles,
chewing the metaphysical in the monumental,
crawling deep below ground in search of
l ight, negotiating with the dead or juggling
with af ter l ives .. . Si Cleggett (a.k.a Troll) is
a field archaeologist and loves it .
IN MY LAST offer ing, I discussed the a lmost
universal thirs t for shiny things and the bizarre
hunger to re-establish the pr imacy of s ta tus .
Perhaps this is a ref lec t ion of modern capita l ism and
the loss of individual identi ty i n a l i fe dominated
with the re lentless pursuit of socia l advancement.
Paradoxical ly, physical manifesta t ions of perceived social dominance today may reflect a
need to c l imb out of an individual identi ty and
gain access to a socia l grouping we aspire to but
interpre t in dif ferent ways.
Modern archaeologists are consistently guil ty of
making the assumption that the acquisi t ion of
mater ia l goods in the distant past was an accepted
vehic le to asser t ing individual posi t ion. By
extension, this sa ted envy and signalled to peers
that some transformation had taken place , thereby
granting access to a niche where some wereseemingly promoted to a super ior s ta tus.
Of course , mater ia l goods can equally be seen as
tools , conta iners and necessary accoutrements for
the perceived journeys into af ter l ives determined
by social and cultural values, but a grave should
not exclusively been seen as an opportunity for
aggrandisement. Reading archaeology in this way
is extraordinar i ly nave and archaeologists can
often be guil ty of judging a book by i ts cover
when others have the foresight to read the book
f irs t .
With this in mind, i t is possible to argue that
children in prehistory a t least could be viewed
as prest ige goods in the sense that they convey a
far more profound manifesta t ion of socia l posi t ion
than functional and a t trac t ive i tems placed
within a bur ia l context . The stresses of weaning,
childhood morta l i ty and bir th i tse lf would surely
have presented something of a lot tery to socie t ies ,
communit ies and cultures who would had re l iedupon reproduction for their very survival a lmost
as much as food sources.
Phil ippe Aris in his bookCenturies of Childhood
cla imed that before the invention of childhood
in the Victor ian per iod, chi ldren were simply
percieved as small adults. This was expanded
upon in The Making of the Modern Family by
Edward Shorter who c la imed that in cer ta in
socie t ies mothers viewed the development and
happiness of infants with indifference on the
basis of high mortality rates. In her bookA Distant MirrorBarbara Tuchman demonstrated
that dur ing the Mediaeval per iod, an absence of
interest in children and their perceived sta tus as
unrewarding products prevailed.*
As these histor ians have shown, i t is l ikely that
for many cultures young children were of ten
viewed in a pract ica l sense . However , his tor ical
evidence a lso points to a deep emtional a t tachment
of people to their chi ldren. For example , the
diar is t John Evelyn and his wife lost s ix of e ight
children in childhood and, af ter the death of hisoldest chi ld who died three days af ter his f i f th
birthday in 1658, he wrote, Here ends the joy of
my l ife . The wri ter Will iam Brownlow lost one
child every year for seven years admitt ing that the
tragedy hast broken me asunder and shaken me
to pieces .
The loss of a child in the ear ly modern era would
be traumatic and emotional but in prehistory i t
may have had other dimensions. The transi t ion
in funerary pract ises f rom the Neoli thic to the
Bronze Age in Cyprus could arguably be seenas the polar opposite of those recorded in the
K af k al la Plat e au
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Neo/Bronze transi t ion here in the Bri t ish Is les .
In general terms, the Cypriot Neoli thic ( f rom
7000 B.C) sees individual bur ia l within domestic
contexts (under house f loors/hear ths e tc) and a
move towards collec t ive bur ia l within chambered
tombs dur ing the Bronze Age ( f rom 2500B.C).
The communal and often chambered tombs of the
Brit ish Neoli thic ( f rom 4000 B.C) give way to
largely individual bur ia l in the Bronze Age ( f rom
2500 B.C) .
In 2004, I took par t in the excavation of an extensive
Bronze Age cemetery complex in Deneia, Cyprus.
These cemeter ies l ie to the south of the Ovgos
valley and occupy around six hectares of the
l imestone Kafkalla pla teaux. With over a thousand
tomb shaf ts visible across the area , Deneia is the
largest known Bronze Age bur ia l ground on the
island. Throughout the twentie th century and
even today, archaeologists working in Cyprus
have paid l i t t le or no a t tention a t a l l to humanremains. Mater ia l goods and ceramic typologies
have character ised the is lands prehistory and as
a result i t was accepted that chi ldren were not
a l located the same bur ia l space as adults dur ing
the Bronze Age.
I carr ied out a f ie ld assessment of the human
remains f rom a single tomb (789) and established
that i t conta ined a t least 46 individuals . This f igure
vast ly outnumbered previously acknowledged
Bronze Age tomb populat ions on the is land and
it quickly became apparent that a s ignif icant proportion of the remains were actually sub-
adult . After examination by an osteoarchaeologist
i t turned out that 31 of the 46 individuals (67%)
were sub-adult . Of these , 19 were foeta l to one
year of age , e ight were young children (1-6 years) ,
two were older children (7-12 years) and two were
adolescents (13-18 years) . This small sample
represents a mere 10% of the tomb chamber.
Contrary to popular bel ief , i t seems that the infant
and sub-adult skele tons do survive as well as
those of adults , and unless excavators recognise
human remains for what they are , another centuryof erroneous and wildly inaccurate publicat ions
are inevitable .
So what does a l l this mean? I t means that chi ldren
were interred within the same bur ia l spaces as
adults dur ing the Cypriot Bronze Age from at least
2500 B.C to around 1125 B.C (Late Cypriot e IIIa)
and that more adults occupied tombs than was
previously understood. The abil i ty to produce
viable offspr ing must have been fundamental to
the very survival of prehistor ic communit ies . The
proport ion of sub-adults within one small sampleof a s ingle tomb that was in use for perhaps over
500 years suggests that the number of sub-adults
who survived to adulthood must have been very
much higher than bel ieved. Archaeologists rea l ly
have l i t t le notion of the place of sub-adults within
the dai ly l ives of prehistor ic communit ies and yet
here a t least , in death, there is no major dist inct ion
between them and adults.
I f archaeologists accept the idea that Bronze
Age communit ies in Cyprus had a developed and
structured concept of af ter l ives, i t would fol low
that sub-adults a lso had a place or a perceived
role to play a lso, hence bur ia l in the same tomb
spaces. Arguably, the abil i ty to produce children
amongst the female members of socie ty may
have resulted in an e levated sta tus within the
community and children may have been viewed
as prest ige achievements of these women: new
members of the community to farm, hunt , produce
goods and enr ich the fabr ic of socie ty for the
future . Children were potentia l assets; pots werefor s tor ing and eat ing.
A community that sees a place and a role for
children in an af ter l i fe is hardly l ikely to devalue
them dur ing l i fe , and on an is land subject to f lux,
change and cultura l inf luence, the survival and
viabil i ty of new members would have been vi ta l .
For over a century, Bronze Age children have been
playing hide and seek with archaeologists who
have fa i led to grasp the concept that an essentia l
part of the game is to search for them. It reallywas a once in a l i fe t ime exper ience to take par t in
such an important excavation. With any luck the
discovery of these remains wil l a l ter the way we
view Bronze Age Cyprus and force a change in
excavation stra tegies that wil l give a voice back
to these invisible children.
* Aris, Phil ippe, Centuries of Childhood: A
Social History of Family Li fe (New York, 19 62)
Shorter, Edward, The Making of the Modern
Family (New York, 19 75)
Tuchman, Barbara W., A Distant Mirror, 1978(New York, 1 978)
Mu s e u m analy s is
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Dela ncey Park
SINCE the advent of a fully integrated planning process in the early 1990s,
archaeology societies in the UK have found it increasingly difficult to
organise and run excavation programmes. The view post PPG 16 (and
now PPS 5*) has been to preserve, where possible in situ archaeological
remains, in particular sites such as prehistoric burial-ritual monuments.
Bearing this in mind, and the limited opportunities to excavate sites of this
age and quality in Britai n, members of the Clifton Antiquarian Club, were
delighted to excavate one of Guernseys premier prehistoric monuments,
Delancey Park. Prior to this the last excavation on Guernsey of a Neolithic
burial-rit ual monument was undertaken in 1979 at Les Fouill ages.
by George Nash
Excavating a Neol i thic Gal lery Grave on Guernsey
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Ae r ial v ie w of D e lanc e y Par k s howing t he ongoing e x c av at ion
Cli f t on Ant iq u ar ian Clu b
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For the club, interest in Delancey Park
began in 2008 when negotiations to survey
and excavate were finalised with Guernsey
Museum. The following year a small team
came over to search the museum archive and
conduct the first ever detailed survey of the
monument since its discovery in 1919. This
initial phase of work led to an archaeological
evaluation that included the excavation of six
trenches in July this year.
Delancey Park, one of 18 or so free-standing
stone late prehistoric burial-ritual monuments,
comprises two parallel l ines of stone that
extend for some nine-and-a-half metres east-
west. This monument is one of three gallery
graves in the Channel Islands; a further twostand in neighbouring Jersey and a further
24 are located in northern France and two in
Wales.
D e lanc e y Par k d u r ing t he 1932 e x c av at ion wit h ar c hae ologis t Mis s Ve r a C. C. Col lu m
D e lanc e y Par k in a s or r y s t at e in lat e 2009
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Based on the architecture and artefacts
recovered from two previous excavations, the
Delancey Park monument appears to date to
the Late Neolithic period and therefore later
than the passage grave tradition, a group of
monuments that more or less dominate the
Neolithic burial-ritual landscape of Jersey
and Guernsey, such as Le Varde and Le Dehus
in the north of Guernsey.
In the past Delancey Park has undergone
several landscaping and planting regimes.
However, during the Neolithic the site would
have probably had uninterrupted views of
the coastline to the north and west. Prior to
the 18th century, the monument stood on a
prominent headland t hat overlooked a channel
that separated the main island from a small
is land.
Following the initial discovery in 1919,the Guernsey States architect instructed the
workforce to treat the site with great care,
believing the stones formed part of a dolmen.
According to newspaper accounts at the time,
further stones were uncovered, nearly all
oblong in shape and in a perfectly natural
condition. I t is not clear if an official
excavation took place as no records survive.
However, a small number of artefacts,
many probably contemporary with the use
of monument, were recovered following
its discovery including fragments of bone
belonging to an ox, a few limpet shells, stone
tools and pottery.
The stone tools included a fragment of a
greenstone axe (or rubber) that had been
cracked by fire, a small collection of flint
chips, four gun flints (probably 18th century)
and coarse, gritty potter y.
G IS v ie w of D e lanc e y Par k and ne ighb ou r ing monu me nt s and f ind s p ot s - c ou r t e s y of G u e r ns e y Mu s e u ms
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Later in 1932 a two-day excavation was
undertaken by Miss Vera C. C. Collum who,
based on several site photographs, conducted
a prodding and recording exercise between
the stones. The excavation yielded further
prehistoric finds and possible structures
relating to the construction of the monument
including a number of possible uprights
located along the northern line of stones (andtheir associate stone packing). Investigations
were also conducted around the western end
of the monument. Following the excavation
Ms Collum referred to Delancey Park as
an alle couverte . This type of monument,
constructed similarly to the gallery grave
tradition, is usually found in central and
northern France and generally comprises a
rectangular chamber delineated by a series
of large uprights (there are some inst ances of
smaller antechambers leading off around the
main chamber entrance). Based on the 1932site photographs it appears that none of the
larger stones were removed off site for this
excavation; theirin s i tu position are supported
by digital images that were taken pri or to the
2010 excavation and show that only one stone
has been removed, i ts whereabouts unknown.
Although its archaeological discovery is
attributed to 1919 Ms Collum does suggest
that a number of the capstones were removed
and broken up around 1878 for foundationmaterial to support the nearby Admiral de
Saumarez monument, but i t is not clear which
ones were removed.
The 2010 season concentrated on the northern
part of the site where, based on archive
photographic evidence, l i t t le disturbance had
occurred. Four of the six trenches ran roughl y
parallel with the northern line of fallen stone
uprights. I t is within several of these trenches
that the previous spoil heap of the 1932
excavation was recorded. Underlying this wereseveral accumulative deposits comprising
Plan of t he D e lanc e y Monu me nt and t r e nc hing J u ly 2010 b y D onov an Hawle y
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wind-blown sand. It was considered by the
Clifton team that the southern side of the
monument had been severely disturbed and
that l i t t le of the prehistoric archaeology had
probably survived, t he result of several recent
landscaping regimes. However, a small slot
was excavated within the west part of site that
revealed potential in s i tu cultural deposits,
a few centimetres below the present ground
level.
Located in one trench within the north-western
section of the site were several clear structures ,
their function unknown. Associated with
these were a small but significant collection
of locally worked flint and prehist ory pottery.A similar artefact assemblage was recovered
from the other five trenches suggesting that
the site was busy, either during or after the
monument was in use.
Two trenches, were solely dedicated to
recording the soil deposition that had
occurred over the past four to five millennia.
These trenches were deliberately located
away from recent archaeological activity but
both yielded significant quantities of later prehistoric flint and pottery. Interpretati on
E x c av at ion of Tr e nc h 1, whic h was or ginal ly c ov e r e d b y one of t he f al le n u p r ight s
In s itu p ac k ing f or a r e mov e d u p r ight
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of soil profile suggests that wind-blown silty-sand deposits covered the site shortly after
the Middle to Late Bronze Age.
In another trench, close to the western end of
the site, small fragments of burnt, possibly
cremated (human?) bone were found. Based
partly on the burial deposition from other
gallery grave sites and bone recovered from
the 1932 excavation, the western end of the
monument may have been the area where the
ancestors were finally laid to rest.
The final and most exhausting achievement
of this seasons work was to remove one of
the fallen uprights, centrally located along
the northern line of stones. Due in part to
recent fire hearth activity, this stone and
others nearby were fractured. However,
based on the 1932 photographic archive, i t
appears that this and other fallen uprights had
remained in s i tu . If this was the case then in
situ Neolithic/Earl y Bronze Age deposits mayexist underneath.
The stone was carefully moved on July 20 anda trench laid out which extended northwards
into Collums spoil heap. Revealed was the
accumulated detritus broken bottles, l i t ter,
leaf mould and several coins that managed
to creep within exposed niches between the
ground surface and the stone. Underneath
this recent cultural deposit was evidence of
the 1932 excavation, including a probable
trench edge, and beneath this was a tantalizi ng
glimpse into the early history of the monument
including possible in s i tu stone packing from both the northern and southern line of stones
and a small but significant assemblage of
worked flint and pottery.
This seasons work has proved a great succ ess
and has identified those areas of the site that
potentially have significant archaeology.
As part of the post-excavation process, the
Clifton team employed a number of specialists
who will analyse the pottery, fl int and soil
chemistry. In addition, a number of organicsamples taken from clear prehistoric horizons
Ar t is t imp r e s s ion of D e l anc e y Par k b y E l l ie Mc Q u e e n
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will hopefully provide radiocarbon dates for
particular sequences, the first from a gallery
grave site in the Channel Islands. Several
members of the team also researched those
unstratified artefacts, in particular faunal
remains obtained from the 1919 and 1932
excavation.
This research will hopefully paint a clearer picture of what was happening at this
monument between c. 2500 and 3000 BC.
As for next year, we hope to target an open
area trench along the northern line of fallen
uprights, based on the results from this
season. If the results of this year are anything
to go by, the Delancey Park monument sh ould
pose a very interesting prospect. However,
as with all projects l ike this, there are more
questions than answers, reminding us that
even during the Neolithic, l ife and death wasa complicated matter.
Project director and club member Dr George
Nash lectures part-time at the University
of Bristol. He is also senior researcher at
the Museum of Prehistoric Art (Quaternary
and Prehistory Geosciences Centre), Maao,
Portugal, and associate professor within
the Department of Architecture, Spiru Haret
University in Bucharest, Romania.
* PPS 5 is a planning policy document that
sets out the UK governments policies on the
conservation of the historic environment.
Further Reading
Johnston, D. E. , The Channel Islands: An
Archaeological Guide (Chichester, Phillimore,
1981)
Kendrick, T.D.,The Archaeology of the
Channel Islands Volume 1: The Bailiwick of
Guernsey (London: Methuen, 1928)
Kinnes, I . A. & Grant, J . , Les Fouaillages
and the Megalithic Monuments of Guernsey
(Guernsey: Ampersand Press, 1983)
Kinnes, I . A., Les Fouaillages and Megalithic
Origins, Antiquity (56:216, 24-30, 1982)
Lukis, F. C., Observations on the Celtic
Megaliths, Archaeologia (35, 232-288,
1851)
Sebire, H., The Archaeology and Early Historyof the Channel Islands (Tempus, 2005)
G e t I n v o l v e d
CLIFTON ANTIQUARIAN CLUB
Originally formed in 1884, The Clifton
Antiquarian Club, based in Clifton,
Bristol, lasted 28 years before operations
resumed in 2006. We seek to promote abetter understanding of our archaeological
heritage and meet on several occasions
during the year for lectures, tours and
research projects. Please feel free to
contact us if you have any queries or are
interested in getting involved.
W: http://www.cliftonantiquarian.co.uk
http://www.cliftonantiquarian.co.uk/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.cliftonantiquarian.co.uk/8/9/2019 13: Adventures in Archaeology August 2010 - Past Horizons
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The Lost? project, thought to be the largest
of i ts kind in Scotland, began when Jane
submitted a proposal for Archaeology in the
secondary school curr iculum to Michael Foy,
principal teacher of humanities at Aboyne
Academy in Scotland. The main ambition
of the project was to raise awareness of the
clearance communities and to get young
people directly involved in supporting and
developing a community enterprise. Working
with local and national archaeology groups,
the project began in June this year with the
help of Archaeology Scotland who ran skills
workshops for primary seven pupils of all 10
academy feeder schools, preparing them to
take the lead role in their project.
These sessions were run by Meg Faragher and
Ruth Bortoli , supported by Jane and Michael.
Pupils developed map and aerial photograph
interpretation skills and artefact recognition,
handling and reconstruction skills. The pupils
also learned the benefits of excavation and
worked on a simulated excavation, learning
to piece facts together to tell a bigger story,
with the opportunity to handle 4000-year-old
artefacts from the National Museum.
With this experience in place, the pupils are
now working over an eight-month period to
research, survey and record the clearance
areas of Auchtavan and Loin at Invercauld
Estate in Glen Feardar, around 15 miles from
the school in the Cairngorms National Park.
Bringing Lost?
Communit ies
Back to L i fe
WHEN modern s tudies teacher Jane Summers got involved with Scotlands
Rural Past , a project organised by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and
Histor ical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), two years ago, she had no idea
jus t how much of an impact her volunteer work was to have. A year later she was
st i l l involved with the RCAHMS project , had completed two weeks excavation
on a Scott ish hi l l for t and s igned up for a par t- t ime degree in archaeology at
the Univers i ty of Aberdeen. Her enthusiasm culminated in the groundbreaking
Lost? project involving 130 pupils of Upper Deeside in br inging the his tory of
local clearances back to l i fe .
r ight : r e s t or e d c ot t age at Au c ht av an
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Working with Braemar Castle run by Braem ar
Community Ltd, the youngsters will plan and
design a permanent display to be hosted in thecastle, which will tell the story of the ordinary
communities of the estate and showcase the
work of the project. I t is hoped t hat Auchtavan
and the castle will be available as permanent
learning resources for the community schools
and beyond.
Working with the support of Scotl ands Rural
Past and Archaeology Scotland the pupils will
undertake a full site survey, field sketches and
site descriptions for each of the propertiesto form the basis of a series of in-school
research projects. Ultimately, the site survey
will contribute to records on the Canmore
Database. It is hoped that the pupils will not
only be able to record the substantial township
in the glen but also build up a wider pi cture of
what l ife might have been like for the people
of these seemingly remote communities.
Brian Wilkinson, education officer for
Scotlands Rural Past, said, It is very excitingto be involved in this innovative school project,
which looks set to be engaging, enjoyable
and rewarding for the pupils and the wider
community. Archaeology involves studying people in the past by examining the objects,
buildings and landscapes they left behind.
By investigating the abandoned settlement
at Auchtavan the pupils will find out what
the ruined buildings can tell us about a now-
vanished rural way of life, and help visitors
to the area understand the stories behind the
many deserted settlements found throughout
Deeside and across Scotland.
The Lost? project will also teach themarchaeological survey skills to create a
valuable detailed record of Auchtavan. Their
drawings and descriptions of the township
will be submitted to the Royal Commission
on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of
Scotland, and make a real contribution to our
understanding of rural l ife in the past.
Although the work presents quite a challenge
to the budding archaeologists, Jane and
Michael are confident the pupils will r iseto the occasion, and are now planning an
S u r v e y ing wit h t he u s e of a p lane t ab le , look ing at old map s and p lanning u s ing a gr id
Map s howing t he d e s e r t e d
s e t t le me nt of Au c ht av an. The
p r oj e c t wi l l als o b e s e ar c hing
f or an old c hap e l whic h is
t hou ght t o hav e e x is t e d at
Balnoe .
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SCOTLANDS RURAL PAST is a f ive-year in it iat ive run by RCAHMS with partnership funding. The project ,
launched in October 2006, is working with local communit ies to research, record and promote Scotlands
vanishing histor ic rural sett lements and landscapes. Scotlands Rural Past was awarded Highly Commended
in the Best Archaeological Projects category i n the prest igious Br it ish Archaeological Awards from the Br it ish
Academy. This was in recognit ion of the valuable work being achieved by volunteer part ic ipants acrossScotland. http://www.scotlandsruralpast .org.uk
ARCHAEOLOGY SCOTLAND brings together those for whom archaeology is an interest , an act ive past ime
or a career , support ing local archaeological act ion and campaigns for the best possible conservation and
management of her itage. http://www.scott isharchaeology.org.uk
Int e r ior of r e s t or e d c ot t age wit h hinging lu m at Au c ht av an p hot o: N ige l Cor b y
For more information on Lost? contact:
Jane Summers
modernmrss@googlemail .com
Michael Foy
T: 013398 85201 M: 07971 062994
Academy Archaeology club to support the
project and open the experience to all year
groups. Having done some work previously
with pupils on site surveys, Jane recognised
that archaeology could appeal to children of
a l l abi l i t ies and in terests .
She said, We hope that pupils will learn
about distil lation and the use of l ime inscience, creating 3D images from their plane
table drawings, recreating the homes and the
atmosphere of the community using artistic
skills, researching the lives and culture of the
people at different per iods, as well as looking
at the wider history of Scotland.
These histories should be brought alive by
the creation of l iving history dramas about
the communities and the events linked to
them. There are massive opportunities to dosome experimental archaeology, too. In fact
there are so many creative ideas comi ng from
the archaeology it is diffi cult to keep a lid on
them all .
The project will end with a ceilidh and
exhibition of the interpretation and research
produced. The ceilidh will also showcase the
dramas created to reflect the life and culture
of the settlements at various points in its
history. Until then, the pupils continue to
enjoy the challenge of bringing their Lost?
community back to life.
Auchtavan and Loin in Glen Feardar make
up a large township at 430m above sea level.
The buildings range from ankle-high turf
constructions to an intact late Victorian
cottage. A previous project rescued one of thecottages which retained an original hanging
chimney (hingin lum) and the remains of i ts
cruck framed, l ichen that ched roof. Auchtavan
has 17 unroofed buildings alone and th e whole
site has at least two corn kilns and a huge lime
kiln, the highest building on the site. From
estate records Jane has already put tenants and
subtenants names to the ruins, and one of the
projects will be to res earch the names and the
families that l ived there, aided by Scotlands
People which has provided access to censusmaterial and parish records.
The project will also attempt to locate the lost
chapel at Balnoe below Auchtavan. Although
there are a number of references to the chapel,
which is recorded on RCAHMS, it has never
been found, and Jane has enlist ed the support
of local archaeology group OFARS to help
solve the myster y.
http://www.scotlandsruralpast.org.uk/http://www.scottisharchaeology.org.uk/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.scottisharchaeology.org.uk/http://www.scotlandsruralpast.org.uk/8/9/2019 13: Adventures in Archaeology August 2010 - Past Horizons
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Shiel ingsLi fe in the H igh Pastures
F iona Bak e r of F ir at Ar c hae ologic al S e r v ic e s Lt d . monit or ing mac hine c le ar anc e of ov e r b u r d e n at a s hie l ing hu t .
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The rural landscape of Scotland is dotted with thousands of huts where, for hundr eds of years,
people spent their summer months grazing cattle on high pastures. These simple structures,
called shielings, wer e such a common and normal part of Scottish country life that l i t t le was
written about them during their period of use, and they are often not even marked on estate
maps and plans. Due to their location they are not usually threatened by major development:
forestry, wind farms, hydroelectricity pipelines and power lines usually manage to avoid
them altogether, but despite their endurance they are rarely excavated for archaeologicalpurposes.
By Fiona Baker
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Shielings normally range in size from groups
of five to 15 huts, and on the few occasionswhere they have been excavated, earlier
settlement has sometimes been found beneath
the obvious hut. Not only were the shieling
huts themselves rebuilt several t imes during
their years of use, but the hut builders seem
to have have deliberately selected existing
mounds for better drainage. The existing
mound on which the shieling hut would have
been built may represent a natural landscape
feature or perhaps an earlier archaeological
s i te .
The shielings can be found in the high
pastures and were often located on the upper
reaches of streams that flowed down to the
main settlement, usually on estate boundaries,
which were often delineated by water courses.
Although some were perhaps only two or three
miles from the main township, others were up
to 10 or 12 miles away, taking several days
to move the stock and equipment up to the
higher ground from the lower lying areas. I t
is possible that the families moved between
different shieling huts over the course of a
summer or used different sites in different
years, but each year the inhabitants would
return to the towns at the end of the summer
for the beginning of the harvest.
In 2008, in advance of an NPower hydro-
electricity scheme, Fiona Baker of Firat
Archaeological Services Ltd. carried out adesk-based assessment and excavation of
old shielings around Douglas Water and its
tributaries in Argyllshire, Scotland, usingordnance survey maps from 1874 onwards.
The three main settlement areas included
Achnagoul, Auchindrain and Kilean/Kilian,
the largest townships in the area, and probably
the main homes for the seasonal occupants of
the shielings at Allt Fearna, Allt nam Muc and
Lagantour.
The shieling excavated at Allt Fearna, a
settlement made up of around five buildings
and most l ikely associated with the settlement
of Kilian, was found to overlie a prehistoric
burnt mound. The burnt mound site would have
left a noticeable small mound, and following
total excavation of the site i t appear s the burnt
mound inhabitants also selected a natural
small mound for their activities.
The lower lying or main fermtoun settlement
of Kilian included a burial ground to the
north east where a cist is also marked. An
entry from the National Monuments Record
of Scotland notes that the covering stone of
the cist was removed for building the farm
house at Kilian but the owner did not want
to use a gravestone and the lost cist
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