tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24860140694917855412024-03-12T18:07:14.934-07:00Outlandish KnightBlog of David Petts, Lecturer in Archaeology at Durham University and AHRC/Radio 3 New Generation ThinkerDavid Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.comBlogger150125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-49498778467547016532019-05-02T14:04:00.004-07:002019-05-02T14:04:59.450-07:00An archaeologist visits a zoo<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaMXcvxnnwiKlnsD-viSqJDZOGPZtwsEsTW6fjqpNRjS73BuTY-Mcv7bwJL7CN7cMD7SxiVMQ1dFaadzwazsj34s_8jeJLvoBZP_KaCE3Nkf4frwTr6OqT8z29Q-aM0dRVIHjES9lxlk0/s1600/DSCF7124.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaMXcvxnnwiKlnsD-viSqJDZOGPZtwsEsTW6fjqpNRjS73BuTY-Mcv7bwJL7CN7cMD7SxiVMQ1dFaadzwazsj34s_8jeJLvoBZP_KaCE3Nkf4frwTr6OqT8z29Q-aM0dRVIHjES9lxlk0/s640/DSCF7124.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My son is fascinated by animals and wildlife so over recent
years we’ve visited a lot of zoos, and this week we visited Chester Zoo for the
first time. It was an fascinating experience, Ned finally got to see an Aye-Aye
(which has long been one of his favourite animals) and we got our money’s worth
spending a total of six hours there and must have looked at more or less every
animal and enclosure. I enjoyed exploring the natural history side of the zoo-
I’ve been reading a lot about early naturalists like Alfred Russell Wallace
recently, but what really started to catch my eye was the design of the animal
enclosures and exhibits; I became increasingly intrigued about certain aspects
of zoo design as we made our way round the site. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Obviously over the long-term, museum enclosures have evolved
significantly – with early zoos keeping animals in little more than plain pens
or cages with little in the way of landscaping, although the notion of providing
some kind of scenic content was developing by the later 19<sup>th</sup>
century. Perhaps, the best known example of a carefully planned, and broadly
speaking, landscaped animal enclosure is the penguin house at London Zoo
designed by Erns Lubetkin and the Tecton Group in 1934 with advice from the biologist
Julian Huxley. It’s stark and geometric design places it clearly in the early
modernist tradition- it was in essence, a "machine for penguining". <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not surprisingly at a
modern zoo, there was none of this kind of stark and spatially limited kind
animal display. The enclosures were generally very extensive, with inside and
outside areas and provided with planting, landscaping and enrichment activities
for the animals themselves. This is likely to be partly driven by the drive to
improve the aesthetic experience for the visitor, but I think it also reflects a
wider move from a taxonomic/typological view of animals to a perspective that
places them in their context, a shift to an ecological approach. This focus on
ecosystem is also found in the grouping of animals geographically- Chester has one
area for animals from Madagascar, and another from animals and birds from Indonesia
and Micronesia (it’s new ‘Islands’ area). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQru6XOuuI6S0s2Edaz9A2T7oljls-Cc8L9M4q9SwpVoU7DztuD9ewhKL2Yta626yeBBXsmziOy8kIetClJywVUbz06oBZxnfkOcfgZx5a6ysridF1nJBZqmEeWY9aNnYXoaxRoSH6I1A/s1600/DSCF7171.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQru6XOuuI6S0s2Edaz9A2T7oljls-Cc8L9M4q9SwpVoU7DztuD9ewhKL2Yta626yeBBXsmziOy8kIetClJywVUbz06oBZxnfkOcfgZx5a6ysridF1nJBZqmEeWY9aNnYXoaxRoSH6I1A/s320/DSCF7171.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So far, so good – this kind of display is fairly typical of
modern zoos. What particularly caught my eye at Chester was the use of human
architecture and objects in and around the enclosures. This seems to take two
forms. First, a number of displays, such as the large tropical house and the “Land
of the Jaguars” included pastiche ancient monuments (fake Mesoamerican sculpture;
faux temple architecture etc). These are important in one sense as they
presence the fact that even in rainforest and jungle, animals in the wild don’t
live hermetically sealed existences apart and distinct from human society What
is problematic though is that whilst picturesque, the use of monuments avoids
placing modern indigenous societies in the landscapes alongside the animals,
but instead mobilises images of past, perhaps extinct, societies, writing out
the contemporary populations of these landscapes. I do find this erasure of the
modern peoples problematic – even if unintentional – and does tie into some
classic Orientalist discourses that see modern indigenous peoples as often
inauthentic or diluted versions of ‘purer’ earlier populations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm; padding: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">However, the latest displays, in
the “Island area” did presence modern populations more clearly. There were
attempts to replicate the distinct native architectural of the islands of
Papua, Bali, Sumatra, Sumba and Sulawesi. Unlike the other displays, here the ‘sets’
were dressed to indicate the presence of a contemporary native population –
jerry cans, textiles, even a tuk-tuk were all visible – clearly attempting to
integrate the animal and human populations – the implications are that the wildlife
lives alongside people. The wider display was structured around an explicit
narrative of conservationists going on an expedition to preserve and protect
native wildlife.</span><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJRKSkxyNDEe8QYIE-6Jh3Khk-EDEsGYglzvwshBWNqVWke_RSs7hbQeAGjDr1ROc3OTlHn0FrnIFimI3mPI0DWzSbmMWk7F7ZG4c1kDB7La5kt5RYOZM0BCq7qYio8aimIkU73Q_ZCbI/s1600/Untitled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="614" data-original-width="922" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJRKSkxyNDEe8QYIE-6Jh3Khk-EDEsGYglzvwshBWNqVWke_RSs7hbQeAGjDr1ROc3OTlHn0FrnIFimI3mPI0DWzSbmMWk7F7ZG4c1kDB7La5kt5RYOZM0BCq7qYio8aimIkU73Q_ZCbI/s640/Untitled.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Interestingly, </span><a href="https://danpearlman.com/en/work/chester-zoo-islands/" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">according to the architect</a><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">, Dan Pearlman, it
embedded a narrative that a team of conservationists has left remains of their
visit – such as equipment, notebooks etc – allowing visitors to ‘become part of
the research team’ whilst on their visit.
Again, there was a danger of this kind of narrative falling into a ‘white
saviour’ trap – but underpinning this more importantly was an interesting next
step in presenting wildlife. Having moved from a taxonomic model to an ecological
model – the presencing of contemporary humans in zoo exhibits is arguably linked
to a conservation model, that emphasises the threats to natural environment. It
represents an existential transition in the display of animals which demonstrates
the contingent and dynamic nature of ecosystems rather than assuming that they
are timeless and static. Interestingly, I’ve noticed this approach used
elsewhere- when I visited the Audobon Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans
last year, one of their tanks, showing maritime life in the Gulf of Mexico, was
structured around the 5m high legs of an off-shore drilling rig – this was </span><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/environment/big-oils-influence-in-the-gulf/638/" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">constructed in 1990 with funding from a consortium of oil companies</a><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"> who
invested in drilling in the nearby Gulf. The idea was to show that nature and
oil extraction could live happily side by side- ironically since the 2010
Deepwater Horizon spillage in the gulf, the display is more likely to evoke
reminders of the precise opposite.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm; padding: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">NB: This was blog entry was largely conceived before I came
across the interesting work by Cornelius Holtorf on the archaeology and
heritage of zoos – there are resonances in our approaches, but also some
differences. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For some useful reading see<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Anon. <a href="http://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/engineering-the-penguin-pool-at-london-zoo">Engineering the Penguin Pool at London Zoo</a> </span><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background: white;">Holtorf, C.</span><span style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> (2013). </span></span><a href="http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-27640" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background: white;">The Zoo as a Realm
of Memory</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">. </span><em style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Anthropological
Journal on European Cultures</em><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">. 22. 98-114</span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background: white;">Holtorf, C.</span><span style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> (2013). </span><em style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-30482" style="color: inherit;">Material animals : an archaeology of contemporary zoo experiences</a></em><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">. </span><em style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The
Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Contemporary World</em><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">. Oxford, Oxford
University Press. 627-641.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background: white;">Holtorf, C.</span><span style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> (2008). </span></span><a href="http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-1594" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background: white;">Zoos as heritage : an archaeological perspective</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">. </span><em style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">International
Journal of Heritage Studies (IJHS)</em><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">. 14. 3-9</span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Shapland, A., & Van Reybrouck, D. (2008). Competing
natural and historical heritage: The Penguin Pool at London Zoo. International
Journal of Heritage Studies, 14(1), 10-29.<span style="background: white; color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background: white;">Holtorf, C.</span><span style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> (2000). </span></span><a href="http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-1934" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background: white;">Sculptures in captivity and monkeys on megaliths.
Observations in Zoo Archaeology</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">. </span><em style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Public Archaeology</em><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">. 1. 195-210</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-76482323957402653922019-04-16T03:51:00.001-07:002019-04-17T03:40:44.929-07:00Fish trap on Holy Island?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLFhxioS5luXqDMzUd4cTTK87OPIlXzhoa9XNoL_J0D_LFsCiEdpoYbE_3025-9Z2huDGzzuRavDoIG5N-hJG4J5e5CnOmuLE39Yxo2So3-UH1Kqe32ci1y2P6MsuotMBMKHrjkuucYd4/s1600/DSCF6850.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLFhxioS5luXqDMzUd4cTTK87OPIlXzhoa9XNoL_J0D_LFsCiEdpoYbE_3025-9Z2huDGzzuRavDoIG5N-hJG4J5e5CnOmuLE39Yxo2So3-UH1Kqe32ci1y2P6MsuotMBMKHrjkuucYd4/s400/DSCF6850.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo of the structure looking north from the south end</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I’ve spent a lot of time visiting Holy Island – Lindisfarne over
recent years, and every time I come I discover something new. Over the weekend
I was up leading a conference fieldtrip, and after the tour was over I went
down to the little beach below the parish church on the west side of the
island, overlooked by St Cuthbert’s Island. I’d originally planned to pick up
some seaglass (top tip – it’s a fantastic place for seaglass!). However, whilst
gazing wistfully out to sea, I noticed that one of the ridges of what I assumed
was a natural rocky outcrop on the shore looked very straight and relatively
coherent. Once I’d got my eye in, it was distinctive enough that I thought it merited
a closer exploration. I walked out and had a good look (see pictures) and I’m
pretty convinced that this is not a natural feature and has clearly been deliberately
constructed.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As you can see from the images – the stones are not part of
a natural outcrop of rock but comprises a series of larger squarish blocks of
stone with a crude infill of a smaller rubble fragments. The coherency of the
structure is not as clear as it appeared from the shoreline, but the larger
blocks appear to form a distinctive feature with the rubble more spread around by
the action of the sea. This side of the island faces onto the mainland so is
not exposed to the full force of the North Sea and I’ve rarely seen large waves
here, which seems to have preserved this structure fairly well. Overall, based
on a quick measurement from Google Earth, the structure seems to b about 70m long,
running roughly parallel to the shore (N-S) from a point about 65m from St
Cuthbert’s Island.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguumVFvPptOgG55FwnByU2DKMFB-X0BFzn8AYHih5HtDlqlV8IDC14wB4YYI61srlAEysOeHu9JIu9HDdyGw3wxY6M_uI3HO1F2fTvkutE1KLTDlaOo4hexToybd2L0X7UeQjnlGv8E2w/s1600/weir.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="797" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguumVFvPptOgG55FwnByU2DKMFB-X0BFzn8AYHih5HtDlqlV8IDC14wB4YYI61srlAEysOeHu9JIu9HDdyGw3wxY6M_uI3HO1F2fTvkutE1KLTDlaOo4hexToybd2L0X7UeQjnlGv8E2w/s400/weir.jpg" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stone structure circled in red- St Cuthbert's Island to the south</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So what is it? My current best guess is that it is the
remains of a stone fish trap. Fish traps and weirs are not unknown from the coast
of Northumberland – there is a nice set, entirely undated and uninvestigated in
Budle Bay a few miles south of Lindisfarne on the other side of Ross Point, one
was identified at Dunstanburgh below the Castle and it has been suggested that
an early stone feature close to the later harbour at Beadnell may be a stone
fish trap (<span class="authors"><span style="background: white; color: #333333;">Adrian G. Osler & Katrina Porteous</span></span><span style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span class="date"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">(2010)</span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span class="arttitle"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">‘Bednelfysch and Iseland Fish; Continuity in the
pre-Industrial Fishery of North Northumberland 1300–1950,</span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span class="serialtitle"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The Mariner's Mirror,</span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span class="volumeissue"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">96:1,</span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span class="pagerange"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">11-25</span>; </span></span>Oswald et al., ‘Dunstanburgh
Castle, Northumberland, Archaeological, Architectural and Historical
Investigations’, English Heritage Research Department Report, Series 26
(Portsmouth, 2006), 80.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The classic shape for
a fish trap is a simple V-shape, which would allow the tide flow to draw fish
into the point of the V where they could be collected. The structure I have
found does not conform to this – it is a simple straight stone bank. In many
ways this is reminiscent of the stone feature known as the ‘Black Dyke’ that
lies in Budle Bay, but other parallels can be found e.g. the stone fishtrap at
Balleghan in Lough Swilley (Co. Donegal, Ireland) (Montgomery, Paul. (2015).
Intertidal Fish Traps from Ireland: Some Recent Discoveries in Lough Swilly,
Co. Donegal. Journal of Maritime Archaeology. 10. 117-139). The publication of
the Balleeghan example suggests that this was originally a V-shaped trap with
only one arm surviving which is a possibility in this case. The examples from Budle Bay show a mix of V-shaped traps and simple banks/barriers. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgofKBHR5u2cJW-r3CgsxuXVbqpO-GSFKHOIJJ7IcFtcCie_Ro6mCbc3S6YYd6FRUWlnymuk8VJ3_tN7jnjQDNQOsn6iAufpWa4NtARB39iRmrVb7JtFYldt4wDdYp1bIRMSx38PH5z18g/s1600/weir.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="941" data-original-width="1372" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgofKBHR5u2cJW-r3CgsxuXVbqpO-GSFKHOIJJ7IcFtcCie_Ro6mCbc3S6YYd6FRUWlnymuk8VJ3_tN7jnjQDNQOsn6iAufpWa4NtARB39iRmrVb7JtFYldt4wDdYp1bIRMSx38PH5z18g/s400/weir.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Range of fish traps and similar structures in Budle Bay</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is not easy to date this structure- some of the work on
Irish fishtraps suggests that generally wooden fish traps might be earlier (prehistoric/early
medieval) with stone fish traps coming in later (medieval/post-medieval),
although it is unclear how firmly this applies to the Irish examples and how
far the Irish chronology can be applied to English material. It is noticeable
though, that as far as I can ascertain there are no documentary references to the
Budle Bay or putative Holy Island fish traps – including in the account rolls
from the medieval Holy Island Priory. There is a place name on Holy Island – “The
Yares” (a local dialect term for fish trap) which belongs to an area of the sea lying between Castle Point and the sandbank known as Long Batt, but this seems
to be too far south to relate to the structure I’ve found; there is also a place
name “The Cages” just to the south of Beal on the mainland, more or less
opposite Holy Island village, but again too far away to be related to the new structure.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Overall, it is clear that fish traps were used in this area –
not surprising given the tidal range and large open sand flats – however, we know precious little about their functioning or their date. I’d hazard a guess that
these Northumberland examples are broadly medieval – the lack of any
documentary trail suggests they are probably not later. However, it is quite
possible that they are of an earlier (early medieval?) date. The key job now is
to (a) record this example properly (b) have a think about how such a stone
structure might be dated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-7701453051773746682019-03-29T14:48:00.000-07:002019-03-29T14:48:06.560-07:00Maypoles and "Burying Peter"<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today I stumbled a nice example of the intersection of landscape
and archaeology and folk tradition. We visited Nun Monkton, a village a few
miles to the north-west of York. It’s a classic medieval village, with the
houses arranged around the broad open green, with the church at one end. The
green is dominated by a huge maypole that stands over 80’ high at the west end
of the green. Maypoles are not an uncommon site in English villages, but this
one is a whopper and believed to be the tallest one in England.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/54514670_10157409016668203_6882380853536620544_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&_nc_ht=scontent-lht6-1.xx&oh=7a1d7551bdbd67cbdb55c466c44eb792&oe=5D0809FB" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image may contain: outdoor" border="0" height="400" src="https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/54514670_10157409016668203_6882380853536620544_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&_nc_ht=scontent-lht6-1.xx&oh=7a1d7551bdbd67cbdb55c466c44eb792&oe=5D0809FB" width="221" /></a>Maypoles tend to sit at the ‘twee-er’ end of the folkloric
spectrum, and tend to evoke images of Edwardian school children dancing with
ribbons attached to the top of the pole. However, this kind of distinctive
ribbon dance was an introduction from the Continent in the later 19<sup>th</sup>
century. More traditionally, maypoles were focus for seasonal festivities, but
often of a more ribald and boozy type, although they were commonly associated
with music and dance. They were often dressed or adorned with greenery and boughs,
not surprising with a monument so clearly associated with the beginning of May.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As with many maypoles in England, the actual pole itself is
not that old- the current maypole only dates to 2004, but its predecessor was erected
in 1875, having been shortened in 1975 and the 1920s. Before, this a painting
shows a pole in place in the 1840s and there are traditions that it stood there
since at least the 1790s. The local village history has lots of information
about the festivities around the 1875 erection which involved eight local vicars,
a May queen, two river steamers from York and a brass band. As so often with
this kind of landmark, it was a focus for hi-jinks with the front gate of the
local pub being found on top of it after Mischief Night 1953. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, it is the earlier history of the location that
turns out to be particularly interesting. First, adjacent to the maypole is the
sorry-looking remains of a medieval stone cross. It’s not in great condition
and little survives but the base. The juxtaposition of the cross and the
maypole is certainly significant. Yet, the real interest is a report on a tradition
that took place in the village recorded in that stalwart record of folk
traditions <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Notes and Queries</i> (4<sup>th</sup>
April 1868, 361-2). It describes a tradition known locally as ‘Rising Peter’,
which took place on June 29<sup>th</sup> each year (St Peter’s Day). According
to N&Q, on the Saturday before the feast day the villages accompanied by
fiddlers and players processed to where the maypole stood. A sycamore tree
stood next to it, beneath was buried an rough wooden effigy or statue of St
Peter in a wooden coffin (and apparently sometimes dressed in ridiculous clothes)
– it was then processed to the nearby pub where it was shown publicly until the
first Saturday after the feast where it was taken back to the tree and reburied
until the following year. The whole process and the intervening feat period seem
to have been associated with the feasting. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The report notes that the tradition
had died out by the time the note had been written (1860s) but had only become moribund
in late years. Suggesting that it had been a practice that had survived at
least into the early 19<sup>th</sup> century. Significantly, this means that it
must have been at least partly contemporary to the use of the same site for the
maypole. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The curious coincidence of the maypole, the cross and the site of ‘burying
Peter’ clearly marked a point of some ritual and customary significance to the
local community. Importantly, its position on the village green meant that it
was located on common land, and not private property. Often rites and
ceremonies related to the affirmation of shared ownership and defining the boundaries
of common land focused on processing around the edge of a territory – such as
occurred at ‘beating of the bounds’ processions that often took place on
rogation days. In this case, the green was a tract of common land over which
villages had customary rights of access and use was situated at the heart of
the settlement, but a similar kind of processionary tradition seems to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>have taken place. Although impossible to date
the origin of this tradition, a medieval origin would not be unlikely and the
dramatic reconstruction of the ‘death’ and resurrection of a holy statue has
clearly parallels to aspects of pre-Reformation dramatic liturgical practice. Although
the origin of the maypole may not be quite so early, the spatial link is clear
and also there seem to be a temporal connection – the maypole seems to have
been danced around not just at May but also on St Peter’s day, and the
re-erection of the pole in the 1870s took place on and around this day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A final interesting note, and something that I only noticed
on leaving the parish church, is that the maypole and crossbase lie exactly on
the same west-east alignment of the parish church. As you come out of the church
door, they are directly in front of you, although a couple of hundred yards
away. This can’t be coincidental, and implies some kind of spatial connection
between the church and this secondary focus of more ad hoc votive activity. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtKVimleZ5vOvwnbu-s1gjcmLkmH-hHs5D6N8lPfwUtGHzEh7OHhCgGAVw1tcmul5dO2Gt24c_UQJtLcUEvk8PVrmFrkQJ4IQD0QWVZppXCUvc3WgZWOhSB9PPeAa69lJhqhTeCztpjwk/s1600/map.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="1600" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtKVimleZ5vOvwnbu-s1gjcmLkmH-hHs5D6N8lPfwUtGHzEh7OHhCgGAVw1tcmul5dO2Gt24c_UQJtLcUEvk8PVrmFrkQJ4IQD0QWVZppXCUvc3WgZWOhSB9PPeAa69lJhqhTeCztpjwk/s400/map.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2nd Edition OS map with maypole and church marked<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-64298895460680824732019-01-02T12:27:00.002-08:002019-01-02T12:27:18.223-08:00Knickers in a rag tree: contemporary votive deposition at a prehistoric monument
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOsGeN9CWNwPy7hL0bDE8ampiWtjijIuOmGyoWqGQmOLNUoMD5O7Fo2IUdqR9R1UUL6Wjn8UpQcILeUy8h3ZKxfLcjSWB-iS72KVmIyaj5iTVEEkRC4UXlf0J4pjsk17c0haC0nlXVHfY/s1600/DSC_0320.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOsGeN9CWNwPy7hL0bDE8ampiWtjijIuOmGyoWqGQmOLNUoMD5O7Fo2IUdqR9R1UUL6Wjn8UpQcILeUy8h3ZKxfLcjSWB-iS72KVmIyaj5iTVEEkRC4UXlf0J4pjsk17c0haC0nlXVHfY/s400/DSC_0320.JPG" width="225" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Today we took a visit to the
Rollright Stones in Warwickshire. With my archaeology head on I should probably
have been more interested in the Neolithic and Bronze Age megalithic
monumentality – or even the adjacent Anglo-Saxon cemetery. However, what caught
my eye was the evidence for contemporary votive deposition practices. The use
of prehistoric sites for modern New Age spiritual processes is not exactly an
understudied phenomenon. . has long been associated with neo-Druidism and a
range of other modern paganism practices; and rag trees can be found at many
prehistoric monuments, such as Avebury. This is also true at the Rollright
complex – consisting of an early Neolithic portal dolmen, a later Neolithic stone
circle and a Bronze Age standing stone – a rag tree has grown up to the east of
the stone circle, a wide range of small votive depositions had taken place on
the stones themselves and a modern willow sculpture had also been co-opted as a
kind of rag tree. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Two things in particular interested
me. First, the ad hoc nature of the rag trees. The notion of tying a rag or
strip of cloth to a tree deemed as having some spiritual significance is an old
one, and one that has been revived by many followers of the constellation of New
Age beliefs and practices that have grown up from the 1970s. What I found particularly
intriguing was the range of items that had been used as rags. There were obviously
a range of textile rags and ribbons- either torn from larger pieces of fabric
or originally intended for wrapping presents or decorating clothes. More striking
was the wide range of other items that had been tied to the branches of a tree
and the willow sculpture. I noted a torn strip of J-Cloth, bits of bin bag and carrier
bag, knotted receipts, a fragment of military uniform – most spectacularly there
was even a pair of women’s knickers! This seems to suggest that whilst some
people had come to the site with the deliberate intention of tying a rag to the
tree, for many others it was an entirely an extemporised decision, using materials to hand – whatever could be scraped up out of a car
footwell, a handbag or a coat pocket. The decision to tie a rag often seems to
have been an improvised action rather than a formally planned one with advanced
intentions.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I suspect that there are
other issues relating to intentionality at play here – whilst those who plan
ahead may have a more coherent sense of the symbolism and meaning (personal and
cosmological) behind the act of tying a rag to the tree, those who act on the
spur of the moment may have done so for other, perhaps less theorised reasons.
There may well have been an element of mimesis and copying an intriguing
practice rather than anything more structured. </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXXQI888ESdP6aVdwZvSfvObGrlYs8G1MWd9mj7NXROrkoSzoNN5sFtk3sKFn8G247S3Ww1TIElSxUtS8pGSEhZsY2Wvyf4ZnGcTHyF1jVwNGcmWzfFIqco4uMYJYHLU7cYbdaq5Rpd6A/s1600/DSC_0329.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXXQI888ESdP6aVdwZvSfvObGrlYs8G1MWd9mj7NXROrkoSzoNN5sFtk3sKFn8G247S3Ww1TIElSxUtS8pGSEhZsY2Wvyf4ZnGcTHyF1jVwNGcmWzfFIqco4uMYJYHLU7cYbdaq5Rpd6A/s320/DSC_0329.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A second thing I noticed was the
distinction between the range of a objects placed on the stone circle and the
items placed on the portal dolmen. On both there was wide range of organic and deposits,
including flowers, sprigs of mistletoe and berries. However, the only inorganic
objects, primarily coins and the occasional other item, such as a small knife,
were only found around the dolmen – the key difference here is that whilst
there is complete unfettered access to the stone circle, the dolmen is
surrounded by an iron fence, which whilst allowing items to be tossed onto the
stone, prevent their unauthorised removal (although a padlocked gate in the
fence would allow authorised access to the deposits). I wonder whether coins
and other objects were sometimes placed on the stones but were quickly removed-
I can imagine small change in particular being something that inquisitive
children (and impecunious adults) might easily remove. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So in summary – there are some interesting
tensions at play in the depositional practices at the Rollrights; the balance
between planned and ad hoc deposition, and also the distinction between the retrievability
and non-removal of items. The evidence of burning in the centre of the circle
and an attempt to either hide it or reinstate the damaged area also raises
issues about authorised and un-authorised ritual activity on the site (as a Scheduled
Monument the burning of fires at the site is forbidden). It would be interested
to carry out a more formal longitudinal study of the practices at the site- I’d
like to have a better sense of the distinction between more formalised
ritualised practices, such as those carried out by organised pagan groups and
more informal and personal individual acts of deposition. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">For some more reading about
contemporary votive depositional practices have a look at </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; margin: 0px;">Foley, R. 2010. Performing health
in place: The holy well as a therapeutic assemblage</span> <i>Health & Place</i> 17(2):470-9</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://researchprofiles.herts.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/ceri-houlbrook(e83a01eb-ebbc-4b0c-ad24-247ea3c76a10).html"><span style="color: black; margin: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Houlbrook, C</span></a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> 2017, '</span><a href="http://researchprofiles.herts.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/lessons-from-lovelocks-the-archaeology-of-a-contemporary-assemblage(7a4b63d7-1f6f-40e7-aafc-c94f1f29ec15).html" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; margin: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Lessons from Love-Locks: The archaeology of a contemporary assemblage</span></a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">'
</span></span><a href="http://researchprofiles.herts.ac.uk/portal/en/journals/journal-of-material-culture(1d817b48-603a-4447-bea9-eb9d3d32e0b1).html" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; margin: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Journal of
Material Culture</span></em></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">. </span><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1359183517745715" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; margin: 0px; text-decoration: none;">https://doi.org/10.1177/1359183517745715</span></a></span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://researchprofiles.herts.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/ceri-houlbrook(e83a01eb-ebbc-4b0c-ad24-247ea3c76a10).html"><span style="color: black; margin: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Houlbrook, C</span></a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> 2016, '</span><a href="http://researchprofiles.herts.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/because-other-people-have-done-it-cointrees-and-the-aesthetics-of-imitation(47e89b49-e987-4661-9474-51dbf90fb952).html" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; margin: 0px; text-decoration: none;">‘Because other people have done it’: Coin-trees and the aesthetics of
imitation</span></a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">' </span></span><a href="http://researchprofiles.herts.ac.uk/portal/en/journals/journal-of-contemporary-archaeology(43b80610-5a70-46d6-b4c0-9e5449f8ab2c).html" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; margin: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Journal of
Contemporary Archaeology</span></em></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 309-327. </span><a href="https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.v2i2.26542" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; margin: 0px; text-decoration: none;">https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.v2i2.26542</span></a></span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://researchprofiles.herts.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/ceri-houlbrook(e83a01eb-ebbc-4b0c-ad24-247ea3c76a10).html"><span style="color: black; margin: 0px;">Houlbrook, C</span></a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
2016, '</span><a href="http://researchprofiles.herts.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/saints-poets-and-rubber-ducks-crafting-the-sacred-at-st-nectans-glen(4a46b21d-092b-4449-ae9a-28fcf121c551).html" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; margin: 0px;">Saints, Poets, and Rubber Ducks:
Crafting the Sacred at St Nectan’s Glen</span></a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">' </span></span><a href="http://researchprofiles.herts.ac.uk/portal/en/journals/folklore(eda88c84-27ff-457a-b89c-5fd2c0dc4eaa).html" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; margin: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Folklore</span></em></a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">,
vol. 127, no. 3, pp. 344-361</span></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgZOFKti2Jy2grcXP7xI2tWj7UqcuyZqh5I2b5frtA_fBtamwBxWqkBjFZCsfDy_A2erEJ9bquO8tZs-FZ-DJXUYCRsbfp7fbJ0uqzHloKALYiCaT-BrdjHfwB9_11x0jeecenhkHEOfI/s1600/DSC_0316.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgZOFKti2Jy2grcXP7xI2tWj7UqcuyZqh5I2b5frtA_fBtamwBxWqkBjFZCsfDy_A2erEJ9bquO8tZs-FZ-DJXUYCRsbfp7fbJ0uqzHloKALYiCaT-BrdjHfwB9_11x0jeecenhkHEOfI/s320/DSC_0316.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsbbHNlfSv5qcXrhO8B6UbzAr0PSX0rTWXCuzKwxWK38rAF2CYgzRinJ6jdnn05whvD7UUx5UcJYhDwZQp8rvWz18QUOKCzo3k0esczx-mOH9xpiQPUxcvqWhxhpAZ0JEbaUMXoZwjS5s/s1600/DSC_0317.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsbbHNlfSv5qcXrhO8B6UbzAr0PSX0rTWXCuzKwxWK38rAF2CYgzRinJ6jdnn05whvD7UUx5UcJYhDwZQp8rvWz18QUOKCzo3k0esczx-mOH9xpiQPUxcvqWhxhpAZ0JEbaUMXoZwjS5s/s320/DSC_0317.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5bEkbOyZ0ypujeWTFJUF8brN9dL2WefKMdNgcDXGcb4T0_-G3Vcz45oHOjRaVP0ijxj0PNyTxcNXGb3kXojGtHXuq6Lgzq3M_qNR5Bna-MkIv6_UNeR8wVhZbmiDfa1f0QI06rX8XdgY/s1600/DSC_0318.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5bEkbOyZ0ypujeWTFJUF8brN9dL2WefKMdNgcDXGcb4T0_-G3Vcz45oHOjRaVP0ijxj0PNyTxcNXGb3kXojGtHXuq6Lgzq3M_qNR5Bna-MkIv6_UNeR8wVhZbmiDfa1f0QI06rX8XdgY/s320/DSC_0318.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig-jSv42HrkCQzlKgmJ7hL4crB2iRVKHfQPA6BNquJ7FXMQPT348dgO2MzIckzDz3oszqRUWhz2b5WJKi98gCdrsuFilF1KGSd-NXu93bm9Y_9YnuzLrUKI5N8tbxIwrZuuoNecM124Y0/s1600/DSC_0319.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig-jSv42HrkCQzlKgmJ7hL4crB2iRVKHfQPA6BNquJ7FXMQPT348dgO2MzIckzDz3oszqRUWhz2b5WJKi98gCdrsuFilF1KGSd-NXu93bm9Y_9YnuzLrUKI5N8tbxIwrZuuoNecM124Y0/s320/DSC_0319.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsE6J1sWBsEwp3D_gLdphp5YCTHUa99ceGQVAVN9Hi_KifdupxErAcptFJBcqxifhMKzlFB2zD2J9eg-pp8uPoUVdEbD-coqvvuhDXxTosUk_uutUONfVSycknYdElAFugNgMBH6pnCPo/s1600/DSC_0320.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsE6J1sWBsEwp3D_gLdphp5YCTHUa99ceGQVAVN9Hi_KifdupxErAcptFJBcqxifhMKzlFB2zD2J9eg-pp8uPoUVdEbD-coqvvuhDXxTosUk_uutUONfVSycknYdElAFugNgMBH6pnCPo/s320/DSC_0320.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH_59gStJ6stNPw4ppWRal9bAJOlBzk9bYQ5-U3EyYA7Wn6GgQpVVsnTxjmj0YLwiA5HwIoKuTmzv9Q6cimRuFQjhqgNS65wP75utPhiVN_gWtE4kmKMx7jOEEFf9-WBgrwSLUt-39vlM/s1600/DSC_0321.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH_59gStJ6stNPw4ppWRal9bAJOlBzk9bYQ5-U3EyYA7Wn6GgQpVVsnTxjmj0YLwiA5HwIoKuTmzv9Q6cimRuFQjhqgNS65wP75utPhiVN_gWtE4kmKMx7jOEEFf9-WBgrwSLUt-39vlM/s320/DSC_0321.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPpZpxDtdAfRy14N161xQd2tm5lXbxk5dAzN4716Y5ct_pslcP24Nvvc1PjKmvYzzQPSpVQ6EQVhQmLNSzRITd3UCSOcoZGJLETgQ6DYBo6qZY7B4Md7RkYE60eG1KkLc3KS3sgD21RrM/s1600/DSC_0322.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPpZpxDtdAfRy14N161xQd2tm5lXbxk5dAzN4716Y5ct_pslcP24Nvvc1PjKmvYzzQPSpVQ6EQVhQmLNSzRITd3UCSOcoZGJLETgQ6DYBo6qZY7B4Md7RkYE60eG1KkLc3KS3sgD21RrM/s320/DSC_0322.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjANqT1EuS2gIjGJbl_XnOt4Ke57DcxtasvharaLd2UVK3AlgV_c5dFo-zlpeI4dIXCHs3lKiCvuat9f93uKz9550f0dVbZLvUiaVhWqp1IyjRbTa-CNAJ0uNcxpHmi81AEClI0ueLd5Ug/s1600/DSC_0323.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjANqT1EuS2gIjGJbl_XnOt4Ke57DcxtasvharaLd2UVK3AlgV_c5dFo-zlpeI4dIXCHs3lKiCvuat9f93uKz9550f0dVbZLvUiaVhWqp1IyjRbTa-CNAJ0uNcxpHmi81AEClI0ueLd5Ug/s320/DSC_0323.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyKGkP8xMHF_uEhCn77acpE5jYaW1c0nj4RuzFNBWAWcD7dfBvpMpv70A00n8ZDoj8FCjTrG4REeEhbjKy9qeATrOq3ldDdKtCVbBWChwvW-OU_292BYLbEDYgeERLbgdKqG8mXvyEnXE/s1600/DSC_0324.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyKGkP8xMHF_uEhCn77acpE5jYaW1c0nj4RuzFNBWAWcD7dfBvpMpv70A00n8ZDoj8FCjTrG4REeEhbjKy9qeATrOq3ldDdKtCVbBWChwvW-OU_292BYLbEDYgeERLbgdKqG8mXvyEnXE/s320/DSC_0324.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLMt0XrbZ3aJQ_OzgeocgFVykNDiZUqUuHU4gFi62ykTRUDXPNlWj7Dxjj16GWb5zUPJ8EoLhbabblYKgtl9vMVlYvEYFm9xEiCXPjmh6h8Jz4rvo559GtTswU9qYrwUZ5cq-jx0kuoNc/s1600/DSC_0325.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLMt0XrbZ3aJQ_OzgeocgFVykNDiZUqUuHU4gFi62ykTRUDXPNlWj7Dxjj16GWb5zUPJ8EoLhbabblYKgtl9vMVlYvEYFm9xEiCXPjmh6h8Jz4rvo559GtTswU9qYrwUZ5cq-jx0kuoNc/s320/DSC_0325.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizjFCs2N1TFG5b1ox4XSHYl_U4yTtla8d8ci5R8gKcWaYRp4n2IxQu2IdwWXNw3XWb7GXSO9I0c-cqvcIbHE_6DojS8Fs2mQhiJSFDwdt-jAiNnHCTMHsQwy5N-IdKeJQX4VPDKLUJQPI/s1600/DSC_0326.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizjFCs2N1TFG5b1ox4XSHYl_U4yTtla8d8ci5R8gKcWaYRp4n2IxQu2IdwWXNw3XWb7GXSO9I0c-cqvcIbHE_6DojS8Fs2mQhiJSFDwdt-jAiNnHCTMHsQwy5N-IdKeJQX4VPDKLUJQPI/s320/DSC_0326.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMPTwktb81iG8krzYibFdWnmsMWZRImlu05p6KzwZtANXuv95DStPn9Y7U4z0nuZvGh0hErYJ-0Atk6Ogt3OfUoivCSMOzS-pBMooIXVHrbmjCpJsHo3p9Iey5eNu4ID7dXXUD-tjiQ_A/s1600/DSC_0327.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMPTwktb81iG8krzYibFdWnmsMWZRImlu05p6KzwZtANXuv95DStPn9Y7U4z0nuZvGh0hErYJ-0Atk6Ogt3OfUoivCSMOzS-pBMooIXVHrbmjCpJsHo3p9Iey5eNu4ID7dXXUD-tjiQ_A/s320/DSC_0327.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinxr7kXftqFgEvNGThLz_dQsp76LQ-FF-P44F4_h7WmxUo0ch82SEFA-LgjEqElYmBWy7rYkN5ElUnjB6m3ncO9q8v9hxYyO-XWe0Gtq_9k6ruXPjsgOnpZCYPQEO61BuCJu0MPy0vWdE/s1600/DSC_0328.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinxr7kXftqFgEvNGThLz_dQsp76LQ-FF-P44F4_h7WmxUo0ch82SEFA-LgjEqElYmBWy7rYkN5ElUnjB6m3ncO9q8v9hxYyO-XWe0Gtq_9k6ruXPjsgOnpZCYPQEO61BuCJu0MPy0vWdE/s320/DSC_0328.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYfim2-oLJaCPzjaAcAZ7oCqOZp9TLnxtAvJURNByLrO8tzFpU-8MA0H_MZ_IVnGcqslUaorvsNzL-PkTjghiMw28d-ayaVZ7qzAYF4Sg0uc9KkckixVS3uPvI51DTs_6ze1hbhjbo7OA/s1600/DSC_0329.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYfim2-oLJaCPzjaAcAZ7oCqOZp9TLnxtAvJURNByLrO8tzFpU-8MA0H_MZ_IVnGcqslUaorvsNzL-PkTjghiMw28d-ayaVZ7qzAYF4Sg0uc9KkckixVS3uPvI51DTs_6ze1hbhjbo7OA/s320/DSC_0329.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_AA6wNO-Lk3oB0FMXUSkwFrWdP0hlEwNrxv8c_gU2-FIscNEhy1e08_fuuE6NQsuZ5clLtchuOMLXq5Ps8orgXAXwMUZmRJXg0UYszLu4q8RpIDeFKM6Vpfc6pZ4Rqs4obgJCgPo9Y_U/s1600/DSC_0330.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_AA6wNO-Lk3oB0FMXUSkwFrWdP0hlEwNrxv8c_gU2-FIscNEhy1e08_fuuE6NQsuZ5clLtchuOMLXq5Ps8orgXAXwMUZmRJXg0UYszLu4q8RpIDeFKM6Vpfc6pZ4Rqs4obgJCgPo9Y_U/s320/DSC_0330.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwOfO-PDcFIYaPVRIPmdw1BoaOOXWrgOuj6FTmzgp_sCG0ecQjPp_BL_mF9HcGbWK9S2fyzfjSr-ZsrYMf8HHahv2EoN4eCPJJ51Og6kSdpQmzF9TlacT3fNwmuOhzdRaT5dshX0Se1iE/s1600/DSC_0331.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwOfO-PDcFIYaPVRIPmdw1BoaOOXWrgOuj6FTmzgp_sCG0ecQjPp_BL_mF9HcGbWK9S2fyzfjSr-ZsrYMf8HHahv2EoN4eCPJJ51Og6kSdpQmzF9TlacT3fNwmuOhzdRaT5dshX0Se1iE/s320/DSC_0331.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVl2niPlO2FmLOm1bs0ukZDycntlG1F_j_a2bxQXpcmLg9Dwr1tuASVC-iVWtuIxa4k8k_PYO6VRV-3rFY_E_JpdpQoRHzMPrb5TcPzb1nVoj38b008Q7y3nXMwwzHo6OXE_cF3LNnPyE/s1600/DSC_0332.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVl2niPlO2FmLOm1bs0ukZDycntlG1F_j_a2bxQXpcmLg9Dwr1tuASVC-iVWtuIxa4k8k_PYO6VRV-3rFY_E_JpdpQoRHzMPrb5TcPzb1nVoj38b008Q7y3nXMwwzHo6OXE_cF3LNnPyE/s320/DSC_0332.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLZwvOss5wO_ILqV4ICJdghSwhhXF5CP0e8BCt9lgbwwxhwC5vuNfnFC5gfFtDv_B2HBoil-FDSM-7PGIwkXu4FUqfIFdhAYLVI58-8wA4ZasWnzT0AzhKJlAaoXjh9PBklrfQpAZaK60/s1600/DSC_0333.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLZwvOss5wO_ILqV4ICJdghSwhhXF5CP0e8BCt9lgbwwxhwC5vuNfnFC5gfFtDv_B2HBoil-FDSM-7PGIwkXu4FUqfIFdhAYLVI58-8wA4ZasWnzT0AzhKJlAaoXjh9PBklrfQpAZaK60/s320/DSC_0333.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivjr5PRb7UUnBQm2I2gPgujclJgh9xw5yHYbfELI1jx4b3fMGnhWbPSrgi8zo3hEq0n1Q0m6qR2801gidPHFbHwpLl0ogeaYTxa-28TgQTc_r-crmOTcOfhxyVmbT5gO2mIFcO11bptD0/s1600/DSC_0334.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivjr5PRb7UUnBQm2I2gPgujclJgh9xw5yHYbfELI1jx4b3fMGnhWbPSrgi8zo3hEq0n1Q0m6qR2801gidPHFbHwpLl0ogeaYTxa-28TgQTc_r-crmOTcOfhxyVmbT5gO2mIFcO11bptD0/s320/DSC_0334.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglokxus7LV8J3tUSXzoP-4V8QLfnEkWAZByTmnKrfP5JSRHutRiNTs0DuzxZ2UUJZjL6_m0f8l1rLQniNIOjoMqBIcuVWdXZldYNLgaHluv_vgAOIJUcGTuWgMpqBQ7JgEt3USuzCRQP4/s1600/DSC_0335.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglokxus7LV8J3tUSXzoP-4V8QLfnEkWAZByTmnKrfP5JSRHutRiNTs0DuzxZ2UUJZjL6_m0f8l1rLQniNIOjoMqBIcuVWdXZldYNLgaHluv_vgAOIJUcGTuWgMpqBQ7JgEt3USuzCRQP4/s320/DSC_0335.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidH18g1XuqTES7OzZAyeL4J1mfiR5Z0nPl5J4ZPntL7La8VEo3CYgr7AboSaR6Y6iEEaSw4s8zKGAyj8c3_gr5Q1dSYyrOrsDG5QllUvSqR-6Sd1RchpBa2i2c6xVC62jwk9GXXc-sT4o/s1600/DSC_0336.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidH18g1XuqTES7OzZAyeL4J1mfiR5Z0nPl5J4ZPntL7La8VEo3CYgr7AboSaR6Y6iEEaSw4s8zKGAyj8c3_gr5Q1dSYyrOrsDG5QllUvSqR-6Sd1RchpBa2i2c6xVC62jwk9GXXc-sT4o/s320/DSC_0336.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAPAsJnUmwiZWTjxI_xvAtjXJwbWhLzQC4Htt7kVBa57rMb0hqs3VvkoaBFdGzk1QC5n0PeLz3Lq6hYTbP222p3pVpXtfdtd-h63ScvTBQtkhPAdoBc56NjIu_QNKVHdS8NGZYtx5Q3_I/s1600/DSC_0338.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAPAsJnUmwiZWTjxI_xvAtjXJwbWhLzQC4Htt7kVBa57rMb0hqs3VvkoaBFdGzk1QC5n0PeLz3Lq6hYTbP222p3pVpXtfdtd-h63ScvTBQtkhPAdoBc56NjIu_QNKVHdS8NGZYtx5Q3_I/s320/DSC_0338.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span>David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-38709410773922948462018-12-01T13:02:00.001-08:002018-12-01T13:02:05.983-08:00Soul Cake Challenge<br />
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Today Issy (no 1 Daughter) and myself did a little experiment in historical baking. We've been doing some Christmas cooking, but as we had all the spices out we thought we'd try the <a href="http://community.dur.ac.uk/reed.ne/?page_id=3909">Soul Cake Technical Challenge</a>. Soul Cakes were small spiced buns traditionally baked to celebrate All Souls Day (Nov 2nd), a feast in the Christian calendar which was also often accompanied by popular dramatic performances, such as forms of mumming and similar forms of folk theatricals. </span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 9pt;">
</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/47305776_734756433553510_5051861922215886848_n.jpg?_nc_cat=110&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr3-1.xx&oh=55783c63118c90cf1d1fd889e1e9475d&oe=5CAA6B28" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/47305776_734756433553510_5051861922215886848_n.jpg?_nc_cat=110&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr3-1.xx&oh=55783c63118c90cf1d1fd889e1e9475d&oe=5CAA6B28" width="178" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Records of Early English Drama (North-East) is a project based at Durham University carrying out a major research project into all forms of early drama, including performances related to All Souls Day. On <a href="http://community.dur.ac.uk/reed.ne/?page_id=3908">their blog</a> they've been sharing a lot of information about Souling traditions, and as part of this have been encouraging people to try their hand at making Soul Cakes using an early 17th century receipt. The challenge being that early recipes were often pretty minimalist, and rarely include such minor details as quantities or cooking times. The recipe that was given was one taken from the household book of Lady Elinor Fettiplace (c1570-c1647). She lived for much of her life at Appleton (which although the blog says is in Oxfordshire, is actually in Occupied North Berkshire). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The actual recipe is as follows:</span><span style="background-color: #ecd98c;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Take flower & sugar & nutmeg & cloves & mace & sweet butter & sack & a little ale barm, beat your spice & put in your butter & your sack, cold, then work it well all together & make it in little cakes & so bake them, if you will you may put in some saffron into them or fruit.</span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It is mostly self-evident, although sack was a dry white wine (similar to sherry) and ale barm is the yeast from brewing beer. We tried to follow it as close as possible, t</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">he only differences from the receipt used by Lady
Fettiplace was that we had no ale barm, only instant yeast, and we had no nutmeg.
For the sack we used some sherry (good splash); the flour was white plain
flour, the sugar was white caster sugar.</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #ecd98c;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We based our proportions on a soul cake recipe we found on-line, but b</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">ecause this also
contained eggs and the ale barm would have also been liquid(ish), we found our
initial mix rather stiff, so we loosened it with a little bit of milk. We ended
up with something more like a bread dough rather than a cake batter. We left this
in a warm place to rise for about 90 minutes</span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">. </b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We decorated them with some currents in the shape of a cross and baked them for about 30 minutes at Gas Mark 5. End result, something that resembled slightly dense hot-cross buns. You could taste the spices, but the sack (sherry) didn't bring much to the party to be honest. I think we could probably have used a bit more yeast to make them rise a bit better, but otherwise, not bad at all. Now feeling inspired to investigate the Fettiplace book for more North Berkshire Jacobean recipes. Also might give the some of the online recipes for Soul Cakes although I imagine that as these contain egg, that they will be more 'cakey' than the sweet bread buns we made today.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 9.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 9.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 14.4pt; mso-outline-level: 2;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 9.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 9.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 14.4pt; mso-outline-level: 2;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 9.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 9.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 14.4pt; mso-outline-level: 2;">
<a href="https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/47317978_2127330967519196_1245230208747831296_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr3-1.xx&oh=3bec307c3244167d338569a4c35c1007&oe=5CAF3557" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/47317978_2127330967519196_1245230208747831296_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr3-1.xx&oh=3bec307c3244167d338569a4c35c1007&oe=5CAF3557" width="178" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/47244717_993323674199597_4507710959044788224_n.jpg?_nc_cat=105&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr3-1.xx&oh=a86863c6c48de91bab6e85a208cd9e19&oe=5CB03689" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/47244717_993323674199597_4507710959044788224_n.jpg?_nc_cat=105&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr3-1.xx&oh=a86863c6c48de91bab6e85a208cd9e19&oe=5CB03689" width="178" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 9.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 9.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 14.4pt; mso-outline-level: 2;">
<br /></div>
David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-50251693175573019642018-11-15T13:02:00.000-08:002018-11-15T13:05:05.922-08:00From the Pacific to the North Sea: the ‘Melanesification' of the past<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinKpvOdIJqU2c_oz89AdT3l4n949a3JGJU1n7iYoF9e4Yfy62D9Pf0yVZqV81lJNTnUBDXqB8m0CicKaHuO30swfDTwOLPyQ9715eBc773GWlwN8LoNtuuFvtFtheSnGAwOWZCV__7KEI/s1600/oceania.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="345" data-original-width="304" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinKpvOdIJqU2c_oz89AdT3l4n949a3JGJU1n7iYoF9e4Yfy62D9Pf0yVZqV81lJNTnUBDXqB8m0CicKaHuO30swfDTwOLPyQ9715eBc773GWlwN8LoNtuuFvtFtheSnGAwOWZCV__7KEI/s320/oceania.jpg" width="281" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yesterday I was reading Frederik Fahlander’s recent review of Oli
Harris and Craig Cipolla’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Archaeological
Theory in the New Millennium</i>. It’s a generally positive review of a useful
book, but what struck me was a comment he made about the ‘Melanesification of
the past inherent in many relational archaeologies’. In this case, he’s
referring to the notion of distributed agency as promoted by a lot of the
adherents of ANT/Symmetrical approaches which is so current in contemporary thought.
This has been very influenced by the work of the anthropologist Alfred Gell,
particular his 1998 book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Art and Agency</i>
which particularly used case studies drawn in particular from Melanesia
(roughly including New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Fiji). Fahlander highlighted
the problems outlined by Bob Layton in extending a particularly Melanesian ontology
about personhood and art to a more general cross-cultural sphere. In many ways
this reflects the usual problem with analogical thinking in archaeology about specificity
of context and the challenges of extrapolating from anthropological parallels <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It also struck me as interesting as for a variety of reasons I’ve
recently been reading a lot about the archaeology and anthropology of Oceania – particularly some
interesting work by Nicholas Thomas, as well as Kirch’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">On the Road of the Winds</i>, and some stuff by the Tongan writer and
anthropologist Epeli Hau’ofa. It reminded me quite how much archaeologists have
used ideas ultimately derived from Oceanic contexts – the notion of prestige
good exchange being an obvious example which has its origins in anthropological
explorations of processes such as Trobriand <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kula
</i>rings. When I was an undergraduate, social evolutionary models looking at the
development of chiefdom were popular amongst those working on Iron Age
archaeology – much of it derived from anthropological and archaeological word carried
out by scholars such as Timothy Earle on the more ranked societies that belong
to eastern Polynesia (Tonga, Hawaii etc). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Interestingly there also seems to be a little outbreak of, if not Melanesification,
at least Polynesification, in Viking studies. Both Mads Ravn and Neil Price
have made a case for using Oceanic parallels to contextualise Viking society.
In some senses there are some obvious connections, seafaring, ranked societies
with evidence for tran-oceanic expansion driven by something beyond simple
population expansion. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In my own reading I’ve found it really interesting taking some of these
ideas that have permeated the archaeological literature back to their origin. In
most cases it’s clear that the complexity and contingency of things like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kula</i> rings get stripped out when the
model is transported. Also often, I’m not sure that anthropological parallels
are always particularly illuminating when they are reduced to the banal level
of ‘ooh look Pacific society exchange systems can be both reciprocal and
hierarchical, a bit like Iron Age Britain’. I’ve my found my reading more useful
in opening up possibilities rather than providing exact parallels, and also as
a useful reminder of the sheer bloody messiness of non-state societies. They
can be inconsistent, inchoate and are constantly dynamic. Indeed, it’s this complexity
that so often gets lost when analogies are used to used uncritically – and as
Matthew Spriggs has pointed out this kind of approach can strip out
chronological change and contingency resulting in a kind of denial of history
imposed on Oceanic societies. Ironically juicy anthropological parallels end up
treated like Prestige Goods, handed around between peers and gaining their importance
on the basis of their exotic provenance. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Anyway next week I’m off to London next week to go the British
Library <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anglo-Saxons: Kingdoms, Art and War</i></span>
exhibition and the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oceania </i>exhibition
at the Royal Academy; I look forward to seeing how a really good understanding
of emerging social ranking in Toga can only be developed by drawing parallels with
7<sup>th</sup> century Mercia. <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" />
</span>
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Fahlander, F. 2018. Oliver J.T. Harris and Craig
Cipolla. Archaeological Theory in the New Millennium: Introducing Current
Perspectives (Abingdon: Routledge, 2017, 238 pp., 32 figs, pbk, ISBN
978-1-138-88871-5). </span><i style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">European Journal of Archaeology,</span></i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span><i style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">21</span></i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">(4), 640-643. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Hau’ofa, E. 2008. <strong><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;">We are the ocean:
selected works</span></i></strong><strong><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;">
University of Hawaii Press</span></strong><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></strong></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Layton, R. 2003. ‘Art and Agency’: A Reassessment. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Journal of the Royal Anthropological
Institute</i>, 9: 447–64<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="authors"><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Price, N. & Ljungkvist</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">, J</span></span><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span class="date"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">2018</span> </span><span class="arttitle"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Polynesians of the Atlantic?
Precedents, potentials, and pitfalls in Oceanic analogies of the Vikings,</span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span class="serialtitle"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Danish Journal of Archaeology</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="serialtitle"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Ravn, M., 2011. Ethnographic analogy from the Pa</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">cific: just as
analogical as any other analogy. </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">World
Archaeology</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">, 43/ 4, 716–725.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Ravn, M., 2018. Roads to complexity: Hawaiians and Vikings
compared. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Danish Journal of Archaeology <o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Spriggs, M., 2008. Ethnographic parallels and the denial of
history. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">World Archaeology</i>, 40/4,
538–552<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Spriggs, M., 2016. Lapita and the Linearbandkeramik: what
can a comparative approach tell us about either? In: L. Amkreutz, et al., eds. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Something out of the ordinary? Interpreting
diversity in the Early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik and beyond</i>. Cambridge:
Cambridge Scholars, 481–504.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-54802745547223677352018-11-14T13:20:00.004-08:002018-11-14T13:21:39.143-08:00Reflections on Remembrance Sunday 2018<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/resources/images/9023748/?type=responsive-gallery-fullscreen" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="240" src="https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/resources/images/9023748/?type=responsive-gallery-fullscreen" title="" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last weekend I went to the Remembrance Sunday memorial
events in the centre of York, marking the 100<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the
Armistice at the end of World War I. As it was such a key anniversary, there
were hundreds, probably thousands of people attending an event that is usually
more subdued. I’ve blogged previously about some of my personal emotions about Remembrance
Sunday, but I want to hear just briefly reflect on the physical experience of attending
a large community ritual event – a little light autoethnography if you will. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My first observation was the capacity for sound to cause
affect (in the psychological sense of the word i.e. provoking or causing an
emotional response). Obviously, at an event such as this there was music- a
military band marching at the head of the parade leading to the memorial
gardens and the playing of the Last Post. However, it was the two-minute
silence that really struck me as an incredibly potent element of the ceremony. I
found the silence of a large crowd in the middle of a large city quite
remarkable – indeed, a little unnatural. In particular, it was noticeable how
the need for silence changes the physical dynamic of the crowd. The end of conversation
means that the people stop interacting with each other – although one or two couples
stood close to each other and some parents held children, on the whole there
was a noticeable ‘atomisation’ of the crowd. The combination of lack of noise
and lack of other forms of interaction resulted in a really peculiar tension
between being in a group and being an individual. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The marking of this odd liminal period was
also signalled by noise, in this case the firing of a pair of field guns.
Having done a little research the 2 minute silence had its origin in Cape Town South
Africa in 1918 following a practice that had been used intermittently in
churches in town since 1916. Even from the beginning it was marked by noise –
the firing of the noon day gun and ending with the playing of the bugle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The other observation was the underlying low level disorganisation.
People were uncertain where to go, a lot of people couldn’t see well, the march
got split into two sections by accident, people were jostling to get a good
position and there were clearly moments of uncertainty even amongst the civic
party. The periphery of the crowd was also threaded through with individuals
who weren’t taking part, trying to work their way through the crowded pavement,
cars stopped by the police and children crying. It was a healthy reminder that
although when we think of ceremony and ritual in the abstract we tend to
envisage a clearly shared script, informed participants and a impeccable
organisation. In fact, even with a militarily organised, important high-profile
event such as this, there were still ragged edges, awkward moments and confusion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-38789038243434767552018-02-20T05:22:00.002-08:002018-02-20T05:22:29.929-08:00Citational Practices - some thoughts
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Z099F8rvr6zo4b8p4P5ixn0-8O4qZ-5KvyJVNsQNkUumSR03VrwzAMgcvxKSpic1qH9f_AeO3wE53dfLMZAo0KywnrZX0j9qRaFWul_Ssx4NLY7o2g5ri4kpph_B-aoNYk7yPj1qcBw/s1600/prudennce.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="962" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Z099F8rvr6zo4b8p4P5ixn0-8O4qZ-5KvyJVNsQNkUumSR03VrwzAMgcvxKSpic1qH9f_AeO3wE53dfLMZAo0KywnrZX0j9qRaFWul_Ssx4NLY7o2g5ri4kpph_B-aoNYk7yPj1qcBw/s400/prudennce.png" width="332" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’ve belatedly been reading Colleen Morgan’s<a href="https://middlesavagery.wordpress.com/2015/02/19/where-are-the-female-contemporary-archaeologists/?fb_action_ids=10103974696942273&fb_action_types=news.publishes&fb_ref=pub-standard&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%5B800401126663459%5D&action_type_map=%5B%22news.publishes%22%5D&action_ref_map=%5B%22pub-standard%22%5D"> great blog post</a> about what she terms ‘citational communities’ – the invisible colleges of
academics and researchers and their publications that we cite to support our
own published work. A key message of her thoughtful piece is that for many
female scholars, there is not only a glass ceiling, but also glass walls which
result in their work being undercited and referenced. I suspect that the extent
of this varies widely from discipline to discipline with some academic communities
being more male dominated than others. The key point though is that citation is
essentially a political act, in which we as researchers can align ourselves with
or against other scholars or perhaps more perniciously cut scholars entirely
out debates by sidelining their work. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I confess my first reaction on reading the article was to think
how different her particular field (digital archaeology) is compared with my
own (early medieval Britain) – and I was shocked at the practices she was
mentioning (people actively not citing rivals or preferentially citing friends).
There are many major female scholars in my field of my own, and earlier and
younger generations, whose work has been profoundly influential on my own work at
a personal level as well as within the wider subject (on a personal level- Tania
Dickinson gave me a grounding in Anglo-Saxon archaeology as an UG that I am still
grateful for; working on early medieval Northumbria and Wales scholars such as
Rosemary Cramp and Nancy Edwards have also ben fundamental to my development as
a researcher). I can and do cite these and many other female scholars regularly</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">However, a key point of Colleen’s blog was also that these
kind of biases need not necessarily grow out of explicit or overt prejudices,
but also the more structural biases implicit in academia. It made me think about
how my own citational practices actually work. Again, my first reaction was
that I just cite what is most relevant or appropriate in a particular context.
Yet, ion reflection I think it is probably true that I do tend to cite
colleagues and friends more often. Partly, this is for practical reasons, I’m
often more aware of what they have written and their research output. Like most
academics I feel that I’m constantly struggling to keep up with the current
literature being churned out even in a small field such as mine; inevitably I
tend to be better at reading the work of people who work down the corridor or who
are friends outside academia – often because they’ve asked me to read it before
publication. Within my world, due to its size, there tends to be a greater
collegiality – I can think of very few people working in my world who I do not
know personally to a greater or lesser extent. However, even within this world
there are clear sub-communities – they are partly based on sub-specialisms, but
they are also influenced by other factors, particular geography and generation.
Regionally, it is inevitable that people tend to be more aware of the work of
those who are in physical proximity. Based in Durham and living in York I tend
to have better links and understandings of scholars working in Durham, York and
Newcastle than Southampton or Exeter. These kind of regional connections are
also particularly important in the development of informal networks of peers
when people are early in their careers, particularly during their Phds. For
example, when I was doing my PhD in the mid-1990s, there was a distinct cluster
of PhD students all working on broadly similar topics (early medieval
archaeology in Britain) in what might be termed the ‘Thames valley corridor’ -
London, Reading and Oxford. We knew each other’s work and went to the same seminars
and conferences – but as, or perhaps, more importantly, was the more informal
networking at pubs and parties; I probably spent more time actually talking
about my work in the pubs of Oxford and ULU than I did in my own Department.
Inevitably, although as a peer group we have now dispersed to universities
across the country I still keep a closer eye on the output of my friends than perhaps
I do of people I don’t know so well.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This issue of informal networking (the après conference and Saturday
night party) brings us back to the initial point. As I get older, I do less of
this; family commitments and work pressures mean I get to less conferences and
I’m far more selective in what I do go to (I tend to be more conservative in
choice of conference and tend to only go if I’m speaking myself). I get out to
the after-research seminar drinks less and haven’t been to a decent party for a
long time. Parental responsibilities (and more importantly ‘parental desires’ –
being a dad is something I enjoy rather than see as being a duty) tend to fall
on women’s shoulders far more extensively than on men’s (this is not a good or
inevitable thing, but it is in our society a truth). As a result, it often ends
up being harder for women with families to get to conferences or if they do, to
stay for the social side of things. The events which I’ve found so important in
developing my personal and citational research communities are precisely those
which young scholars with families (or indeed young scholars outside academia
with limited access to the time/money needed to go to conferences) – due to
structural biases in our society this tends to be more of an issue for women
than men. If as a middle aged man with a permanent academic post I struggle
with engaging with the academic world beyond reading published research, then
how hard is it for those earlier in their careers? As someone who worked
outside academia until their mid-30s I remember the struggle – and that was
before we had children.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So, what can I do? Sticky one, but basic stuff includes
ensuring the conferences that I am involved with are more family friendly and be
pro-active in ensuring gender parity in panels and line-ups of speakers, try to
engage more via things like Twitter, blogs, social media with the work of younger
scholars, think about my necessarily selective reading more carefully and try to
find time to be a little more adventurous in what I do look at. I like Colleen’s
idea of setting up a list of female contemporary archaeologists that can be
cited as a way of encouraging us to be more imaginative in our use of citation.
We all tend to stick to the well-worn hollow ways of citational traditions we have
erode into own personal academic terrain; sometimes it’s good to<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>get out of these ruts.</span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span>David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-38705518123064515292017-09-01T14:43:00.001-07:002017-09-01T14:43:38.721-07:00Exploring Brookwood Cemetery
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCtmoYBNKkuiB5yZoylyhDC7tDkXPH5PP5IcRlApB2t4XXOxT85u99wT1wqj2FX2LueNpECV_aQRK8rDbdtjDd3ju_k9xO1_-enKckoadTe7jBOCrbosZ-9Dr27a90PPC4EU5YDJ1uLgc/s1600/DSCF5574.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCtmoYBNKkuiB5yZoylyhDC7tDkXPH5PP5IcRlApB2t4XXOxT85u99wT1wqj2FX2LueNpECV_aQRK8rDbdtjDd3ju_k9xO1_-enKckoadTe7jBOCrbosZ-9Dr27a90PPC4EU5YDJ1uLgc/s400/DSCF5574.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A couple of weeks ago, we had an unexpected visit to the
great cemetery at Brookwood in Surrey. Originally, designed as an overspill
cemetery for the corpses piling up in Victorian London, it is perhaps best
known for its ‘Necropolis Railway’ that ran straight from London Waterloo to
the cemetery itself. What I found most fascinating though was not the earlier
phases of the cemetery, but the more recent areas, which contained burial zones
dedicated to a complex mix of different religions and ethnicities. As I’ve done
a lot of work on early medieval burial, in which the role of ethnicities and
religious beliefs are so much at the front of people’s thoughts, it was a
useful exercise to see how these aspects of identity were played out in a more
contemporary setting. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The first area we explored was the Catholic zone – itself a
reminder that Christianity comes in more than one flavour and that certain
communities felt the need to spatially differentiate themselves from others (although
there was no formal boundary between this area and the burial zones of other traditions).
Strikingly, although whilst the individuals within this area were all buried
within the same faith tradition, there were other identities being signalled in
their burial, particularly ethnicity. There is clearly a significant Italian
diaspora community in this part of Surrey - and they were marking themselves
out in death. They were doing in this in a number of different ways. First,
there was a clear physical clustering of graves with Italian names in a certain
part of the Catholic zone. In some cases, particularly in the slightly older
burials, Italian was used in the epitaphs, but often most of the text was in
English , although often the place of birth was often indicated down to the
level of the town or village in which the person had been born in. Another
feature, distinctive to these was the use of photographs of the deceased. Such
photographs are not a particularly British tradition (although it is starting
to become more common), so the consistent use of photographs in this area
certainly marked out the occupants as ‘not British’ even if not specifically Italian.
</span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLn4c3XHz4Y7wwA7CB1z5H6jX8ak3AX103-pU3ANF3ZUXmSjhQu7kg5P3e_xiCqGDpWTfwxMNyJJnOmBiuj0i9zotF0KtV4YEgo_GjJtol5F-TLzM2ekNV0O9H2oPDPYvU18B2Em07Sm0/s1600/DSCF5578.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLn4c3XHz4Y7wwA7CB1z5H6jX8ak3AX103-pU3ANF3ZUXmSjhQu7kg5P3e_xiCqGDpWTfwxMNyJJnOmBiuj0i9zotF0KtV4YEgo_GjJtol5F-TLzM2ekNV0O9H2oPDPYvU18B2Em07Sm0/s400/DSCF5578.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It is tempting to see the declining use of Italian on the
graves as an indicator of some level of assimilation by the Italian community.
However, in other aspects of the burial tradition of this community there
seemed to be in more recent years a very pronounced revival of a very
distinctively Italian burial tradition – the construction and use of
columbaria. Columbaria are upstanding constructions containing multiple
compartments for individual cinerary remains. Anyone who has travelled abroad
will have seen these used widely in the Mediterranean, particularly in Italy,
often rather resembling banks of marble filing cabinets. Often groups of
compartments are dedicated to the use of a specific family. Their use is certainly
alien to the English tradition. However, here at Brookwood, columbaria only
seem to be start being constructed in the 21<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup> century, where they
only seemed to be used by the Italian community. In this sense, the Italian population
are seemingly becoming more rather than less Italian in death as time goes by. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It would be interesting to find out more about how this has
come about. One possibility is that as direct links with their overseas origins
ebbs away as older generations pass, the younger community feel a need to
signal their loyalty to their roots in other ways even if only in death. There
are though other issues at play here though I’m sure. I’d be interested to get
a better understanding of two factors. Firstly, how far do changes in cemetery
regulations at Brookwood influence what is acceptable and permissible? Most
cemeteries have very tight regulations about the range and design of burial
memorials that are acceptable. Brookwood is a private cemetery, run on a
commercial basis, rather than a municipal cemetery or a Church of England
graveyard; thus they need to be savvy to attract clients. I can see this
resulting in a pressure to allow more experimentation and unorthodoxy in
memorial types – it is possible that columbaria only became acceptable within
the cemetery relatively recently and that before that, even though the desire
was there, people were simply not allowed to build and use such unorthodox (in
a British context) memorials. Another hypotheses that would warrant further consideration
is the pragmatic issue of the availability of the necessary skills and
technologies to construct columbaria. Presumably, traditional UK undertakers in
the past only offered a defined and limited range of burial monuments, which
did not include columbaria. Potentially, it took some time for there to be
enough demand, and presumably access to plans and exempla for commercial undertaking
concerns to be able to move beyond simple head and kerbstones to being able to
construct more complex memorials. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Both of these explanations are just working hypotheses – it is
quite possible that that one, neither or both may be relevant, as well as other
alternatives. Pleasingly, as these are contemporary burial traditions rather
than archaeological case studies, it should, in theory, be possible to drill
down deeper into the choices being made here. As archaeologists we spend a lot
of time thinking about agency and the active decisions being made by people to
express identities- this is a useful reminder that no matter what people might
desire, there are also often pragmatic limitations (procedural, economic and
social) that limits what people are actually able to do in practice. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigOhb27tkP1GaeBioql5mWS2gDlGojWk_CfDaeH8Zadj86Klfbm3fJBhLEaL8b8enMmDvwiqriK58f-XC9kaQkFnE1UkkY-8wEhPqEMySufkL3iS5unKPkhfScML-oxbFM1UGVDiDboVg/s1600/DSCF5582.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigOhb27tkP1GaeBioql5mWS2gDlGojWk_CfDaeH8Zadj86Klfbm3fJBhLEaL8b8enMmDvwiqriK58f-XC9kaQkFnE1UkkY-8wEhPqEMySufkL3iS5unKPkhfScML-oxbFM1UGVDiDboVg/s400/DSCF5582.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The second area we explored was the substantial Muslim area
of the cemetery. This was a real experience, as whilst I’ve seen plenty of
non-British cemeteries before, this was a tradition I was not really familiar
with. Handily, we got talking with a local man from the Pakistani community was
really interested in talking about his religions approaches to burial and was
frank about how some decisions were made. I am indebted to him for this time and
willingness to report.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">However, more widely, the same patterns that could be seen
within the Catholic area to differentiate individuals and communities could be
seen at play in this area. Groups were particularly differentiating themselves
in terms of national origin, which although ultimately subordinate to religious
identify was clearly an important structuring principal. Again, language was
used as a differentiating strategy – some used just Arabic script, others used English
script, and some a combination of the two. The place of birth was also
mentioned regularly. In some cases, such as amongst the Turkish and Turkish
Cypriot communities, national flags also often appeared on graves. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As with the Italian Catholic burials, the role of family
tombs seemed much more apparent than in traditional British cemeteries. This
may be a reflection of the differing significance of family groups in burial
traditions in their native countries, but I wonder how much being part of an
immigrant community may amplify or emphasise the importance of the family as a
structuring principal in death and in life. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Obviously, Islamic burials are meant to broadly conform with
a number of obligations – although obviously I’m aware there is huge variation
here. A common requirement though is that the body should be at right-angles to
the direction of Mecca. Interestingly, there was a surprising variety in
alignment- sometimes even within the same burial compound or enclosure. The
gentleman we were speaking to also said that often the precise choice of
alignment might be constrained by pragmatic issues- for example, they were sometimes
offset slightly if correct alignment would mean that the grave would intersect
with one of the curved cemetery paths or roads. In other cases, the correct
alignment might also result in a grave impinging onto a neighbouring plot. We
were told that in this case the cemetery management company would charge for
both plots in such cases, so sometimes economics came into play to prevent the
ideal alignment being used.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Within the grave, we were told that coffins weren’t used,
but in theory a barrier was meant to be placed between the body and the fill of
the grave – stone or wood- but again we were told that this was also sometimes
not used for reasons of cost. Presumably, this kind of price cutting was
particularly easy as it was not visible after the interment itself and would
only be known about by a small number of people. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Overall, it was a really thought-provoking visit – a distinct
change from the many UK cemeteries and graveyards I’ve visited before. As I
noted above archaeologist tend to be very interested in agency and choice in the
mortuary process – particularly in the construction of ‘identities’ (whatever
we might mean by that). The Brookwood experience has made me think a little
more carefully about the constraints and limits that are also in place within any
society. When looking at early medieval burials sometimes we tend to think
about religious identities replacing ethnic and other identities- Brookwood was
a reminder of how intermeshed and overlapping these identities can be in
practice (and I didn’t even start to explore the issue of gender distinctions…).</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeDJrbMge9fQlpbUGe5241GH3aWIv0UtT-qLnd_a7QNU_uVV44v14fgh_ZQnbLOYlTErMZ9zrcUBqKXYn9T1esM3SfzjLOsBpbMBwQbKCY7xwgVN53BZkDpct7jjO9VzHXP4GjPUQYOYM/s1600/DSCF5572.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeDJrbMge9fQlpbUGe5241GH3aWIv0UtT-qLnd_a7QNU_uVV44v14fgh_ZQnbLOYlTErMZ9zrcUBqKXYn9T1esM3SfzjLOsBpbMBwQbKCY7xwgVN53BZkDpct7jjO9VzHXP4GjPUQYOYM/s640/DSCF5572.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghmDE6ymkLleSaQ5TovQkWw3iDY3GTzbL7vCjMzTPuMMbL-ldjoE0r0mH5KwutykxN9X7xRCi_N20txZ6Tn-Ty6bpNzt60V8b4wqMlcm3gylMjlIWN-pxlAfdCfnCxzZTojZt1WAAgBW8/s1600/DSCF5585.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghmDE6ymkLleSaQ5TovQkWw3iDY3GTzbL7vCjMzTPuMMbL-ldjoE0r0mH5KwutykxN9X7xRCi_N20txZ6Tn-Ty6bpNzt60V8b4wqMlcm3gylMjlIWN-pxlAfdCfnCxzZTojZt1WAAgBW8/s640/DSCF5585.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj68ZpuH8nqfgKAHkjTkebJHzi3rKj3JM9uzUyXDGdxbdAR0YvLWzEFmwm-UC6UDg4Qr3kq4LCWMOmvjaVKXNLQ2NMigd76iS-X3E67t6IMaBQqAZSGleadu5f46JYQQ5zNcCwEthD2Co0/s1600/DSCF5588.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj68ZpuH8nqfgKAHkjTkebJHzi3rKj3JM9uzUyXDGdxbdAR0YvLWzEFmwm-UC6UDg4Qr3kq4LCWMOmvjaVKXNLQ2NMigd76iS-X3E67t6IMaBQqAZSGleadu5f46JYQQ5zNcCwEthD2Co0/s640/DSCF5588.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2CanGcWMfib1ziPaI6DZ3Qw7TYSsbOJgYSJw1KKSztIemaD__x1r8PmjMp9TJsLnEdxqdF8WuJuQfEJbzD1r95VsXaiyIBefEvL8Kfv-6lwgg_T1vo-nFyTyxaztiaxloGiCr1I7JB5w/s1600/DSCF5590.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2CanGcWMfib1ziPaI6DZ3Qw7TYSsbOJgYSJw1KKSztIemaD__x1r8PmjMp9TJsLnEdxqdF8WuJuQfEJbzD1r95VsXaiyIBefEvL8Kfv-6lwgg_T1vo-nFyTyxaztiaxloGiCr1I7JB5w/s640/DSCF5590.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUhjtZGBuPNaRqlkCzFlaP9c6GPd0zk7EbePSMdKnfCM87EhtOI69UrkndXYw0r2G6Sa93jpf_ZofZ4XVyXYlPayD_KsElNfn9cINtYp_mPq33xjoCXxw4BOy7Im0qWifiyLPVVl7kya0/s1600/DSCF5592.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUhjtZGBuPNaRqlkCzFlaP9c6GPd0zk7EbePSMdKnfCM87EhtOI69UrkndXYw0r2G6Sa93jpf_ZofZ4XVyXYlPayD_KsElNfn9cINtYp_mPq33xjoCXxw4BOy7Im0qWifiyLPVVl7kya0/s640/DSCF5592.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span>David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-86479673079665260672017-08-27T07:15:00.003-07:002017-08-27T07:15:33.449-07:00Iken: A Suffolk Scene<div style="display: none;">
</div>
<div>
<div class="_rp_r5 ms-font-weight-regular ms-font-color-neutralDark" id="Item.MessageNormalizedBody" style="font-family: "wf_segoe-ui_normal", "Segoe UI", "Segoe WP", Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif,serif,"EmojiFont";">
<div class="rps_8d29">
<style type="text/css"><!-- .rps_8d29 p
{ margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; }
--></style>
<div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr" id="x_divtagdefaultwrapper" style="color: black; font-family: Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,"EmojiFont"; font-size: 12pt;">
<br />
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuk5A36zvv1E7YBNqbW8o40YQl0N-gskb3nwEoiX28MSgBxGFXZytF1f-PCr0prDUduxhDv2q3ZUR-joIqKqfHeyZMrhYxatdwqkSzqb0gnRPhprD8nE3jZpVJRwvNPGuEP8npiT5kK4U/s1600/DSC_2295.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuk5A36zvv1E7YBNqbW8o40YQl0N-gskb3nwEoiX28MSgBxGFXZytF1f-PCr0prDUduxhDv2q3ZUR-joIqKqfHeyZMrhYxatdwqkSzqb0gnRPhprD8nE3jZpVJRwvNPGuEP8npiT5kK4U/s400/DSC_2295.JPG" width="225" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’ve just come back from a holiday in Suffolk. It’s an area I’ve been to several times and one of the places I always come back to is Iken, an isolated hamlet on the River Alde. Its church, dedicated to St Botolph is almost certainly the location of Botolph’s monastery of Icanho founded in the mid-7<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century. But for once, I’m not going to dwell on early medieval archaeology. I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for the particular tradition of ruralist and agrarian writing that emerged in the 1930s – the best known figures of this movement are people such as HJ Massingham and Adrian Bell. However, the cottage where we were staying had a copy of a book I’d not come across before, <i>Suffolk Scene</i> by Julian Tennyson (great grandson of Alfred, Lord Tennyson). It was a recent edition of the 1939 original and had a forward by Ronald Blythe, which is usually an imprimatur of good writing. The book itself is very much a period piece and contains paeans of praise to Suffolk wildfowling and contains some lengthy passages of rather awkward, light-hearted anecdotes in phonetic Suffolk accent, which seem a little twee to the modern reader. However, the morning before we went to Iken I lay on the beach and read this rather beautiful passage about the church:</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“The loveliest part of the whole river is at Iken, where the church and rectory stand lonely on a little wooded hill at the head of the bay that curves sharply back beneath the bracken and oak trees and steep sandy cliffs. There is something very restful about this place; very old and very friendly; there is no church in England which gives you in quite the same way such a feeling of security and changelessness. Behind it our fields, woods and heaths stretching down to Orford, to the right of it are the marshes and distant sea. A huge expanse of river lies before you when you lean over the graveyard wall; the long, dark pinewood of Blackheath and the bay in the corner where the widegeon gather in thousands on winter nights, seem at least two miles off; but wait till low tide and you will see the whole river fall away and it becomes a flat shining ocean of mud with the channel a thin thread through the middle of it. Whimbrel, curlew, redshank, dunlin, shelduck, mallard all the birds of the river come up to feed around Iken flats and their din sets the tame duck quacking raucously in the decoy at the back of the marshes. The noise of the birds is all that you will hear at Iken, except when the east wind drives across the marsh and lashes at the thatch of the church. When I was a child I decided that here was the place for me to be buried. I have not altered my mind. Everyone wants to lie in his own country: this is mine. I shall feel safe if I have the scream of birds and the moan of wind and the lapping of water all round me, and the lonely woods and marshes that I know so well. How can anyone say what he will feel when he is dead? What I mean is that I shall feel secure in dying” </span></blockquote>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I didn’t know much about the author at that point beyond the fact that he had been killed in Burma,</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiweVE9NIr-5vdRHcLXfQAQ1UQzoE333ByuIypUJuslW391aGZtfxXrnchKR8VC69udt-nM2sO4LhyphenhyphenLCmPYdp71BhssDEeqlkLUi1qMDLI3lZ2D6n0M9-iglS6uzOfC6ht3cPm7zDR8lI0/s1600/DSC_2302.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiweVE9NIr-5vdRHcLXfQAQ1UQzoE333ByuIypUJuslW391aGZtfxXrnchKR8VC69udt-nM2sO4LhyphenhyphenLCmPYdp71BhssDEeqlkLUi1qMDLI3lZ2D6n0M9-iglS6uzOfC6ht3cPm7zDR8lI0/s320/DSC_2302.JPG" width="180" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> far away from the Suffolk he loved, at the age of 30 during the Battle of Arakan in 1945. It was moving then, when we got to Iken, to find his grave in the churchyard. It seems to be a relatively recent monument, unlikely to be more than a decade or so old. It was really rather touching having read his words about the church to discover that he did, as he hoped, end up there, where he must have lain submerged and unmarked in the turf before someone (who? Family? Friends?) placed a stone for him there. </span><br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We placed some shells taken from the beach near the mouth of the river on his gravestone and left him to listen to the wind in the trees and the birds on the river.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWqr01BBLkhBTvuCkpf_rHbFxym10x5VB9f7l9UgE5zWU4a6O4cFlCocCJTK9xV1ujIajzUZbSiR4Cq2MHZl9WpMxq21wic7lXP6R1yxQN2kxNkn73e4OjPvRVX4Mm7aBjkN_V6XeTUg0/s1600/DSC_2296.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWqr01BBLkhBTvuCkpf_rHbFxym10x5VB9f7l9UgE5zWU4a6O4cFlCocCJTK9xV1ujIajzUZbSiR4Cq2MHZl9WpMxq21wic7lXP6R1yxQN2kxNkn73e4OjPvRVX4Mm7aBjkN_V6XeTUg0/s320/DSC_2296.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8v1uVhJQwzsHiRQ2EOrOagKOWGHwVOjzKhVJXql8gcu8UDhnvdrMaQQ3O1IqkFl37oUdIfotTnjU8KR1SYYEkRvrHlX14VAzxtk-zgX4FerivVeOvxN7ttz9mWD16SLIrBRCsWRtt8s4/s1600/DSC_2297.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8v1uVhJQwzsHiRQ2EOrOagKOWGHwVOjzKhVJXql8gcu8UDhnvdrMaQQ3O1IqkFl37oUdIfotTnjU8KR1SYYEkRvrHlX14VAzxtk-zgX4FerivVeOvxN7ttz9mWD16SLIrBRCsWRtt8s4/s320/DSC_2297.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXIzQf9DDT1RLyiatI4Aijlg3vieh6-CqFuRtC5J_-kYMozywh3YzUfOp1V18SrpLaiG5bUXF-O8HisrBqLBdL9KUVRMZsERTwjTszeuU9tEkGHTmiujF1YWHrwTPj4btLh_p_QsfuiCE/s1600/DSC_2299.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXIzQf9DDT1RLyiatI4Aijlg3vieh6-CqFuRtC5J_-kYMozywh3YzUfOp1V18SrpLaiG5bUXF-O8HisrBqLBdL9KUVRMZsERTwjTszeuU9tEkGHTmiujF1YWHrwTPj4btLh_p_QsfuiCE/s320/DSC_2299.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifbDBhxgWmWY79UdeQXTUEGKz3oSzFd-kRK5zngTQpVNipJQKXWgM3RIVgqokpwFjDaiGKHMYKq_zhwTUHqrUaVcKgXwFLTpwKSJpzVRbxoj61eyxMLTf4RAmyC15SVlCPjfXjpAeBeu8/s1600/DSC_2300.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifbDBhxgWmWY79UdeQXTUEGKz3oSzFd-kRK5zngTQpVNipJQKXWgM3RIVgqokpwFjDaiGKHMYKq_zhwTUHqrUaVcKgXwFLTpwKSJpzVRbxoj61eyxMLTf4RAmyC15SVlCPjfXjpAeBeu8/s320/DSC_2300.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSyYRuTJpM-uSN4u-RXfnWeD03xlsy69Klk3QFZKGCU1ftfunTrsNUCbmt_M911LJIWGX2vfoYKDn4JHsBOzzAeiY7gJ7HjviAH2nNYNBDPDVt5YDm3RVpG7Kx3e0TXS8TkCVN_oEA_44/s1600/DSC_2303.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSyYRuTJpM-uSN4u-RXfnWeD03xlsy69Klk3QFZKGCU1ftfunTrsNUCbmt_M911LJIWGX2vfoYKDn4JHsBOzzAeiY7gJ7HjviAH2nNYNBDPDVt5YDm3RVpG7Kx3e0TXS8TkCVN_oEA_44/s320/DSC_2303.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgErXRn8g1S9yk2D04qbYgrh7rh_eNDuoXCK_jAEjh5jU08g643wVRD8MQh4fw6Sr4MFbCvQWcqZDfwNs-rvABXJ3S0zfGhM1Iv4ssgUyKgDe2u7V1sqYnbZKWVPjSBKbY45tF8f0S0_Ng/s1600/DSC_2304.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgErXRn8g1S9yk2D04qbYgrh7rh_eNDuoXCK_jAEjh5jU08g643wVRD8MQh4fw6Sr4MFbCvQWcqZDfwNs-rvABXJ3S0zfGhM1Iv4ssgUyKgDe2u7V1sqYnbZKWVPjSBKbY45tF8f0S0_Ng/s320/DSC_2304.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5gF6MMWfzq8cptWP2lYP3YYfbfE4872zVICUvTxqqXTLeeQkcmBNAfy-6H-LuWfqJGXXvV0BURQiqxap-GPTLF4GV3cUQl0qb8hLteu_5W4wmB9fYq3Y5QmxvuaR0XGwdoiczzoMI_Dg/s1600/DSC_2306.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5gF6MMWfzq8cptWP2lYP3YYfbfE4872zVICUvTxqqXTLeeQkcmBNAfy-6H-LuWfqJGXXvV0BURQiqxap-GPTLF4GV3cUQl0qb8hLteu_5W4wmB9fYq3Y5QmxvuaR0XGwdoiczzoMI_Dg/s320/DSC_2306.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibUh0dBgINwAf5kaHKWbugZYs-aOXAZh3r6IibyqXwQDKNuDcnMBDNUT9qoR3aURbMqcVH5qTZqqBq1FZ2lnuKc3aSF6v2RCYxMHlyCG9WWh0R7LZPskXJVtAICduByFTm1cx4nj3yRSY/s1600/DSC_2308.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibUh0dBgINwAf5kaHKWbugZYs-aOXAZh3r6IibyqXwQDKNuDcnMBDNUT9qoR3aURbMqcVH5qTZqqBq1FZ2lnuKc3aSF6v2RCYxMHlyCG9WWh0R7LZPskXJVtAICduByFTm1cx4nj3yRSY/s320/DSC_2308.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNkwXeLtB4Pj5pi_hkyZ3mzzHBpOJcKFkF8dbN5Rl9tRObk73IKUhT5kixeaCiVU4VhWLtcAGrAffSVIAIWxq9aYm_vi6N8To8n3vB8DQ6T4r_AgAWbmN9TeUr2NHQvWxJ8qWqnr0VmSg/s1600/DSC_2309.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNkwXeLtB4Pj5pi_hkyZ3mzzHBpOJcKFkF8dbN5Rl9tRObk73IKUhT5kixeaCiVU4VhWLtcAGrAffSVIAIWxq9aYm_vi6N8To8n3vB8DQ6T4r_AgAWbmN9TeUr2NHQvWxJ8qWqnr0VmSg/s320/DSC_2309.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYiuRjLhlcLh55uIG_1n6gq_np-Fv3VLzeY9yyW-cXaPn9gnVB8mARfuGe35zZQTYZoUwOzc0W6rCgVBn4mDUAZXyeQHxBkxjf8CSfqVk4ePf1t1G_fG1xGaylIX4RGv0-yfInvgtbQmU/s1600/DSC_2310.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYiuRjLhlcLh55uIG_1n6gq_np-Fv3VLzeY9yyW-cXaPn9gnVB8mARfuGe35zZQTYZoUwOzc0W6rCgVBn4mDUAZXyeQHxBkxjf8CSfqVk4ePf1t1G_fG1xGaylIX4RGv0-yfInvgtbQmU/s320/DSC_2310.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2zEQ_vLbDZqiKmLwWox2drtdgwHI5jmeRfB-REGP0OvUJGPmYRBxbM_4O31mJJI8MQNfsLtosdB6lLFYumEeRZVWHG7hbFltDesfbSnv502xbQ2qCyoWSzbwuk5N924Utu2-UVBJoCWI/s1600/DSC_2307.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2zEQ_vLbDZqiKmLwWox2drtdgwHI5jmeRfB-REGP0OvUJGPmYRBxbM_4O31mJJI8MQNfsLtosdB6lLFYumEeRZVWHG7hbFltDesfbSnv502xbQ2qCyoWSzbwuk5N924Utu2-UVBJoCWI/s320/DSC_2307.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br /><br /></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="display: none;">
</div>
</div>
David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-11890117729948373222017-08-21T14:21:00.000-07:002017-08-21T14:21:50.437-07:00"There is sorrow on the sea": Maritime memorialisation
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">There is no escaping the sea on Holy Island. From our
trenches we could look out across the harbour and beyond towards the Farne
Islands; the wind brought in rain from the North Sea and the cries of seabirds
and seals was a constant accompaniment to life on the island. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsr00R0O8ouuL9JELTz7RR1FezK2PpmoqscR-i9_pABgPZXMZ8pJRJIYOzn6Ujmp5pm2vGoCvTeEPHdCh3vINA-t06U1BJ7bfZ9ybfP7LidiJuQH1F1vboKi9_KBfoML6hwL_SvFhPwTw/s1600/DSCF5320.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsr00R0O8ouuL9JELTz7RR1FezK2PpmoqscR-i9_pABgPZXMZ8pJRJIYOzn6Ujmp5pm2vGoCvTeEPHdCh3vINA-t06U1BJ7bfZ9ybfP7LidiJuQH1F1vboKi9_KBfoML6hwL_SvFhPwTw/s320/DSCF5320.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">But the sea is not just a constant as a natural phenomenon. It
also appears repeatedly in a materialised form in monuments and memorials that
are found across the island, particularly in and around the parish church. Not
surprisingly, on an island which has produced many sailors, death by drowning
was a real threat, and deaths by drowning are recorded on several graves –
interestingly several have nice depictions of boats on them. For example, the
grave of John Stevenson (d1875) who died in a wreck off nearby Bamburgh has his
stone decorated with a fine carving of a typical local fishing boat known as a
coble, and the edge of his grave is finished with rope-like cable twist
moulding. Imagery of the sea can be found on other, such as the anchor symbol –
a not uncommon image on 19<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century graves, but a particularly
potent image on an island such as this. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">B</span><span style="font-family: calibri;">ut in death, the sea didn’t only take people away; it also brought strangers to Holy Island. One burial plot, placed in a prime position just by the entrance to the churchyard, is the last resting place of nine members of <a href="http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?64237">the crew of the SS Holmrook </a>which sank just off the island in 1892 . A now almost unreadable stone also records the <a href="http://www.stmarysholyisland.org.uk/fieldflowers.htm">burial site of 13 year old Field Flowers</a> who died in the wreck of the Pegasus on his journey back from school in Edinburgh in 1843. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0px 0px 11px; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgop-TgL6iId6HyQQ7ltKj9FIaEo3Pt4q6ehPUXFX8eRAZnIkEAM-o_K7LetkvcwJ5Pncnkw5fvKWlsQo6I8Aia1TnnSSF-YX2PVOrldG7Uiq13qbzAwlH29fxYhSxFDCgHXyO5mGHQ1w/s1600/DSCF5315.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgop-TgL6iId6HyQQ7ltKj9FIaEo3Pt4q6ehPUXFX8eRAZnIkEAM-o_K7LetkvcwJ5Pncnkw5fvKWlsQo6I8Aia1TnnSSF-YX2PVOrldG7Uiq13qbzAwlH29fxYhSxFDCgHXyO5mGHQ1w/s320/DSCF5315.JPG" title="" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0px 0px 11px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">A particularly noticeable feature of the burial traditions
on the island is the importance of recording </span></div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0px 0px 11px; text-align: center;">
</div>
</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0px 0px 11px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">if the departed has been involved
in the lifeboats that operated from the island. Since the foundation of the
lifeboat service, there have been five lifeboat houses which operated from the island
(or on the immediately adjacent mainland). Not surprisingly, given the
notorious rocks and reefs off the nearby Farne Islands, as well as the rocks on
the north side of Holy Island itself, there have been many shipwrecks in the
islands’ waters. These included both local vessels, as well as those from
further afield. The role of working on the lifeboats, a volunteer role taken by
fishermen and other resident seafarers, was incredibly important- and clearly
purveyed a sense of corporate identity amongst its membership, which seems to
have transcended many other possible social roles on the island. George Kyle
who died in 1960 is recorded on his grave as Assistant Motor Mechanic of the Holy
Island lifeboat for 29 years – another George Kyle (d. 1912) is noted as having
been both Second Coxwain and Coxwain Superintendent of the boat. Even now there
are no lifeboats operating from the island anymore, the boards listing the
rescues the lifeboat crews from the island had assisted in are still carefully
maintained and displayed, just outside the churchyard. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpOCwo6ZiJNs4jMv4T48higyCIlqw0igpVg3Y7dF2YKpBdXK66iDkN1U-iE5CtCUzMr0V-8M5y0Azd8kYIZK1o9gq3p3vUdeBDRjbXFGXAIJYzOi5QFUp-aZ7JVNMbttopfoiRr5a9nPY/s1600/DSCF5313.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpOCwo6ZiJNs4jMv4T48higyCIlqw0igpVg3Y7dF2YKpBdXK66iDkN1U-iE5CtCUzMr0V-8M5y0Azd8kYIZK1o9gq3p3vUdeBDRjbXFGXAIJYzOi5QFUp-aZ7JVNMbttopfoiRr5a9nPY/s320/DSCF5313.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: calibri;"></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0px 0px 11px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0px 0px 11px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">Mercifully, Holy Island
never saw any lifeboat disasters such as that at Aldeburgh (Suffolk) in 1899
which resulted in the deaths of seven lifeboatmen, who are memorialised by an
impressive suite of monuments in Aldeburgh churchyard and a brass plaque in the
church itself – both laden with maritime and nautical images and symbols. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7-diICMs5w9v-gfQYT-pdZQOC5vxB1BuhU-72upbyj35nIJF7bvajEJlu5x70-tt6HL1jIF6qeSaLKtIenGM-yFoajd4YjK14nYak_qFAQwAIWDIGDeH6bWdyLFprVgL1ScJuBjT9dyQ/s1600/aldeburgh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7-diICMs5w9v-gfQYT-pdZQOC5vxB1BuhU-72upbyj35nIJF7bvajEJlu5x70-tt6HL1jIF6qeSaLKtIenGM-yFoajd4YjK14nYak_qFAQwAIWDIGDeH6bWdyLFprVgL1ScJuBjT9dyQ/s320/aldeburgh.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div>
Central element of burial plot for Aldeburgh</div>
<div>
lifeboat men lost in 1899</div>
<div>
disaster</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">I’ve spent a lot of time by the coast this summer – in Northumberland,
Yorkshire and currently Suffolk. And wherever I’ve visited, the importance of
the sea in forming and maintaining a distinctive tradition of memorialisation and
commemoration is apparent. The seafaring experience, and its incredible dangers
and regular fatalities, is something that seems to have particularly impacted
on post-medieval (particularly 19<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> and 20<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century)
commemorative practices. The only other employment sectors that I can think off
that have been particularly and specifically highlighted in burial practices
are the military (obviously) and mining (I’m thinking particularly of the tradition
of pit disaster memorials). Even in relatively recent times, there is a strong
thread of modern monument making related to seafaring deaths- just close to
where I’m writing this in coastal Suffolk, there is a relatively <a href="http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/shingle-street-memorial-1-3778666?storyId=1.3778667">recent memorial plaque</a> to a group of coastguards drowned in a wreck on the coast
between Orford and Shingle Street, despite its distance from the coast, there
is an RNLI monument at the National Memorial Arboretum, and most powerfully in
Hull, a city which lost 6000-8000 men to the North Sea there are a number of
recent monuments to these losses, including “The Last Trip” in Zebedee's Yard
and for my mind most powerfully, a monument depicting trawlermen in silhouette on
St Andrew’s Quay.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">I don’t know of any large-scale study of maritime monumentality, but ultimately that the study of these kind of maritime monuments deserves to be resituated, and not just seen as part of the study of burial practices, but as an integral element of industrial archaeology, which should be recording all aspects of the lives and deaths of workers and their families</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiucJzVtO0AJwTSkakhxU8ygxxVUS6YDNob_AMZS_vIx1byR9sC15y6ab-ggDWP0xkf4DA7R0kJ8NUZsscxu1G0fyUGfbLL2YMXqTAAPSimiQfjRlBJoKiAKixoDXrh8QkUxUNmmvtqZy4/s1600/hull+trawler.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="310" data-original-width="640" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiucJzVtO0AJwTSkakhxU8ygxxVUS6YDNob_AMZS_vIx1byR9sC15y6ab-ggDWP0xkf4DA7R0kJ8NUZsscxu1G0fyUGfbLL2YMXqTAAPSimiQfjRlBJoKiAKixoDXrh8QkUxUNmmvtqZy4/s640/hull+trawler.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div>
Lost Trawlermen monument, Hull (C) Creative Commons http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5289389</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0px 0px 11px; text-align: center;">
</div>
</span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0sA4tLzwPbwP18_X4oWp0qUPKMbM04fmjoZjQuQDkYR6uES0u6rY7xCBgFoVXrhf6WYHcMmf12DekIWKIhw-tXCTLPvkxSj7vdMQQ7Xgq9YDQlVa2ybei9BQsZar8gZML5OrgDOS03SA/s1600/hull+holy+trinity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0sA4tLzwPbwP18_X4oWp0qUPKMbM04fmjoZjQuQDkYR6uES0u6rY7xCBgFoVXrhf6WYHcMmf12DekIWKIhw-tXCTLPvkxSj7vdMQQ7Xgq9YDQlVa2ybei9BQsZar8gZML5OrgDOS03SA/s640/hull+holy+trinity.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">Fisherman's memorial altar, Holy Trinity, Hull three trawlers St Romanus, Ross Cleveland and Kingston Peridot, all lost within a month- also plaque to the crew of the notoriously lost FV Gaul</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<br /></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: calibri;"></span>David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-47399966773178467892017-07-26T00:27:00.000-07:002017-07-26T01:32:22.667-07:00Buddha in the potato patch: adventures in comparative monasticism<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSMq8lYoMrApexeGUHHivlkodjEGHFgIPo0NhksqecoFw8z8bC4Dy0bZ4qxtXwpKccpCPuHylPmqGtJk-y8Ik6YwssxydersQJowjNMb-U-iAAMDNuXkUR7vUddMfi6w0hP9tzLRDkycY/s1600/DSC_2131.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSMq8lYoMrApexeGUHHivlkodjEGHFgIPo0NhksqecoFw8z8bC4Dy0bZ4qxtXwpKccpCPuHylPmqGtJk-y8Ik6YwssxydersQJowjNMb-U-iAAMDNuXkUR7vUddMfi6w0hP9tzLRDkycY/s1600/DSC_2131.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSMq8lYoMrApexeGUHHivlkodjEGHFgIPo0NhksqecoFw8z8bC4Dy0bZ4qxtXwpKccpCPuHylPmqGtJk-y8Ik6YwssxydersQJowjNMb-U-iAAMDNuXkUR7vUddMfi6w0hP9tzLRDkycY/s320/DSC_2131.JPG" width="320" /></span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We’ve now spent two weeks on the island, busy living and working on top of each other, with the last couple of days particularly cramped due to some awful weather. As today was our day off, it was no surprise that I chose to strike out alone off inland. I followed my nose westwards across Islandshire, off past Yeavering and into the Scottish Borders. Then I struck out up Ettrickdale, followed the valley of the Tima Water and soon crested over into the valley of the White Esk in the heart of Eskdalemuir Forest. Here stands, more than a little incongruously, the Tibetan Buddhist monastery of </span><a href="http://www.samyeling.org/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Samye-Ling</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Having been spending a lot of time thinking about Anglo-Saxon monastery it was thought provoking to explore a living monastery, albeit one of a very different tradition. Despite, or even because of, the huge differences between 7th century early medieval Christianity and 21st century Tibetan Buddhism, my exploration of this beautiful, peculiar, welcoming site at Samye-Ling got me thinking about cross-cultural commonalities in monasticism; some that are identifiable in the archaeological record and some that may not be.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">There are some obvious similarities visually- the vivid use of colour found at Samye-Ling was probably also a feature of Anglo-Saxon monastic sites. We know that early medieval stone sculpture was often painted and that church interiors would have been decorated with elaborate fabric wall hangings and many lamps. Exactly the same scheme occurred in the prayer hall at Samye-ling which was adorned with figurative thangkas, fabrics, food offerings and oil lamps. This must have been very much how the interior of early churches appeared – incredible, sensory experiences which would have been particularly pronounced in a world before electric lights. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first thing that struck me about Samye-Ling was the relationship between boundedness and the wider landscape. Whilst there was nothing like a monastic vallum of the kind we usually associate with medieval monasteries, there were elaborate ceremonial entrances to the site – marked by gateways and temples. Yet, despite the clear importance of these boundary markers, there was also an interplay with the wider landscape beyond these defined edges. Visually, the monastery was clearly a landmark- in particular its burnished gilded rooflines and prayer flags meant that its impact bled out into its hinterland. I wasn’t there for any ceremonies, but there were large cases of Tibetan trumpets and bells in the main prayer hall, so presumably the noise of worship, music and chanting, would also have been audible beyond the confines of the sacred centre. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">
</div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1hiYBJNjjevdNKmR_IOuPZT9oYVNQgbOp66VF6GhL9f3bojNPk14eOW-1LIouObExwvIVWSDa62qPJ_NPGWYrzDR7-2CQhicTrpeFFFKYV_ECkKNmumdPi0iSQ1zQYGUU_qtdCMvXpko/s1600/DSC_2137.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1hiYBJNjjevdNKmR_IOuPZT9oYVNQgbOp66VF6GhL9f3bojNPk14eOW-1LIouObExwvIVWSDa62qPJ_NPGWYrzDR7-2CQhicTrpeFFFKYV_ECkKNmumdPi0iSQ1zQYGUU_qtdCMvXpko/s320/DSC_2137.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1hiYBJNjjevdNKmR_IOuPZT9oYVNQgbOp66VF6GhL9f3bojNPk14eOW-1LIouObExwvIVWSDa62qPJ_NPGWYrzDR7-2CQhicTrpeFFFKYV_ECkKNmumdPi0iSQ1zQYGUU_qtdCMvXpko/s1600/DSC_2137.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1hiYBJNjjevdNKmR_IOuPZT9oYVNQgbOp66VF6GhL9f3bojNPk14eOW-1LIouObExwvIVWSDa62qPJ_NPGWYrzDR7-2CQhicTrpeFFFKYV_ECkKNmumdPi0iSQ1zQYGUU_qtdCMvXpko/s1600/DSC_2137.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></a>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This permeable nature of the boundaries was not just one way. I don’t know much about Tibetan monastic traditions, but the landscape location of the monastery was clearly important and engaged with the views beyond the enclosure. In a general sense, the remote rural location seems to have been important- perhaps echoing (in a small way) the mountainous landscape of Tibet. But more immediately, I noticed the careful placing of a small monument on the edge of the river White Esk that bounded the eastern edge of the monastery at the confluence of the river and the Mood Law Burn – it had clearly been located there with a view to framing this natural feature which lay outside the monastic enceinte. Obviously, from my Lindisfarne perspective it made me think of the architectural elaboration of key observation points within the monastery, particularly along the rocky outcrop known as the Heugh. Here recent excavations by another project have revealed a church and a possible cross base, to add to another cross base already known up there. The Heugh commands views not only to Bamburgh, but also Cuthbert’s cell on Inner Farne, as well as looking down on the monastery interior; its ritual importance seems to have come as much from its wider views as its immediate context within the monastery.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A secon</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggokyQBc2R9oc0nMkOmUW66UWi1GecoxmRUGBmudECW7_yWiO2VEq8xX_83KFV9A1ayDwVNEuhwxz0s0ZG3g-FKbhs-IgMp4mysXnLPYdCTlvzHTUddFBDYruRSxrFV6F7NoFyuNF3SzM/s1600/DSC_2127.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggokyQBc2R9oc0nMkOmUW66UWi1GecoxmRUGBmudECW7_yWiO2VEq8xX_83KFV9A1ayDwVNEuhwxz0s0ZG3g-FKbhs-IgMp4mysXnLPYdCTlvzHTUddFBDYruRSxrFV6F7NoFyuNF3SzM/s320/DSC_2127.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="180" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">d thing that struck me was the casual combination of the mundane and the ritual. There were clearly marked edges to the site and also well-defined areas of particular religious intensity, such as the prayer hall and the Victory Stupa prayer-wheel house. These nicely echo traditional Durkheimian notions of the sacred and profane; but in practice the situation was more complex. The Samye-Ling complex integrates lots of practical, day-to-day elements within it- as much space is given over to the vegetable garden as the prayer hall. Yet, even in these areas, the sacred intrudes – prayer flags flutter over the green beans and a figure of a buddha stands grandly over the potato patch. The boundary between the holy and the practical is a muddy one (quite literally after this weekend’s weather) – we tend to think of Anglo-Saxon crosses marking out holy areas – wells, boundaries and cemeteries. Perhaps we should also think about them imbuing cabbage patches, stables and barley fields with blessing. After all even Cuthbert on his island fastness on Inner Farne had to miraculously ensure his crop of barley succeeded when his crop of wheat had failed. It also recalls the crosses carved on querns from Dunadd and the cross-marked fishing net weights from Hartlepool. Yet again, despite the importance of inscribing boundaries, there is, in practice, in both monastic traditions a real overlap between sacred and profane.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A further aspect of the monastic experience that Samye-ling brought home to me was the importance of the monastic ‘body’ and comportment – both Buddhist monks and nuns, like Anglo-Saxon monks, are marked out by distinct robes and haircuts that separate them from the lay presence in the monastery. But there were more subtle aspects to bodily discipline that crosscuts the lay-monastic divisions. For example, at Samye-Ling, entry to the prayer hall required removal of footwear. Presumably originally a requirement to keep the inner sanctuary clean and as a mark of respect, but in a culture where we are not used to removing our shoes in public areas (as opposed in a domestic context) I found it provoked a surprising sense of vulnerability (particularly when wearing a pair of walking boots which required quite some getting on and off). The importance of the contextual significance of dress can still be seen today in some Christian churches – men are meant to remove their hats in church (unless they are a priest) whilst there are often demands for women to cover their heads in some traditions; having been brought up a catholic I’m old enough to remember seeing women wearing mantillas over their heads in church and in a completely different tradition, it’s worth watching the occasional broadcast of Free Presbyterian Psalm singing on BBC Alba as a reminder that the tradition of the Sunday church hat is still alive and kicking (check out the </span><a href="http://www.fpchurch.org.uk/about-us/what-we-contend-for/distinctions-between-male-and-female/#coverings"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">FP Church website</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> for their ‘fun’ doctrine on gender and physical appearance and deportment). </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Within the prayer hall itself, it was also interesting how visitors
responded to the space in terms of their bodily posture. Many lay visitors
reacted to being in a sacred space by holding their hands carefully, either
clasped behind their back or in front of them and there was a noticeable
reluctance by visitors to turn their back on the central focus of the hall
(roughly equivalent to the position of the altar in a Christian church) –
intriguing that people from a Christian background were interpreting the space
of the Buddhist shrine in terms of the use of space in a church particularly in
terms of how they physically held their body and oriented themselves within the
structure. Whereas, the Buddhhist monks acting as what seems to have been vergers
were far more business-like in their engagement with the holy space</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px; text-align: left;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Given the adoption of monasticism as a mode of life in a
number of religious tradition – Christian, Hindu, Jain and Buddhist – and the
use of other forms of collegiate religious life such as </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">madrasah</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> in traditions such as Islam - it would be interesting to
explore the comparative aspect of this kind of communal religious experience
more</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PS: Finally, and slightly at a tangent, archaeologists are
particularly prone to talk about </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">technologies
</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of commemoration or </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">technologies</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
of worship – usually as a metaphor. However, in some Buddhist traditions,
prayer wheels are used to say prayers- each rotation of a wheel being
equivalent to saying a prayer or a mantra. Usually these are hand-held wheels
spun manually. But in some cases, the rotation can be mechanised, with the
wheel attached to a water-drive wheel or even powered by an electric motor. At
Samye-ling they had a rank of these electric powered prayer wheels – fantastic
examples of real rather than metaphorical technologies of worship – they also
reminded me of Douglas Adams’ ‘</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">electric monk’ in </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">– “The Electric Monk was a
labour-saving device, like a dishwasher or a video recorder. Dishwashers washed
tedious dishes for you, thus saving you the bother of washing them yourself,
video recorders watched tedious television for you, thus saving you the bother
of looking at it yourself; Electric Monks believed things for you, thus saving
you what was becoming an increasingly onerous task, that of believing all the
things the world expected you to believe.” But don’t get me on to the agency of
inanimate objects…</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span></div>
David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-87927511067732281542017-07-20T14:40:00.002-07:002017-07-20T14:40:49.242-07:00Notes from a small island #4: The Shadow of the Cross
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPqf9NZ5mdg6tnPH1xQVrIB6uovNLHAa7cBNMF1iXR9FX-e82p59u2wAcze0ePnndu0F9klu9KCF-a53P2l7DxKxELPn-EtrU0qO16PQ9o6fAAMBsLz10NUGX0AfyGqfEW3fzCQzkMdQ8/s1600/Statue_of_St_Aidan%252C_Lindisfarne_Priory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="387" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPqf9NZ5mdg6tnPH1xQVrIB6uovNLHAa7cBNMF1iXR9FX-e82p59u2wAcze0ePnndu0F9klu9KCF-a53P2l7DxKxELPn-EtrU0qO16PQ9o6fAAMBsLz10NUGX0AfyGqfEW3fzCQzkMdQ8/s320/Statue_of_St_Aidan%252C_Lindisfarne_Priory.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">We’ve come to Lindisfarne to search for Saint Cuthbert, but
we’re not the only ones. The island attracts many pilgrims, also on the tracks
of the saint. Holy Island has always lured visitors in pursuit of the sacred,
but many of the modern pilgrims are looking at the island through a particular
lens. This can be summed up in one word: Celtic. There are Celtic crystals,
Celtic liturgies and Celtic crosses. The modern pilgrimage movement casts the
religious past of monastery of Lindisfarne as part of the Celtic world. Academics
have worked hard to dismantle the notion of a unified “Celtic” church which encompassed
the diverse and varied religious traditions of Scotland, Ireland, Wales,
Cornwall and Brittany, but it still casts a spell on many who come to visit
Lindisfarne or who try to follow a putative Celtic path in their Christian
faith. For them, the idea of a Celtic church embraces a lack of hierarchy, an
inclusive approach to women, an ecumenical perspective and an ecological
awareness. These are all laudable and aspirational approaches to a faith-based
life or indeed a non-faith based life. Whilst, few of these qualities seem to
have been actually present in the Insular church, I am not so much interested
in an exegesis of the tenets of Celtic Christianity. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisqWBKsq1d2_hy7NiuJnjh1DKZK9YC1GDgdZXh3Ff_bmWb1y3UWuKNXaA10P_5x0rnbA_PHAHQDyMmyus0t-is0p1pMN7z6CHMHupI1_7gIIwGSLjn4Ihb0sKELU4o7bA5XjjKHAoytLY/s1600/DSCF5136.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisqWBKsq1d2_hy7NiuJnjh1DKZK9YC1GDgdZXh3Ff_bmWb1y3UWuKNXaA10P_5x0rnbA_PHAHQDyMmyus0t-is0p1pMN7z6CHMHupI1_7gIIwGSLjn4Ihb0sKELU4o7bA5XjjKHAoytLY/s320/DSCF5136.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">I’m more interested in thinking about how the movement has
engaged with the heritage and archaeology of Lindisfarne itself. If we want to
take a strict historical perspective, whilst the monastery was certainly
founded by monks from the great Western Scottish monastery of Iona in 635, its
direct affiliation with the Ionan tradition came to a pretty abrupt end in
AD664 when after failing to persuade King Oswiu to maintain the Ionan tradition
in Northumbria, Colmán and many monks from Lindisfarne left and returned first
to Iona and then further westwards to Western Ireland. Although, the
Northumbrian church continued to maintain some links with churches to the north
and west, after this point it was firmly part of the mainstream of Anglo-Saxon “Roman”
Christianity. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4yIADYeF4kJagC7oA2BXLQ3Uv4wkFGdJSxZT1LmA8j73NU0_801cUqyqdTGoynt28JB3SnwD7rha5N8Cz7aIsByIlEapo2nrcMXSOSyq0t3qZo-hz3d-5ro8pG5Sl9WLPKqU5fsdTchI/s1600/cross+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4yIADYeF4kJagC7oA2BXLQ3Uv4wkFGdJSxZT1LmA8j73NU0_801cUqyqdTGoynt28JB3SnwD7rha5N8Cz7aIsByIlEapo2nrcMXSOSyq0t3qZo-hz3d-5ro8pG5Sl9WLPKqU5fsdTchI/s320/cross+2.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">Assuming that ecclesiastical activity ended on the island in
AD875 (an admittedly debateable assumption), this means that of the 240-year
life of the early medieval monastery, it was under direct Ionan influence for
less than 10% of its existence. Yet, it is this brief Celtic introit to the
monastic history of the island that has seized peoples imagination. I suspect
that the non-hierarchical “Celtic” church gets implicitly contrasted with a
perceived hierarchical and authoritarian ‘Roman’ Anglo-Saxon church – the word ‘Roman’
in particular for many people is particularly redolent with the notions of
Empire and repression; whilst the modern ‘Celtic’ world has often embraced
nationalist movements against Anglo-Saxon (English) political control (or in
the case of Brittany the centralised political dominance of Paris). </span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgccY5Tpwn0Xhyfty_f2fnfaT6wOhs2RGfRr4s2Ikf91FzjS9S5rmcI9TudH10Duh69QpTYGP0lCO-ar3NHRU5KquqU3NJSJwRG24kRCI3hV3YuTFPrIAJRtSkyzZumuvPLJsIrj2dNjAU/s1600/DSCF5138.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgccY5Tpwn0Xhyfty_f2fnfaT6wOhs2RGfRr4s2Ikf91FzjS9S5rmcI9TudH10Duh69QpTYGP0lCO-ar3NHRU5KquqU3NJSJwRG24kRCI3hV3YuTFPrIAJRtSkyzZumuvPLJsIrj2dNjAU/s320/DSCF5138.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">There may also be an element of ‘landscape determinism' at
play. Much of the English North Sea littoral is low-lying and marshy, dominated
by salt marsh, sand banks and fens. Up in North Northumberland though, the
coastline is different. The presence of the rocky outcrops and crags of the
whin sill on which Bamburgh, the Farne Islands and the Heugh and Castle crag on
Lindisfarne itself give a very different structure to the landscape. The
presence of the Farnes provide an archipelagic dimension that is more like the
West of Scotland than East Anglia. The stone vernacular architecture, and even
the wildlife – treelike fuschias and stone walls covered with valerian and
stonecrop – combine to make a landscape that feels as much part of the Irish
sea world, Pembrokeshire or Western Brittany, as part of the North Sea. Although
only an hour from urban Tyneside, it is easy to imagine you are looking out
into the Atlantic.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">Given this sense of being in the “Celtic West” it is perhaps
not surprising that the symbol most regularly deployed to evoke “Celtic”
Lindisfarne is the wheel-headed Celtic cross, a design most associated with the
high crosses of Ireland and Iona. Reproductions of these types of crosses can
be found in souvenir shops, whilst a giant ring-headed cross looms over the
statue of St Aidan that stands in the parish churchyard. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0px 0px 11px; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Vv8jfPB6Kz-_TG6qTqHUAdv7cehhGrtJciGbgsnI3EEuzyz0K90rgMeHLS2k5v5xtNMEB_zwzoWAgSD8E8OFI_dmjH2_446LF7h-HfVU9iNGH9lrqEIvMOCeV9Nm52AUpr8pT3ENrzs/s1600/DSCF5140.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Vv8jfPB6Kz-_TG6qTqHUAdv7cehhGrtJciGbgsnI3EEuzyz0K90rgMeHLS2k5v5xtNMEB_zwzoWAgSD8E8OFI_dmjH2_446LF7h-HfVU9iNGH9lrqEIvMOCeV9Nm52AUpr8pT3ENrzs/s320/DSCF5140.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
</span>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">The Celtic Christian tradition has seized on a very
particular, and relatively brief, period of the monastery’s history, and
seemingly capitalised on the physical evocation of a western landscape in the
north-east of England. The irony is that although we have a considerable body
of early medieval sculpture from Holy Island, there is only one ring-headed
cross amongst these stones, and this is most likely dateable to the 11</span><sup><span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: calibri;">
century and probably the sculpture most distant from the period of direct Irish
influence. Rather than engaging with the actual archaeology and material
culture of monastery of Lindisfarne itself, an external and more clearly Hiberno-Scottish
ascetic has been imported to stand as a metaphor for the Celtic world that is
hard to materialise directly from the physical remains on the island. In the 7</span><sup><span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: calibri;">
century Oswald and Aidan created Lindisfarne as a Northumbrian analogue for Iona,
the</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">20</span><sup><span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: calibri;"> and 21</span><sup><span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup><span style="font-family: calibri;">
century pilgrims to the island seem to have done exactly the same thing.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO2Aj1a5fNGwXXB-IgHO7y1cyXJB28kMSSVgfZBikaRxRJEb4olDjHPdo8i2sE8OM7fRJr_f_jHAgs8yGSLPFjJybj7wAxjVWoaGi4BQ8tVZdG1Mmht8IW3hyphenhyphengTALU65VII4oca1MEyqY/s1600/cross+4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO2Aj1a5fNGwXXB-IgHO7y1cyXJB28kMSSVgfZBikaRxRJEb4olDjHPdo8i2sE8OM7fRJr_f_jHAgs8yGSLPFjJybj7wAxjVWoaGi4BQ8tVZdG1Mmht8IW3hyphenhyphengTALU65VII4oca1MEyqY/s320/cross+4.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibQzsNqbr3OnVuxdEuuzEdZaBru9ZqyNHurZaDzFErvZT2eNN5miIDthamDSJjGCyJMHKusRmg6qAAEuGQ_Rst6WgivVSD3vWmzQSUxwrbgzW0GEvuNfHEI8xHWAKrx_63sPspPvtZr5A/s1600/DSCF5134.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibQzsNqbr3OnVuxdEuuzEdZaBru9ZqyNHurZaDzFErvZT2eNN5miIDthamDSJjGCyJMHKusRmg6qAAEuGQ_Rst6WgivVSD3vWmzQSUxwrbgzW0GEvuNfHEI8xHWAKrx_63sPspPvtZr5A/s320/DSCF5134.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<br /></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-34247317984343388052017-07-12T13:37:00.000-07:002017-07-12T13:37:21.795-07:00Notes from a small(ish) island #3: back in the trenches
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">We’re back on Holy Island- Lindisfarne for a new season of
excavation. It’s been a funny old week for anyone interested in early medieval
monastic archaeology in Northern Britain. First, another team working on the
island as part of the HLF Peregrini project uncovered what is clearly an early
medieval church on the nearby Heugh, overlooking our trenches. Then, yesterday
the Iona research team at Glasgow announced the results of a suite of C14 dates
that placed a small wattle hut excavated at a location on the island
traditionally associated with Columba as more or less exactly contemporary with
him. So, no pressure there then… </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: calibri; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image may contain: sky, cloud, mountain, outdoor and nature" aria-busy="false" class="spotlight" height="225" src="https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/19989222_10155626240578203_8607104405279512921_n.jpg?oh=dbd6ffd92aa4caf7f4258aa49889cd43&oe=59C64F9B" width="400" /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">I blogged last year about the inevitable pressures (external
and internal) to find something of significance on an excavation like ours.
This year it’s different, last year we identified clear early medieval remains
and now we’re focussing in on the most productive area. So, in one respect we’re
off the hook- we know there are going to features of the date we’d like.
However, these other discoveries have not surprisingly upped the ante for us,
and now there is an element of professional pride at play, which is of course,
a silly reaction, but not one that can be ducked. As we started opening our
new, larger and more ambitious trenches, there was as much nerves as last year.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">The area we are looking at this year is an expanded area
encompassing the trench where last year we found several fragments of Anglo-Saxon
sculpture as well as lots of disarticulated human bone, which when dated gave
an early medieval date. Towards the end of the dig, having removed areas of
rubble we also identified a series of small stone features, which we took to be
stone-lined graves. Indeed, there were traces of a skull visible at the ‘head’
end of one of them. However, we didn’t have time to excavate them.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: calibri; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="IMG_9372" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-4636" height="213" src="https://digventures.com/lindisfarne/wp-content/uploads/IMG_9372-660x440.jpg" width="320" /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<br /><span style="font-family: calibri;">
We’ve now opened a larger area, and already last year’s interpretations are
being challenged by new data. First, our possible stone-lined graves are
looking less grave like. They seem to be too long, and interesting there are
hints that some of these stone settings may extend some distance with some stone
linears visible in one half of our two-part trench seemingly aligned on our ‘graves’
which lie on the other side of the baulk. Are these something structural rather
than graves? Or is it just a case of several graves on exactly the same
alignment? Too soon to say. Certainly, more generally there are a number of
stone ‘settings’ (lots of use of quote marks here) which are on the same
orientation. However, there is nothing we can currently see that I can,
hand-on-heart, point at and say with certainty that it is a grave. We also seem
to have other possible stone settings on a slightly different alignment. These
look to be slightly structurally different – perhaps dry-stone walling
(although that is speculative in the extreme at this stage). Do the different
alignments imply some kind of phasing? Possibly, sites such as this often go
through multiple phases of functionally different activities. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">We’ve got two other interesting features. First, we’ve a
discrete, and not insubstantial, assemblage of charnel or disarticulated human
bone fragments. We’ve not looked at it in detail yet, but there seem to be
bones from several individuals here including limbs and at least one skull
element. We’ve found human bone scattered across the site previously, but this is
the first clearly deliberate deposit. It’s not quite clear whether it is in a
deliberate cut or pit yet. Nonetheless, the material does seem to have been placed
in a very discrete area. Presumably the bone is also early medieval, but the
date of the gathering together and placing of this material is not clear yet.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">Finally, we do see to have a possible small rectilinear stone
feature in the north-west corner of the trench. It’s only scatters of rubble
and one or two larger stones, but on the well-attested two-stones-in-a-line-make-a-wall-and-three-stones-make-a-building
principal, it might be structural. It’s not large, although it may well extend
beyond our trench edges. At this point my only observation would be that it
shares an alignment and orientation with the parish and priory churches. Just
saying…</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<br /></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-11767101880268030962016-09-26T06:10:00.002-07:002016-09-26T07:04:29.521-07:00Staweford: Routeways and meeting places in North Northumberland<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq2ebZmkcQtEKX_rg1pGk4hZ5FpGoOL1mmpXr9Ww6Ft505uRNV1XDYnVOwfAiY6GIteU-c09GV3auYYmbNQ6R4IhKsPjZ6jlMBiCMGy60iBUwQFokw3eRcVz6vLOcbB_aYIY6aA1YL5wM/s1600/stawfeford.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq2ebZmkcQtEKX_rg1pGk4hZ5FpGoOL1mmpXr9Ww6Ft505uRNV1XDYnVOwfAiY6GIteU-c09GV3auYYmbNQ6R4IhKsPjZ6jlMBiCMGy60iBUwQFokw3eRcVz6vLOcbB_aYIY6aA1YL5wM/s320/stawfeford.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View looking northwards towards Staweford (near the trees in <br />
the middle distance). Image (C) Google Earth</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Over the last couple of years, due to my involvement with
the <a href="http://www.gefrintrust.org/">Gefrin Trust</a>, I've been increasingly thinking about the Anglo-Saxon palace
site at Yeavering, which lies on the River Glen in North Northumberland. It is
usually described as being on a side valley opening out onto the fertile soils of the Millfield Basin. However, I've always had a bee in my bonnet about the
importance of Glendale itself as routeway. Today, almost all visitors to the
site arrive from the east driving down towards Kirknewton having turned off the
A697. Very few people keep on travelling past Kirknewton following course of
the Glen, which becomes the Beaumont Water in its upper reaches. Ultimately,
this routeway crosses the Scottish Border and reaches Kirk Yetholm. From here
it is easy to strike north-west towards the Tweed at Kelso or head westwards
along the course of the Kale Water to the River Teviot and Jedburgh (site of an
important Anglo-Saxon monastery). It is clear that despite appearances when
viewed from Yeavering, Glendale is very much not a dead end<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Yet, although I've always been convinced of the importance of this
routeway up Glendale, I must admit, I've never been able to take this beyond a
vague hunch. However, recently whilst researching something entirely different
I've come across evidence that seems to corroborate the importance of this Beaumont Water axis. I've been reading up about the landscape of
Northumberland during the 16<sup>th</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>century,
a period that was the high-tide of the endemic lawless border reivers. At this
time, the Anglo-Scottish borders saw endemic livestock raiding and feuding
between various extended families that lay both sides of the frontier. This
violent society, despite its lawless nature, did have its own rules and
regulations. Amongst these were formalised meeting and assembly points, where
business and legal proceedings could be conducted under a temporary state of
truce.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I've been trying to identify and understand these locations,
partly because I'm interested in the 17<sup>th</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>century landscape of the region, but
also because I'm interested in whether a better appreciation of the Tudor
landscape of assembly and gathering might provide a window into similar
practices in the region during the early medieval period. I obviously owe an
appreciation of the potential of this approach to work that has been done in
Durham on early medieval assembly places by Sarah Semple and Tudor Skinner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Anyway, I've been working my way through the wonderful, but dense,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Calendar of Letters and Papers
relating to the affairs of the Borders of England and Scotland preserved in Her
Majesty's Public Record Office, London</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(1894),
which brings together much of the important and extensive document record from
this region.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Amongst these
documents are repeated references to an meeting place at a site called
Staweford or Stawford. These meetings were between the English and Scottish
wardens of the Border Marches and where Warden courts were held. An initial
search via the OS Gazetteer produced no location for this site. However, a bit
more poking around showed that Staweford was recorded as a point on the
Anglo-Scottish border in a survey of 1604; and it was clear that it lay close
to where the Halter Burn met Countrop Sike, close to Yetholm Mains (NT884 292) – which
lies, pleasingly, on precisely the routeway between Yeavering and Kirk Yetholm.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The presence of an important meeting
location at this site does seem to imply that this<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>was</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>an important communication route and
not an isolated backwater. Certainly, other known meeting sites of this type
were also on major routeways, such as Carter Bar, still one of the main
crossing points between England and Scotland.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQwNP2EKWQ82hYdZIsQJ90ppuZXMDa_YCU4N6e7RT6TN_X_VhO-fzwClivUC69US5qWetMgWvEmqU6Y-qfr6ViWCWltyRkPaUXHxbll-Ca_rfZ9XwgQFPuBGhKt5D3tHWy2stcSPoOSw4/s1600/staweford+map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQwNP2EKWQ82hYdZIsQJ90ppuZXMDa_YCU4N6e7RT6TN_X_VhO-fzwClivUC69US5qWetMgWvEmqU6Y-qfr6ViWCWltyRkPaUXHxbll-Ca_rfZ9XwgQFPuBGhKt5D3tHWy2stcSPoOSw4/s320/staweford+map.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Location of Staweford. Map (C) Ordnance Survey / Edina Digimap</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The obvious next question is the antiquity of Staweford as
an assembly point. It had its importance in the 16<sup>th</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>century as a location where England met
Scotland. Given this point only emerged as national border some time before the
13<sup>th</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>century, it might
at first seem unlikely that it was important in the Anglo-Saxon period. During the
Anglo-Saxon period, this area seems to have been part of a composite estate
comprising a series of townships lying along the Beaumont Water that probably had
its estate centre at Kirk Yetholm. These <i>vills</i>
were recorded as gifts to the monastery at Lindisfarne given by King Oswiu in
the later 7<sup>th</sup> century. The overall estate seems to have been split
up in the 12<sup>th</sup> or 13<sup>th</sup> century with most <i>vills </i>staying in England with a western
rump ending up in Scotland. It seems then that the boundary on which Staweford
sits was not originally of a large estate or early ‘shire’ but may possibly
have been a boundary between two <i>vills</i>
within a putative ‘Yetholmshire’ (see Colm O’Briens paper in Archaeologia
Aeliana 2002 for more discussion of this).</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">There is one more piece of information to bring into play. Whilst,
Staweford may have been a crossing point over a relatively small stream,
possibly dividing two units within a larger early medieval estate, it was not
an entirely isolated location. There are records of a small chapel standing
close to the site, although this has now disappeared. Intriguingly, it was
recorded as being dedicated to Ethelreda – this is probably the same as
Etheldreda, better known as<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span lang="EN">Æthelthryth, a 7<sup>th</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>century Kentish princes, who married
Ecgfrith, King of Northumbria, in 660, but subsequently returned south to found
a monastery at Ely. On her death she became an important Anglo-Saxon saint. It
is just conceivable that the dedication of this chapel could go back to a relatively early period in the centuries after the land was gifted. This might indicate some early importance
to the site, although the dedication may of course be much later. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So
in conclusion, the presence of a 16<sup>th</sup> century meeting place at
Staweford does seem to vindicate my hunch about the importance of the Beaumont
Water as a routeway into the Tweed and Teviot valleys from the Yeavering area.
However, it is not easy to be certain how much earlier the importance of that
particular location can be pushed as an assembly point. A most likely origin
date is the 12<sup>th</sup>/13<sup>th</sup> century when it became the
Anglo-Scottish border. The Ethelreda dedication of the chapel might just hint
at an earlier origin, although its importance may have been far more local at
this earlier stage.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-52208599144197115252016-09-01T14:22:00.000-07:002016-09-01T14:22:09.527-07:00"Oh, is the water sweet and cool, Gentle and brown, above the pool?" Landscapes of swimming<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve just had a great weekend down on my home turf in Wessex
which involved a fair amount of sploshing around in water: paddling in the icy
cold crystal-clear waters of the Test in Hampshire and wallowing in a bathing
hole near the source of the Thames in West Oxfordshire. As ever, I kept my
archaeological head on and got to thinking about the landscape evidence for
swimming. I don’t mean the rise of the public swimming baths, pools and lidos
which flourished following the <span style="background: white; color: #252525;">1846<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><i>Public Baths and Wash-houses Act</i>; there has certainly been lots of work on the
architecture of these structures. Nor was I thinking about sea bathing which
developed in popularity over the 19<sup>th</sup> century, rather I was
pondering how swimming in fresh water, or what is now rather archly termed ‘wild
swimming’, mucking around in rivers, ponds and streams might leave a landscape
trace.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #252525;">Obviously, much of the immediate impact is ephemeral, there
are scrapes and erosion patches on river banks showing where people got in and
out of the water. There are also the inevitable scrappy lengths of rope tied to
trees, by which teenagers and those who still think they are teenagers can get
their Tarzan fantasies out of their system. It is unlikely that these would
survive in the long-term in the landscape record, although presumably it is
this kind of simple set up that characterised the bathing places of the medieval
and early modern world, everything informal and ad hoc. However, poking around
a little it is clear that there is in fact a more substantial and developed
landscape of freshwater swimming. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #252525;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #252525;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ0vFcX1LFfemUObovzA9i_qEct5M1svrKAFgfVjYC6BsDPt37rf8So_wuyxizT4saawqmcLBzH1mwutx3C3jLq8MiYV-KyeNQUDk2v-ifjcHWHtEHWg4QWXvbbgnb8JPnfUFdVjqcTuw/s1600/parson%2527s+pleasure+1870.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ0vFcX1LFfemUObovzA9i_qEct5M1svrKAFgfVjYC6BsDPt37rf8So_wuyxizT4saawqmcLBzH1mwutx3C3jLq8MiYV-KyeNQUDk2v-ifjcHWHtEHWg4QWXvbbgnb8JPnfUFdVjqcTuw/s320/parson%2527s+pleasure+1870.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Parsons Pleasure c.1870</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJhea5cIqyYh-0j3UlYQOaCto2H-GguJAkZyc2WLfqgKMF9d4Y1J59kLv_LpPg5zCR2_TivFA_PICDXFIdyW8ugRQuGhNtYaEJCPpo2EP0gSpvUTBfuz_cz-ConeTu3sft4VXP9RM2XU4/s1600/parson%2527s+pleasure+1950.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJhea5cIqyYh-0j3UlYQOaCto2H-GguJAkZyc2WLfqgKMF9d4Y1J59kLv_LpPg5zCR2_TivFA_PICDXFIdyW8ugRQuGhNtYaEJCPpo2EP0gSpvUTBfuz_cz-ConeTu3sft4VXP9RM2XU4/s320/parson%2527s+pleasure+1950.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Parsons Pleasure c.1950</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #252525;">I’ve only looked at a rather small area, the middle and upper
Thames in Oxfordshire, an area I know fairly well and it is where I’ve done most of
my river swimming. A quick look at the map though reveals a multiplicity of
bathing places in and around Oxford. In some cases, these were clearly quite
informal , whilst in others quite considerable infrastructure developed.
Perhaps the best known site is Parson’s Pleasure – a bathing place on the River
Cherwell in the University Parks, which became well known as a place for nude
bathing and was frequented by dons and students in the 19<sup>th</sup> and 20<sup>th</sup>
century. The area was reserved for men, and was located on an ostensibly easily
bypassed branch of the river. It was an area rich in University folklore-
allegedly a female student <i>accidentally</i>
punted passed a group of naked lounging dons. All but one cover their privates,
but the classicist Maurice Bowra covered his face instead stating "I don’t
know about you, gentlemen, but in Oxford,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><i>I</i>, at least, am known by my face”. From the 1930s a
nearby area was used for naked bathing by female students and was known a Dames
Delight. Although Parsons Pleasure started as an informal and undeveloped location,
by the mid-20<sup>th</sup> century there were changing rooms, and the area was
screened off from prying eyes by formal fencing. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9cixZQO_Bd3Er9gCWRECuu_egX2AvOSR8v2EKL3yVPLD2WQXCM_x7g72J_4KyWZleFhxjF961sDNHieBcsATkPNr1ULo_htyLi9fhpQNUdy89PCre4fDiNqm4r4ClVDERaD4n4QISmxc/s1600/longbridges.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9cixZQO_Bd3Er9gCWRECuu_egX2AvOSR8v2EKL3yVPLD2WQXCM_x7g72J_4KyWZleFhxjF961sDNHieBcsATkPNr1ULo_htyLi9fhpQNUdy89PCre4fDiNqm4r4ClVDERaD4n4QISmxc/s320/longbridges.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Long Bridges Bathing Place c1950</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #252525;">Whilst, these two sites were clearly rather exclusive areas
intended for the use of the Gown, the Town were also well provided with formal
bathing places – Tumbling Bay (off the allotment on Botley Road), Long Bridges
(near Donnington Bridge), Wolvercote and St Ebbe’s all had their own bathing
places which were provided with varying levels of infrastructure. Tumbling Bay
had changing rooms, weirs to manage the level of the formally landscaped pool,
flower beds and ladders These were
clearly for the use of the general population of Oxford – St Ebbe’s for
example, was before its clearance, one of the town’s largest slums. Indeed,
many of these places seem to have been at least partly managed by the council
before they closed them down in 1990s. Doubtless they were seen as cheap and
easily maintained public services, less complex to manage and maintain than
formally built lidos. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525;">[for more on the bathing sites of Oxford and what remains
there now have a look at the great </span><a href="https://sites.google.com/site/derelictionintheshires/leisure-sites">Dereliction in the Shires </a><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525;">website </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525;">)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYQ-BcHAqIpSY2DofGR2ToytjOygPVHT79AkSWzhzPVjtbyoRRcVK32CTixeMhpxJlPSeXPQibTOs6t1zilBaUt981RGf0t1wCyzZF2Fgm3wTgvZs3NL6R1WSKSFqM91rkb-a03uCKL2Y/s1600/wolvercote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYQ-BcHAqIpSY2DofGR2ToytjOygPVHT79AkSWzhzPVjtbyoRRcVK32CTixeMhpxJlPSeXPQibTOs6t1zilBaUt981RGf0t1wCyzZF2Fgm3wTgvZs3NL6R1WSKSFqM91rkb-a03uCKL2Y/s320/wolvercote.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wolvercote bathing places - (C) <a href="http://pictureoxon.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;POX0140479&pos=40&action=zoom&id=140479">Picture Oxon</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #252525;">It is perhaps not surprising that Oxford has so many river
bathing locations- it’s a university town with many channels and watercourses
braiding through it. Crucially, there were relatively few large industries
chucking effluent into the water. However, it was not only in places like this
that there were formal bathing places. I’ve fortuitously stumbled across a
similar development in a small village just a dozen miles away. West Hanney
lies on the Letcombe Brooke, one of the slow flowing tributaries of the Ock in
the Vale of the White House. Not surprisingly, the river was used to power mills
and for quenching the thirst of the inhabitants and their livestock. But in the
later 19<sup>th</sup> century, a small formal bathing place was constructed on
the brook. It seemingly comprised a corrugated iron enclosure, basic
changing rooms and a veranda, whilst the stream was widened and provided with a
concrete base. The local mill just downstream was able to maintain the level of
water to allow swimming. This bathing place was paid for by the inhabitants of
West Hanney and neighbouring East Hanney and was popular until in the early
years of the 20<sup>th</sup> century there were allegations of ‘indecencies’
and its use was kerbed before it was finally destroyed by a flood in the
1940s. I only stumbled across this by chance, it is probable that many more
such small-scale swimming holes must have constructed and used in the 19<sup>th</sup>
and 20<sup>th</sup> centuries, which would only be picked up by detailed
exploration of OS maps and local histories.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fBsrgyz6-JBFPZ7qWj7EO4pGsPcn-O17aKDYBUZ28VGcFNsXGHFIYiCIM53ZbdD-b1enJnmY2ElAg-G3-M-by9hz0l7VEfPBdfkBc8-PwTX4Dicc6_n7W4fXllC3HI7R2yM8Lg25wZU/s1600/west+hanney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fBsrgyz6-JBFPZ7qWj7EO4pGsPcn-O17aKDYBUZ28VGcFNsXGHFIYiCIM53ZbdD-b1enJnmY2ElAg-G3-M-by9hz0l7VEfPBdfkBc8-PwTX4Dicc6_n7W4fXllC3HI7R2yM8Lg25wZU/s400/west+hanney.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bathing place, West Hanney - late 19th century</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #252525;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #252525;">A final dimension to these landscapes of swimming are the
memorials to the occasions when things went badly wrong. Not surprisingly, it
was not uncommon for people to drown, particularly when swimming near weirs or
areas with strong undertows. In some cases, memorials were erected to them at
or near the place of their demise. Perhaps the best known example is the <a href="http://thames.me.uk/s01569.htm#top">obelisk erected on the weir at Sandford</a>, just south of Oxford. Known as the ‘Sandford
Lasher</span>’ this weir was notoriously dangerous. The obelisk records the
deaths of five students from Christchurch college who had drowned there in the
19<sup>th</sup> and early 20<sup>th</sup> century including the adopted son of
J.M. Barrie. Another <a href="http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/streets/inscriptions/south_west/wilson_drowning.html">monument</a> stands on the Thames between Folly Bridge and
Osney Bridge commemorating Edgar Wilson, an assistant chemist, who died saving
two boys who had got into trouble in the river in 1888.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #252525;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525;">In the later 20</span><sup style="color: #252525;">th</sup><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525;"> century swimming in natural
watercourses went out of fashion, as worries about health and safety peaked in –
and many children of my generation will remember being freaked out by the ‘<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg6IVUvVsAs">Darkand Lonely Water</a>’ public information films. It’s only recently that there has
been renewed popularity in ‘wild swimming’ partly stimulated by Roger Deakin’s
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2011/aug/02/waterlog-roger-deakin">Waterlog</a>. But these swimming sites are really interesting and neglected aspects
of social history,that could do with some more research. Apart from anything as
the worries about public decency at West Hanney and the ever-so-genteel hints
of homosexuality associated with Parson’s Pleasure, these were places were the
combination of nude swimming and young (and not so young) people meant that
there were undoubtedly pretty strong sexual and gendered undercurrents to what
went on. The scene in a EM Forster’s
Room With a View in which Mrs Honeychurch, Lucy and Cecil Vyse encounter the
group of male characters bathing in the nude is just a hint of the kind of
chance and planned encounters that must have happened at such sites. It would
be wonderful for someone to start trying to record these sites, before they are
lost to memory and nature.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-60046523203003501732016-08-16T07:35:00.004-07:002016-08-16T07:35:55.228-07:00A pilgrimage to Iona: first thoughts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmRoPWw-1ctgV8L-bBwayM8pv7m5UY_WPBFrsVuFflXEJ0kvjko29QqrlrQ94s5AJqvE5ICkQsYPPMWNwrlgNBn22_0BV10GBmVgbzMH6EIb_JtQ2h3MMexBrRVgWdRLgrYArHKX1XiDA/s1600/DSCF3775.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmRoPWw-1ctgV8L-bBwayM8pv7m5UY_WPBFrsVuFflXEJ0kvjko29QqrlrQ94s5AJqvE5ICkQsYPPMWNwrlgNBn22_0BV10GBmVgbzMH6EIb_JtQ2h3MMexBrRVgWdRLgrYArHKX1XiDA/s400/DSCF3775.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
Last week I finally made my first visit to Iona. Having
spent so much time writing and thinking about the archaeology of Lindisfarne,
it is natural that I had to eventually go back to the source of the monasticism
on Holy Island. It was fantastic to make my first foray to the island from
where Oswald brought Aidan and other monks to found his new Northumbrian
monastery. No matter how much one looks at plans and photographs there is
nothing that beat actually visiting a site to get the sense of its human scale
and proportion. Exploring some of the island has been incredibly useful in
helping me rethink the archaeology of Lindisfarne and also raises some
questions for me about the archaeology of Iona.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like my medieval predecessors, the journey to Iona for me was
very much a pilgrimage, and included the classic elements of a devotional
exploration. I cast off family attachments (or at least made sure they were
settled in the chocolate café in Tobermory), carried out a long journey facing
many adversaries (primarily getting past the lunatics who holiday in Mull in
mobile homes the size of buses) and finally reached Fionnport to catch the
ferry. Here I stepped away from my final connection to the real world (or “parked
the car” as some might term it) and joined the small group of hardy visitors
waiting in the driving rain for the Calmac ferry. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At this point, it’s worth emphasising that my visit to the
island was not as long as I could have hoped for; the shocking weather and the
need to preserve familial harmony meant that I was only able to spend a few
hours on Iona so this account is by necessity impressionistic rather than
thorough. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although my interests are primarily early medieval, I was
surprised to be seduced by later medieval archaeology of the island. Although
heavily reconstructed, the abbey church was wonderful with some vibrant and
quirky historiated capitals. I also fell in love with the intimate little
cloister, an antidote to the larger cloisters I’ve experienced in Durham and
the great Cistercian monasteries of the Yorkshire. Smaller monastic houses such
as Iona would have been much more typical of the vast majority of medieval
monasteries in Britain, and certainly similar in scale to Lindisfarne Priory. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was also smitten with the later medieval tradition of
carved stone working – the continued use of interlace on recumbent grave slabs
and some crosses, such as the still-standing Maclean’s Cross and the more fragmentary
15<sup>th</sup> century cross of Lachlan MacKinnon with its plant scroll with
its echoes of Northumbrian vine-scroll carving of a far earlier period. There
was also an impressive later tradition of figural representation on burial
monuments, seen on the effigies of the abbots in the church and the
bullet-headed knightly effigies originally from Reilig Odhráin, which reminded
me of the confrontational knights of the Lewis Chessmen. There was also the
regularly appearance of the birlinn (sailed galley) motif, a potent reminder of
the importance of control the seaways in this region. My personal favourite
though was the memorial slab of the redoubtable looking Prioress Anna MacLean
in her pleated cassock. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMZe8EuP8ZMu6OyjbNPLhGd2diPAUqmDIcEM7wINUSH2BbWWdUQN4ixWJH9QcwRVbFRyMT24VDBZRgDm6cz4EiJn-jvK7eM3ZWjrsWtLZtI6ijjOFWxaZUQ94AYW1cdx7lDQDcn5bA_HM/s1600/DSCF3811.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMZe8EuP8ZMu6OyjbNPLhGd2diPAUqmDIcEM7wINUSH2BbWWdUQN4ixWJH9QcwRVbFRyMT24VDBZRgDm6cz4EiJn-jvK7eM3ZWjrsWtLZtI6ijjOFWxaZUQ94AYW1cdx7lDQDcn5bA_HM/s320/DSCF3811.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Having a chance to look at the earlier carved stone was also
instructive, particularly getting the sense of scale of the high crosses. It
was also exciting to get a sense of the wide range of different stone types
being used for carved monuments, many not coming from the island itself. This
is strategic use of stone types is something that Adrian Maldonado has
commented on and also keys in to something we are starting to recognise in
Northumbria. However, it was looking at the wider landscape that I found most
instructive and for sake of brevity I want to focus on two particular aspects
of this.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first issue is the impressive earthwork vallum that
surrounds the monastic core. In the literature this is one of the most distinctive
features of Iona. On the plans and aerial photographs that are the most usual
ways of encountering the plan of the site, it comprises a large well-defined earthwork
that runs along the western side of the site as a bank and ditch and can also
be seen as a cropmark to the north. Yet, when you are actually on the site, it
is very hard to discern this boundary, primarily because for the observer
within the monastery it is largely hidden from view by a series of rocky
outcrops, Cnoc nan Cárnan that run parallel with the western side of the vallum,
as well as two enclosures Cill mo Neachdain and Gill mo Gobhannan. Whilst the
latter two features are of uncertain date and may not have impeded an early
medieval view of the ditch and bank, Cnoc nan Cárnan certainly would have. In
many ways it is this rocky outcrop that serves to define and I think
significantly, constrain, the views from the monastery rather than the actual
vallum. It means that Iona is a site which like Lindisfarne looks towards its
shoreline, and like Lindisfarne, this nearest shoreline is not a wild ocean
vista but the more constrained landward view. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I also remain puzzled about the origin of the vallum. Whilst
long thought to be early medieval, more recently it has been dated to the Iron
Age by a C14 date of 40BC to AD220 from a sample taken from under the bank. As
Adrian Maldonado has noted, we do need to exercise a little caution here –
technically this only provides a tpq for the construction of the vallum rather
than a construction date itself. However, if for sake of argument we accept an
Iron Age date for this large bank and ditched enclosure then this for me raises
as many questions as it answers. My biggest qualm is that this large enclosed
area looks so very different from most common types of enclosures we know are
used in Argyll and the Inner Hebrides in this period, where the most common
settlement type is the far smaller dun. A good example is Dùn Cùl Bhuirg that
lies on the western side of the island which only encloses an area c.45m x 35m.
Crucially, both duns and the larger Iron Age forts tend to utilise hills and
defend the summit. The situation is very different at Iona where the boundary
seems to enclose a relatively low-lying rather than elevated area. I admit to
not being an expert on Iron Age enclosures in Argyll, but if we accept that the
vallum is Iron Age in date, we are faced with a new problem, a seemingly
a-typical and rather large enclosure preceding the establishment of the
monastery. It is surprising that despite the large number of interventions
within the enclosure, none have produced any clear Iron Age material culture
(apart from a glass bead that could equally be early medieval and a fragment of
Roman samian), whereas the relatively small-scale excavation by the Ritchies at
Dùn Cùl Bhuirg produced midden material, decorated Hebridean wares and some
beads. So, in essence, what <i>is</i> this
putative Iron Age enclosure?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My second area for consideration focuses on the relationship
between Iona and Lindisfarne in landscape terms. It is generally accepted that
Oswald’s decision to construct a monastery on Holy Island must have been
influenced by his experience of Iona during his time in exile in Dal Ríata
where he converted to Christianity. It is axiomatic that the planning of
monastic sites was in some ways at attempt to reconstruct on earth an idealised
model of Jerusalem, It is no coincidence that Adomnán, one of Iona’s most
important abbots, was the author of <b><i><span style="background: white; color: #252525; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">De locis sanctis</span></i></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #252525; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="background: white; color: #252525; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">(</span><i>Concerning sacred places</i>)<span class="apple-converted-space">, a description
of the holy places of Palestine, including Jerusalem and Bethlehem. However,
exploring Iona also got me to thinking about the way in which Lindisfarne was
an analogue for Iona. In many ways the geography of the two islands is very different;
Iona is far rockier and has greater relief than the generally low lying
Lindisfarne. The latter is also, of course, tidally accessible rather than a
true island like Iona. Yet, there are some really interesting parallels both in
terms of physical geography and planning. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="apple-converted-space">My first observation on this front
brings me back to my earlier comment about the use of a range of stone types.
One of the most distinctive features of Fionnport, Iona and the Ross of Mull is
its very highly visible pink granite; Lindisfarne, whilst not having pink
granite, does have outcrops of pin-red sandstone in the area around the site of
the early medieval monastery, something that would not have gone unnoticed by
visitors to the two islands. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwyvZBzBT87N8CS-DmXAuuGxcVGRKVm9vPPVC3Fr1CN1f2CY9yrsPpqJiTcZDwOlMGqXtCf-WwfaRD81CV7Fwa_wIk3-4Ki6jo-mutZgqc_CYZbLas2T2cTvQPk5d3IFXYXnRQIZUtUMg/s1600/DSCF3837.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwyvZBzBT87N8CS-DmXAuuGxcVGRKVm9vPPVC3Fr1CN1f2CY9yrsPpqJiTcZDwOlMGqXtCf-WwfaRD81CV7Fwa_wIk3-4Ki6jo-mutZgqc_CYZbLas2T2cTvQPk5d3IFXYXnRQIZUtUMg/s320/DSCF3837.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #252525; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Despite the difference in relief between
the two islands, Lindisfarne is not entirely flat and the distinct jagged ridge
of whinsill basalt that runs across the south of the island is an important
part of the landscape. In particular, part of this crag, known as The Heugh,
lies immediately adjacent to the site of the early medieval monastery. Visiting
Iona I was impressed by the similarity in terms of positioning between The
Heugh and the slightly smaller but nonetheless imposing Tòr an Aba which lies
to the west of the abbey at Iona. This latter feature was traditionally
associated with the cell of Columba described by Adomnán as ‘built in a higher
place’. Excavation revealed a stone footing and a cross-base created partially
out of re-used millstone. This reminds me of the presence of a cross-base lying
on The Heugh which also lies on an artificially created platform. More recently,
this summer, archaeological excavation on The Heugh also uncovered possible
early medieval structures elsewhere along the ridge. The geological parallels between the Heugh
and Tòr nan Aba, as well as the use of crosses to mark them are at the least
intriguing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #252525; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #252525; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> A
final interesting similarity is the presence (or former presence at least) of a
lake on both islands – Holy Island lough lies in the north-east corner of the
island, whilst the site of the Lochan Mór lies to the north-west of Iona Abbey,
although it had been drained by the 1750s. It had once had an outlet which ran
through the monastic enclosure via the stream known as </span></span>Sruth a'
Mhuilinn, which as the name suggests <i>may</i>
have powered a mill, although this is not certain. Intriguingly, a lack of
pollen of from Holy Island Lough dating to before the late 7<sup>th</sup>
century has led to suggestions that it was created or at least expanded at some time in the early years of the monastery
on Lindisfarne. Whilst the most obvious explanation of this is the deliberate
harnessing and consolidation of a water supply to power a mill, the expansion
of a lake in the near vicinity to the monastery on Holy Island would have served
to emphasize some of the similarities in the landscapes of Iona and
Lindisfarne.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Obviously, the presence of particular coloured stones, the rocky
outcrops and open water on both islands are co-incidental. Yet in an early medieval
ecclesiastical mind-set primed to recognise analogies, similarities such as
these are unlikely to have been seen as fortuitous, and may instead have had
symbolic resonances. In a world where books, carving and landscapes were all
read analogously, as well as literally, these correspondences would have been
important. The parallel placement of crosses on The Heugh and the Tòr nan Aba
suggest a conscious decision to emphasise these similarities, as less certainly
does the expansion of Holy Island Lough. There is certainly scope for more
exploration of the parallels and differences between Holy Island and Iona in terms
of spatial organisation, but that is perhaps for a more extended piece of work.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I need to go back to Iona- there is still a lot of pondering
to be done. I never got a chance to explore significantly beyond the monastic
enclosure, I’m interested in the relationship between the island and both the
sea and the mainland. My time on Mull and in some of the surrounding areas
convinces me more than ever of the need of a proper hinterland survey of both
Iona and Lindisfarne; whilst both sites are islands, they were not isolated and
there is a real need to better understand their immediate and wider landscape
contexts. So, with a small prayer to Columba and Cuthbert, I hope to be back
soon.<span style="background: white; color: #252525; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-54455166276635720172016-07-22T15:17:00.000-07:002016-07-22T15:25:13.095-07:00The Living and the Dead (and the lack of a sense of place)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ll82SCT-igW78LeK1N-ZHU0o-131Rp5BXUzklnUD1V4VygqCNePN61MCI25RM6snXl0FppkKQQ6hPCPltf4xmmzR4-XxABQ1BWE8IrTJ1zHNKzQM9fP4BM8vsL9RoINQhB7S4uvLKMc/s1600/The_living_and_the_dead_3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ll82SCT-igW78LeK1N-ZHU0o-131Rp5BXUzklnUD1V4VygqCNePN61MCI25RM6snXl0FppkKQQ6hPCPltf4xmmzR4-XxABQ1BWE8IrTJ1zHNKzQM9fP4BM8vsL9RoINQhB7S4uvLKMc/s400/The_living_and_the_dead_3.png" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ve been watching the new BBC folk-horror production <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Living_and_the_Dead_(TV_series)">TheLiving and the Dead</a> for the last month – it’s good; decent production values,
often beautifully filmed, just this side of histrionic and tipping its hat to
the ancestors (Wicker Man etc). I enjoy it, and I’ll watch the whole series. It’s
just that something doesn’t quite sit right with me- I can’t seem to give
myself over to it properly, and I’ve been struggling to work out why. It was
watching last week’s episode, involving a blight on the wheat harvest that I finally
started to twig why it wasn’t working for me. Enlightenment came when a song
was played over a scene of the harvest. The song was a version of Reaper’s
Ghost written in the 1930s by the US songwriter and musician <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dyer-Bennet">RichardDyer-Bennet</a>. My first reaction was “...but it’s not a pigging hayfield!” It was a
wheat field – they are not the same thing at all. Hay is grass cut for fodder
to feed animals; the scene was showing reapers harvesting wheat. Different
crops, different times of year, different purposes. Now I’ll put my hands up
and admit that it’s probably me being really petty – and that the point of the
song was to give a suitably menacing ambience to the scene. Yet, it pointed to
a bigger problem- that starts with the music, but is embedded in much of the
rest of the programme. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let’s start with the music – the title song is a version of
the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyke-Wake_Dirge">Lyke Wyke Dirge</a> done by Bristol-based outfit <a href="http://www.theinsects.co.uk/">The Insects</a>. Again, a song
with suitably menacing lyrics <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white;">“This one night, this one night,</span><em style="font-stretch: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;">every night and all</span></em><span style="background: white;">Fire and sleet
and Candle-light</span><em style="font-stretch: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;">and Christ receive thy soul”</span></em></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<em style="font-stretch: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></em></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<em><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s sung with a certain ominous hamminess – it’s fine. But, and this
is a big but, the actual first verse (and forgive the phonetics) are <o:p></o:p></span></span></em></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<em><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></em></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white;">“This ane night, this ane night,</span><em style="font-stretch: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;">every night and awle: </span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"> </span></i></span><span style="background: white;">Fire and
Fleet and Candle-light</span><em style="font-stretch: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;">and Christ recieve thy Sawle.”</span></em></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<em style="font-stretch: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></em></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<em><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Again, I open myself to charges of pickiness here- but the Lyke Wake
Dirge is a song with a particular pedigree; it’s a northern song written in
Yorkshire dialect, and recount the soul’s journey through purgatory and clearly
has Catholic undertones. Yet The Living and the Dead makes great play of being
set in Somerset. It’s a cracking song, but it’s completely decontextualized in
as the title song. So, what about the other music used in the series? We hear
<a href="https://mainlynorfolk.info/watersons/songs/thebraveploughboy.html">The Brave Ploughbo</a>y – perfectly common folk song collected in the 19<sup>th</sup>
century – no problem with that one. We also hear the tune of <a href="https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/boldsirrylas.html">Bold Sir Rylas</a>,
again fine. But then it starts to get problematic- <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She_Moved_Through_the_Fair">She Moves through Fair,</a> an incredibly well known (indeed a little hackneyed) <u>Irish</u> song first
collected in the early 20<sup>th</sup> century, then<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Stretched_on_Your_Grave"> I am Stretched on Your Grave</a>, another well-known Irish folk song, covered by many including Kate Rusby
and Sinéad O Connor – and crucially, the
words and the tune were only combined from separate sources in the 1970s. </span></span></em></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<em><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></em></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;">Hopefully, you are getting my drift now- the music is cobbled together from old
folk standbys which no doubt lurk somewhere side by side on Now That’s What I
Call Folk Music 1. There is no sense of shaping or selecting the sound track;
instead it feels that it’s a selection of folk standards that have been thrown
together by people with no real engagement with folk music or the specific
Somerset setting. This is a real shame, because Somerset has no shortage of its
own excellently recorded folk tradition. </span></em><em><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;">Indeed, it was in Hambridge in Somerset that Cecil Sharpe recorded his
first folk song “in the wild” – the Seeds of Love - from the gardener John
England. There has been no shortage of
subsequent collection and research into the musical tradition of the county, I’d
single out the work of Yvette Staelens and her <a href="http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/18361/1/Somerset_Folkenabled_pdf_of_map.pdf">Somerset Folk Map</a> here.</span></em></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<em><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></em></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;">This is all well and good; I admit I’m a folk music geek, and I’m
probably hard to please. I’m admittedly perhaps not the target audience for the
soundtrack. But what about other aspects of the programme’s </span></em><em><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;">mise en scene</span></em><em><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;">. As
I noted above, the programme claims to be set in a specific part of the
country, Somerset. The name of the village where it is set is Shepzoy - and full marks here. That –zoy suffix is a
genuine localised Somerset place-name element. It’s found in place-names such
as Westonzoyland, Middlezoy and Chedzoy.
These are all found in the<a href="http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=336620&Y=136380&A=Y&Z=126"> lower reaches of the River Parrett </a>to the north-east
of Langport. This is in the heart of the Somerset Levels – a distinct low-lying
watery district characterised by many drainage ditches and channels, peat beds
and wetlands. It’s an eery and unsettling landscape in its own right. Yet, none
of this materialises on the programme. Instead, the landscape views (and there
are lots of them) seem to be of rolling good quality wheat growing countryside –
nary a fen or bog in view! Indeed, one episode a coal mine plays a part;
although not well known, there was a Somerset coalfield, but this was well away
from the levels and up in the north of the county. Once again, despite an
attempt to localise the programme and embed it into a particular </span></em><em><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;">pays</span></em><em><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;">, it comes over
as slightly tone deaf, managing to miss out detail, and not engaging with the
reality of the human and physical landscape it claims to occupy. It is, in
fact, filmed in South Gloucestershire, a very different landscape.<o:p></o:p></span></em></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<em><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></em></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<em><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, not only am I a folk music geek, I am an archaeologist with an
interest in historic landscapes- so not only not a good audience, potentially,
the worst possible audience. I admit, I am probably being overly pedantic here-
I am sure there are other things I could worry away at too (would a labour
force as late as the 1890s been shocked by the introduction of a steam plough?
). <o:p></o:p></span></span></em></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<em><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></em></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<em><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I think the underlying lesson for me is that a good folk-horror
needs to be genuinely sedimented into its landscape. Folk-horror as a genre
arises out of a particularly English tradition of ghost story and more broadly fantasy writing- figures such
as MR James, Tom Rolt, R and Alan Garner are key here. In their writing, the stories
are clearly situated in real, specific locations – drawing on existing exterior
traditions and myths. MR James’ Burnstow in “Oh Whistle and I’ll come to you,
my lad” is clearly based on Aldburgh or another small town on the Suffolk Coast.
The landscape described in A Warning to the Curious is again clearly located in
Suffolk. In other cases, he uses real locations- St Bertrand de Comminges and Viborg –
carefully slipping the plot lines into the interstices of real historical
events and real people. The ghost stories of Rolt clearly draw on his knowledge
of industrial archaeology and canals (for a good example read his ‘Bosworth
Summit Pound’). Garner’s work which is situated more on the fantasy side of
things than the supernatural, despite having some horrific elements within
them, also has an incredibly strong sense of place. The brooding summit of Mow
Cop (Cheshire) looms over the lives of the cast of Red Shift, whilst the plot
of The Owl Service traces a plot drawn from the Mabinogion in a clearly
described central Welsh location. In all cases, Garner, James and Rolt, these
writers have researched deeply into the traditions, landscapes and practices
about which they right. Their writing is organic and situated and it would be
hard to transpose the stories to other contexts without losing something
important.<o:p></o:p></span></span></em></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<em><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></em></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<em><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This interest in particular places, the folding of chronology and
presencing of the past and the central importance of specific places and
landscapes, for me, lodges this British folk horror/fantasy tradition firmly
into the English Neo-Romantic movement, which springs from a particular
sensibility that sees the past as something that it perpetually immanent in the
present, particularly in rural contexts. In some ways, this taps into the
notion of the ‘archaeological imagination’ as described by Michael Shanks, who
describes it as the urge <o:p></o:p></span></span></em></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<em><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-style: normal; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></em></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; letter-spacing: -0.4pt;">“To recreate the world
behind the ruin in the land, to reanimate the people behind the sherd of
antique pottery, a fragment of the past… a creative impulse and faculty at the
heart of archaeology, but also embedded in many cultural dispositions,
discourses and institutions commonly associated with modernity. The
archaeological imagination is rooted in a sensibility, a pervasive set of
attitudes toward traces and remains, towards memory, time and temporality, the
fabric of history</span>” (Michael Shanks 2012 <i>The Archaeological Imagination</i>, 25). </span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; letter-spacing: -0.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s the emphasis on the
fragment, the ruin and the trace that is reflected in the Neo-Romantic
tradition – the ruins drawn by John Piper, the rural and industrial scenes of
Ravilious, the aerial fieldscapes of Peter Lanyon. No matter how abstract, no matter
how surrealist, they arise out of specific landscapes and monuments. It is easy to see then,
how ghost stories and tales of supernatural key into this tradition. There is
nothing that presences the past more clearly and explicity than the appearance
of a ghost.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; letter-spacing: -0.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; letter-spacing: -0.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So to bring slightly
rambling post back to the beginning, for me the failure of The Living and the
Dead is in its’ failure to root itself into a real landscape and tradition. It
misses an opportunity to engage with the real traditions and landscape of
Somerset, something I would argue that would have given it more depth, more
heft, and would, like all good folk-horror, allowed to linger and perhaps seep
out into reality. There is an absence where there ought to be a real place. It’s this lack of attention to detail that ultimately
disappoints. It’s fast –food folk horror, it meets a craving, but fails to
sustain.</span></span><em><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-12183944803846976122016-07-22T12:37:00.001-07:002016-07-22T12:37:50.421-07:00Notes from a small(ish) island #2: reflections<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAevpoQ2OfC_-As4FcRzr1tGwWsyAL4Sboj8X6q6zVQwwD54qR9jV4QvuQgsvDU8RRTRLJ3OJfyBgDdr3bJHDJm-VtmwVyXtk1YyUJZ5uhMEAVVm9S7iZUiGlNUb7Xr3oDSQyP3izIPZs/s1600/AC8_0895-w.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAevpoQ2OfC_-As4FcRzr1tGwWsyAL4Sboj8X6q6zVQwwD54qR9jV4QvuQgsvDU8RRTRLJ3OJfyBgDdr3bJHDJm-VtmwVyXtk1YyUJZ5uhMEAVVm9S7iZUiGlNUb7Xr3oDSQyP3izIPZs/s400/AC8_0895-w.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Reflecting on the experience of excavating on Holy Island,
it struck me how much of my personal thoughts about the process revolved not
about the archaeology as a physical resource or academic product, but the
emotional side of excavation. The notion that archaeological site reports are
far too dry, focusing solely on the objective record of the excavation (as far
as that is ever possible) is not a new one - thinkers, such as Ian Hodder where
commenting about this in the 1980s. But despite this, there have been very few
attempts to actually try this out in practice. Even when excavators have been
encouraged to be reflective and interpretative in their site records, this rarely
makes it way through to final reports. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Surprisingly, despite the massive uptake in the use of
social media (Twitter, FB as well as blogging), which ought to be ideal ways of
capturing peoples' immediate emotional and personal reaction to excavation, it
rarely seems to be used in this way. Possibly so many of us have the importance
of using social media as a shop-window for our projects drilled into us, using
them as an extension of the media and PR process, that we are cautious about
putting anything too personal. We might be happy to share excitement about the
project or an important find, but we are perhaps too careful about expressing
doubts or uncertainty or even owning up to mistakes. Social media can be harsh
and unforgiving, so it is perhaps not surprising that we often try and
carefully police how we use it. Given this, it is perhaps not surprising, that
whilst on site on Holy Island, I was quite happy to tweet when we found our
best finds, but less inclined to comment on the more personal moments on the
project. Now I'm out of the field, back in the 'real' world, I thought it would
be useful to perhaps reflect on some of these less tangible aspects of the
excavation experience <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As co-director and academic lead, one of the over-riding
feelings I felt was the pressure to 'find something'; in our case, the remains
of the early medieval monastery. It's an archaeological axiom that negative
evidence is as important as positive evidence; the failure to identify clear early
medieval remains in any of our trenches would not, technically, have been a
failure. It would have allowed us to strike off certain areas in our quest for
the Anglo-Saxon site and to focus on others. Indeed, as this year's work was
essentially a site evaluation, this was the precise purpose of the dig.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But we're all human – it's inevitable that we want to fulfil
our quest straight away. In the case of any research dig, there is the
underlying urge to uncover <i>something</i> to justify the expense and time
spent on setting up the project. Given the particular configuration of our
project, overwhelmingly supported by crowdfunding, that pressure magnifies. As
part of the crowdfunding process, we have to spend a lot of time emphasising
the excitement and potential of the site – we have to talk the site up in order
to persuade people to invest in it. Crucially, that investment doesn't just
come in the welcome financial form; there is also an immense emotional
investment in the project by our supporters that comes before their decision to
put money into it. For some, their small investment just means they are following
progress virtually via social media and the internet – they may be disappointed
if we fail in our objectives, but it's wouldn't be a big disaster. But for
those who contribute enough to come and dig, the personal investment is much
more. As well as contributing directly to the dig, they will have taken time
out of their lives and holiday allowances to be with use; they will have spent
money on accommodation and travel. Whilst most, if not all, appreciate that
archaeology has an element of luck and are hopefully coming into the project
with their eyes open, it is very difficult not to feel the pressure to somehow
repay their confidence and excitement in the whole exercise. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Obviously, we do a huge amount to try and avoid empty
trenches – in our case, we were homing in on features picked up in our previous
geophysical survey, so we had clearly identifiable targets. We'd also looked at
other excavation results from both the island and similar sites elsewhere to
get a sense of what we might find in practice. But, at the end of the day,
there are two things we can't control – the archaeology itself and the weather,
and ultimately, luck plays a huge part. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I'd already experiences the vicissitudes of luck on my
previous project at the Roman fort at Binchester, where we entirely
unexpectedly stumbled across an incredibly well-preserved Roman building with
walls 2m high. This was a wonderful find, but we can't claim any real credit –
we didn't know it was going to be so well preserved, it was a happy accident.
Indeed, in many ways, if we'd known how it was going to turn out, we would have
approached the entire project in a very different way. Nonetheless, we ended up
with a stunning site and lots of impressive finds. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An early medieval monastery is a very different beast to a
Roman fort though in archaeological terms. Sites like Binchester are packed with
easily visible floors and walls and are heavy on finds. Early medieval sites
are usually far more ephemeral with very low levels of material culture. In
many ways Binchester had spoiled me for archaeology – even though I <i>knew </i>academically
that even well-preserved remains of Anglo-Saxon Lindisfarne would be far less
impressive than the site at Binchester, it was hard not to feel a sense of disappointment
during the initial topsoil strip. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Topsoil strips are the moment of truth- the point when all
your investment, emotionally and in resources, finally confronts the raw
friction of reality. It's only when the turf is removed and the ploughsoil
taken away that you finally confront what you hope will be your archaeological
site. Perhaps inevitably, I want these to be 'ta da!' moments, when the cloth is
whipped away to show you a perfect and immediately understandable site. As the
digger bucket first went into the soil in Sanctuary Close, I felt physically
sick, although there was the inevitable bravado and banter covering it up. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In practice, when both our trenches in Sanctuary Close were
finally opened up, I felt rather underwhelmed. Despite the suggestions of our
geophysical survey, there were no clear structural remains of the type I'd
secretly hoped for, nor were there any immediately obvious finds. For the first
couple of hours, I had this horrible feeling that we'd opened up onto natural.
We'd got all the people and spent all the money for nothing! Again, whilst I
knew intellectually that we still needed to give the trenches a good clean down
and that our geophysical survey was unlikely to be completely wrong, the
initial impact of a messy trench with no obvious archaeology is a scary one. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the things that actually calmed me down the most was
that evening, when I got the opportunity to read an unpublished synthesis of
Charles Thomas’s many interventions on Iona – a site as similar to Lindisfarne
as it is possible to get, and with which Lindisfarne was deeply entwined
historically. It was a relief to see that many of Charles Thomas’ interventions
had failed to find anything of import, either hitting natural or clearly
post-medieval features – if even CT could repeatedly not hit archaeology on an
site that is packed with as much archaeology as Iona, then us letter mortals
needn’t feel too bad if we missed paydirt with our first trenches.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But over the next day as we started to clean back the
remaining top soil, cleaning and clarifying, things did slowly come into focus.
Instead of the undifferentiated background noise of rubble and silt, things
started to coalesce. No, there weren't any obvious structural remains, but in
Trench 2 we started to pick up bone, probably human, embedded in our rubble
spread. It was clearly not natural – whatever our spread was (and we still
aren't sure) it was anthropogenic – it was archaeology! The same was true in
Trench 1 were we soon found a small flagstone surface. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next struggle I found was how to approach this material.
Whilst in an ideal world, every site would be approached in more or less the
same way, in practice there are lots of pragmatic decisions to be made,
informed by resourcing and logistic issues (limited time; limited people), as
well as by the nature of the archaeology itself. Early medieval structural
remains can be very ephemeral and not easy to identify – I was terrified of
accidentally knocking through important remains and missing them entirely. As a
consequence we spent a long time 'tickling' the rubble spreads, cleaning and
recleaning, hoping that we would see something emerging. Yet, we got nothing
structural – we certainly found more disarticulated human bone and,
fantastically, two fragments of Anglo-Saxon sculpture, but the rubble wasn't
resolving itself into anything. Finally, we decided to be a bit more vigorous with
it; not mattocking through it with gay abandon, but certainly making a decision
to be more vigorous with our trowelling and using the mattock in a targeted
way. Suddenly, particularly in Trench 2, features started to appear, stone
settings, possibly gullies began to emerge. We'd finally hit our stride.
Ironically, we'd had exactly the same process at Binchester, where because we
were so nervous of missing ephemeral sub-Roman occupaiton, we spent much of the
first season cleaning and planning what I am now certain, were simply
plough-sorted pebbles. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I think the beginning of every site, one goes through this
'sizing up' process – what's the soil like? Does it respond to cleaning? Can
you get straight sections (“section perfection”) and nice flat surfaces? How
does it respond to too much rain – and not enough rain? Frustratingly, with our
Sanctuary Close trenches, it was only in the last couple of days of our short
season that I felt we were really starting to get the measure of the site. This
is, of course, precisely the purpose of archaeological evaluation, you are
trying to measure the survival of potential remains, qualitatively and
quantitatively, nonetheless, it can be a trying and stressful process.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are also other things one is trying to assess in the
early stages of a project- not just the archaeology but also the people. I was
working with a great team - some I knew quite well; others were new to me. At
the same time as one is trying to get the measure of the archaeology, there is
the need to get the measure of your colleagues. Wonderfully, we all got on
really well (I think!) and rubbed along fantastically, but it always takes
time, particularly when you are all on top of each other sharing a dig hosue,
to suss out people's natural rhythms, enthusiasms and strengths – who needed
coffee before they could function in the morning and who could leap straight
out of bed and be onto their laptop within minutes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perhaps the biggest pressure I felt with people was not from
our team , but from the many visitors. Digging on such a high-profile site,
with such a high-profile lead-in campaign and with trenches physically
straddling one of the main footpaths on a busy tourist honeypot meant that we
had lots of visitors. Many planned in advance, others turning up on spec- as
well as a huge number of questions and comments from tourists and the island's
inhabitants. All needed to be dealt with – all needed to be taken seriously and
engaged with an enthusiastic and courteous way. The islanders were our hosts,
the visitors and tourists included current and potential future crowdfunders
and future generations of archaeologists, whilst our academic visitors included
possible referees for future grants applications, project partners, not to
mention my in-coming Head of Department. Despite all the planning ahead,
dealing with these interactions took far more of my time than I'd anticipated –
it was certainly far more intensive than we'd every had at Binchester. It
caught me unawares – I also found the constant interaction, alongside the
communal nature of dig life, physically very tiring, far more than the
excavation itself, which I ended up doing far less of than I'd hoped or planned
.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Throughout the project there were lots of other challenges
for myself and the project team – some obvious- dealing with the media, the
weather and the tides – and others more unusual what do you do when your drone
is being mobbed by oystercatchers? How do you cope with having a circus tent
five metres from one of your trenches for a weekend? How do you get your gazebo
out of a tree after a sudden squall? Yet, it's these kinds of anecdotal
observations and personal perspectives and memories that so rarely make it into
the final site report. Hopefully this blog entry can at least stand in until
the final monograph!<o:p></o:p></div>
David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-80198603679859482782016-06-14T11:17:00.001-07:002016-06-14T11:17:22.280-07:00Notes from a small(ish) Island #1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzoeQ5eoyGhZuBnRkHuIdG_Nwbq0cXg7Al7h87i711QGQhsniz_q6UK4jXWND-q3Vegkj51YTJer6foOkL3akt1dEPlT_Gm7U_B9JA5SQOi4OaLNrwXrU00XHNi4lXrsWn3OXHCZGJReE/s1600/DSC_0504.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzoeQ5eoyGhZuBnRkHuIdG_Nwbq0cXg7Al7h87i711QGQhsniz_q6UK4jXWND-q3Vegkj51YTJer6foOkL3akt1dEPlT_Gm7U_B9JA5SQOi4OaLNrwXrU00XHNi4lXrsWn3OXHCZGJReE/s320/DSC_0504.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
After three days on Holy Island I've
finally found a chance to sit down and pull my thoughts together.
I'll write about the academic content of the project at a later date,
but I want to explore the more personal side of things first. Being
involved in a new project is an exciting but nerve-wracking
experience. The new work on Lindisfarne has the added challenge of
working with new partners and a new team. Although we've only
finished our first proper day's excavation today (Monday), most of us
have been on the island since Saturday afternoon. I've known Brendon
and Lisa from DigVentures for a while, but I've not previously met
the rest of the team; there's new names to learn (and forget) and
with any new group of people, there is always that cautious process
of getting to know individuals and tentatively working out the social
and personal dynamics. Happily, everyone seems to get on well, but
with a big group in a small dig house, the scope for tensions revolve
as much around getting the washing up done and taking muddy boots
off, as the practicalities of the archaeology.<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The first day, Sunday, was mainly taken
up with getting everything set up – the dig 'incident' room was
made ready, we got some training on the new GPS, and I gave everyone
an overview of the island's history and archaeology. There is also
the important process of getting to know the island- where does the
best coffee? [Pilgrim's Coffee House] What's the best beer in the
Crown and Anchor? [Secret Kingdom] What on earth is 'broon fish'?
[battered smoked haddock!] Anyone who has ever been involved in a
running a dig will also be familiar with the almost obsessive
checking of weather forecasts and looking fretfully at cloud cover.
Visibility during my walking tour of the island was so poor, we
couldn't even seen the mainland, let alone the Farne Islands or
Bamburgh Castle.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyQRp8mpwc7PtAnKbgpK5sjXnuo8Tu3iAu_cNgeSjMUt_T8pSKlIgzKG-kROVbuxCjKchBG51OGq0H7_iNhogC6RJ7eZ5Gelrl48kSXjWGDJ_9MeW50-KXr8fgL9UZT4Wgphz3c-TJ4hQ/s1600/DSC_0505.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyQRp8mpwc7PtAnKbgpK5sjXnuo8Tu3iAu_cNgeSjMUt_T8pSKlIgzKG-kROVbuxCjKchBG51OGq0H7_iNhogC6RJ7eZ5Gelrl48kSXjWGDJ_9MeW50-KXr8fgL9UZT4Wgphz3c-TJ4hQ/s320/DSC_0505.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
On Monday, we finally began the topsoil
strip. Watching the JCB slowly take off the topsoil and the bucket
reveal the first site of underlying layers there is always a sense
that this is the moment of truth. Truthfully, I always veer between
wild optimism and complete pessimism. Particularly in a crowd-funded
research excavation, one can't help feel the pressure of expectation
from the dig team and the other supporters of the project. It's hard
not to feel a little disappointed when the strip fails to reveal
perfectly preserved, clearly early medieval structural remains, even
though you know this was never going to happen.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Happily though, there are 'things' to
be seen; there are confused patches of rubble, spreads of shell and
clusters of stone hinting at walls or floors. We don't yet know their
date or function, but there is a sense of relief that we do have
something and the volunteers <i>will</i>
have something to excavate over the next fortnight.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtDkJ4cmb-j4u98uOaCaqfPPK4hxIOgAqSnzbgTUEy4WbYE_xuReZ9RT1XdNRVKHHZ1iHPebZBkSNgc9is8JepMXqWdt3qpMibapAPtByvDOcqmutUYnoxl-pluBYkSpVeV2xqvwifeW0/s1600/DSC_0507.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtDkJ4cmb-j4u98uOaCaqfPPK4hxIOgAqSnzbgTUEy4WbYE_xuReZ9RT1XdNRVKHHZ1iHPebZBkSNgc9is8JepMXqWdt3qpMibapAPtByvDOcqmutUYnoxl-pluBYkSpVeV2xqvwifeW0/s320/DSC_0507.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Today,
finally we started with the main dig team, mainly comprising our
crowd-funders, but also a handful of Durham students. Again, there
are new names to get to grips with and new dynamics to work out. Some
have dug before, some have never been on an archaeological site in
their lives. Once we get them in the trench, we start to see their
different approaches. Some people are nervous and tentative, worried
they'll damage the archaeology. Others can't wait to get properly
stuck in and move spoil on a large scale. We need to chivvy the slow
one and reign in the enthusiasts. Slowly, but surely, the surfaces
start to get cleaned and finds made. Some pottery is clearly 19<sup>th</sup>
century, but some looks earlier, perhaps medieval; there are bits of
animal bone, and excitingly a couple of human teeth. There is enough
coming up to keep people enthusiastic and engaged during the long
afternoon.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
One of
the distinctive aspects of this project that is already making itself
apparent is the public engagement. One of the main footpaths across
the island is straddled by two of our trenches. There is a large
footfall, with almost all the passers-by stopping, even if only
briefly, to look over our fences. Some just stare and move on,
others leap in with questions- what are you looking for? Why are
you digging here in particular? How long are you here for? Most are
visitors, but we've lots of interest and support from the islanders
too. As the day goes on, we really start to appreciate the challenge
of talking and engaging with all the people interested in our work,
whilst also keeping an eye on volunteers and the archaeology itself.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Tomorrow,
we're back in the trenches, the project will start to get into its
rhythm. Workers will know where to go, who to speak to when they are
stuck – the dig will start to hum.</div>
David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-73010206953755721542016-01-13T06:01:00.000-08:002016-01-13T06:02:11.101-08:00Archaeology Blogging Carnival- Grand Challenges Part 2: Lives in the Landscape<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt-CjKWY13fnTFdD65uKCvodfOYOLuSqdaF5vuU1WBirWP_TrteWiFfCixjk3CcJKjIxLLiC5cM2yu_aIrUcVM1a8FDeSXNPP_Fn_A-AFtniWYBwGdfKy0uHhNkFiwLjb7t05yBXj7Yso/s1600/hillier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt-CjKWY13fnTFdD65uKCvodfOYOLuSqdaF5vuU1WBirWP_TrteWiFfCixjk3CcJKjIxLLiC5cM2yu_aIrUcVM1a8FDeSXNPP_Fn_A-AFtniWYBwGdfKy0uHhNkFiwLjb7t05yBXj7Yso/s400/hillier.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Haymaking- Tristram Hillier (1943) (C) York Art Gallery <br />
a landscape without people</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">This is the second of my two contributions to the
<a href="https://dougsarchaeology.wordpress.com/2016/01/01/the-grand-challenges-for-archaeology-a-blogging-carnival/">Archaeology Blog Carniva</a>l which is asking us to outline what we think are the
grand challenges for our field of archaeology. I've already written one entry
outlining one of the big challenges I envision for the archaeology of early
medieval Britain, my main academic stamping ground. However, like a lot of
archaeologists, my wider interests span traditional chronological divides. Over
the last decade or so I've become increasingly interested in post-medieval
archaeology, particular the 18<sup>th</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and
19<sup>th</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>century.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">A lot
of the current research on the archaeology of this period focuses primarily on
urban and industrial sites. This is for a number of reasons; firstly, there is
a long tradition of industrial archaeology as an independent sub-discipline,
originally focussing on technological history but increasingly expanding its
focus to encompass the wider social context of industry. Second, much of the
actual excavation on later post-medieval sites tends to be carried out in a
development-control (cultural resource management) context, which widely occurs
on urban and brown-field sites, for example, the important work by the York
Archaeological Trust on the former Victorian slums at <a href="http://www.yorkarchaeology.co.uk/case-studies/hungate/">Hungate</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">When
it comes to the rural archaeology of this period the situation is very
different. Despite there being a very well-established tradition of landscape
archaeology in Britain, which can trace its origins to the work of pioneers
such as <a href="http://www.le.ac.uk/ebulletin-archive/ebulletin/features/2000-2009/2007/07/nparticle.2007-07-09.html">WG Hoskins</a>, this does not engage as extensively with the post-medieval
period. Crudely speaking, the amount of work carried out trails of
significantly in the post-Enclosure era, once the medieval common fields have
been parcelled up, a process which was more or less complete by the early 19<sup>th</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>century (although it did carry on
later than this). This landscape approach largely draws on field survey and
analysis of documentary and cartographic sources with relatively little
excavation. In fact, when I was carrying out an audit of post-medieval
archaeology in north-east England for the local <a href="http://www.durham.gov.uk/media/1551/Shared-Visions-North-East-Regional-Research-Framework-for-the-Historic-Environment/pdf/SharedVisionsNERegionalResearchFrameworkHistoricEnvironment.pdf">Research Framework</a>, I could not
find a single example of an excavated post-medieval rural building in the
region.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">The
danger of this landscape approach is that it is easy to lose track of the
people, particularly the rural poor or indeed anyone except estate managers,
farmers and land-owners, the people who make the decisions about how landscapes
are shaped. Even this group often end up being viewed as passive pawns of wider
social processes (high farming- enclosure- agricultural depression) – although
I would single out the really useful<a href="http://www.herts.ac.uk/about-us/corporate-governance/our-structure/subsidiary-companies/uh-press/our-subject-areas/history/local-and-regional-explorations/assembling-enclosure"> fine-grained analysis of 18<sup>th</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and 19<sup>th</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>century landscape</a> and farm development
in Northumberland by Ronan O'Donnell as an exception <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">What we are missing is any attempt to really explore the
lived lives of rural workers (and I’d include within this category the
population of small country towns). To get a sense of the richness of day to
day life that we are missing read Flora Thompson’s <i><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/dec/13/lark-rise-candleford-flora-thompson">Larks Rise to Candleford</a></i>, her account of growing up in the North
Oxfordshire countryside in the late 19<sup>th</sup> and early 20<sup>th</sup>
century. Although it has acquired a rather ‘chocolate box’ reputation (not
helped by the recent execrable BBC adaptation), it is actually far grittier
than many people give it credit for. Reading it, one gets a first-hand sense of
the complexity and light and shade of rural life. It talks about poverty,
agricultural wages, food, music, employment, upholding traditions and breaking
the law. The same can be said about Laurie Lee’s <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cider_with_Rosie">Cider with Rosie</a></i> which deals with a marginally later period in the
Cotswolds. Both books are of course literary creations rather than ethnographic
studies and suffer from selection and omission (a bit like the archaeological
record…). Nonetheless they are first-hand accounts of rural society which put
lives in the landscape.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQZLgzeW81eOboqX7_rltNbF3VyyGKvol7-NyrQK0D_1Nb99WK2-OrKdPZV6viN27dHhXeZ-z-HJRuUncxMkz0wtbYxnOZmySZOQfrCu9WBI5Ynd7YhfMq5GEfwJqdpjeGGcbf-_hjgdM/s1600/HT12191.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQZLgzeW81eOboqX7_rltNbF3VyyGKvol7-NyrQK0D_1Nb99WK2-OrKdPZV6viN27dHhXeZ-z-HJRuUncxMkz0wtbYxnOZmySZOQfrCu9WBI5Ynd7YhfMq5GEfwJqdpjeGGcbf-_hjgdM/s400/HT12191.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Family outside their cottage, Uffington- 1916<br />
Henry Taunt (C) Oxfordshire County Council</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">My grand challenge for archaeologists is to try and
encompass the complexity and fullness of rural life in the post-medieval
period. We have no shortage of material, yet so it is so little exploited. For
example, the grave yard survey is a staple of local heritage societies and
student projects, yet I have come across very few studies that have attempted
to combine the rich data about burial derived from these surveys with local
census data, which can tell us about the status, profession and place of
residence of those buried in the churchyard. This could then be combined with
building recording which can tell us about their domestic space and even excavation,
which has the potential to address patterns of consumption and production. If
one was careful with the selecting the right village, there may be many other
resources available, such as estate records or photographic records. For
example, in an area close to my heart, the Vale of the White Horse in North Berkshire,
there is a great photographic legacy through the work of the late Victorian
photographer <a href="http://pictureoxon.com/2-0-1-a-taunt.php">Henry Taunt</a>, the collections of rural artefacts made in the first
half of the 20<sup>th</sup> century by <a href="https://blogs.reading.ac.uk/sense-of-place/east-hendred-and-the-lavinia-smith-collection/">Lavinia Smith</a>, records of <a href="http://www.vwml.org.uk/record/TFO/1/1/9">folk traditions</a> and folk songs (including some made by the noted archaeologist
Stuart Piggot who retired to Uffington). There is ample scope for a truly holistic
study of rural life that goes beyond landscape study or archaeology but takes
the best of all disciplines and, in particular, embraces the potential of
biography of people, places and things to explore rural England in all its
diversity.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">It is easy to get dewy eyed over England’s rural past;
there is a good, solid tradition of creating pastoral idylls for ourselves, and
the hankering for a rural, pre-industrial past has a long genealogy
encompassing William Morris, John Ruskin, the ruralist writers of the inter-war
period, such as <a href="http://outlandish-knight.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/literary-ley-lines.html">HJ Massingham</a> and the Kinship of Husbandry, and can still be
found today in outlets as diverse as the ‘vintage’ design movement, <i>Country Living</i> and the eco-economics of
the Soil Association and the Green Party. Yet, as I remind my students when I’m
teaching them about this period, one of the reasons why the industrial towns of
Britain had such swollen populations was that rural life was one of such
grinding poverty and limited horizons that industrial labour seemed the better
option. I’d like to see archaeologist engaging with this difficult, unromantic,
rural world making full use of the incredibly, yet </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">under used archaeological, architectural and documentary
record that is out there but yet to be fully utilised.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZJDkXgJwbW68KE5d74f48wupdIefwQPnLFhAgeM9dyTjhtYQQTFWXuC6eV-QpNORmRxqTx5tFeMCTz2oxILjwvHWEpgBiR4gD9GVx0Z9BTzkedd-7C666wgmoq2LIp52bXLKbW8K9kN0/s1600/chippingcampden1896.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZJDkXgJwbW68KE5d74f48wupdIefwQPnLFhAgeM9dyTjhtYQQTFWXuC6eV-QpNORmRxqTx5tFeMCTz2oxILjwvHWEpgBiR4gD9GVx0Z9BTzkedd-7C666wgmoq2LIp52bXLKbW8K9kN0/s320/chippingcampden1896.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Morris dancers, Chipping Camden (Oxfordshire) Henry Taunt 1896<br />
Splendid example of aspects of rural life and tradition not<br />
traditionally engaged with by archaeologists</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Having done some family history, like many people,
I only have to go back four generations to find out that most of my ancestors
were ‘ag labs’ (agricultural labourers) or working in associated trades (in my
family’s case, mainly in the fields of North Buckinghamshire and South
Oxfordshire).As I stated at the beginning of this blog, my main academic focus has long been the early medieval
period, but as I get older I am more and more seduced by the idea of telling
the stories of the the Petts men and
women cutting hedges, harvesting hay and making straw hats in the villages and
fields of the East Midlands. Is this a grand challenge or a mid-life crisis...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-24040452865754147902016-01-11T03:31:00.001-08:002016-01-11T03:31:04.550-08:00Archaeology Blogging Carnival- Grand Challenges Part 1<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCkPxdE9XiRvypi0jvObE6LOHgM6i9mIW_-wrGEvL5A8u1TzYrIMaLeuJMVbri-aaNIOKvl2a8gJwgRH8rfQ-5lq7KlyZI-Yy2IvX2srSYbOIs1uRfrf2lszsxYXXKE13oUeukHLdGopk/s1600/west+hes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCkPxdE9XiRvypi0jvObE6LOHgM6i9mIW_-wrGEvL5A8u1TzYrIMaLeuJMVbri-aaNIOKvl2a8gJwgRH8rfQ-5lq7KlyZI-Yy2IvX2srSYbOIs1uRfrf2lszsxYXXKE13oUeukHLdGopk/s320/west+hes.JPG" width="207" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anglo-Saxon burial from <a href="http://www.landscaperesearchcentre.org/html/25_years_digging.html">West Heslerton</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This blog entry
is in responses to the blog carnival set by Doug’s Archaeology on <i><a href="https://dougsarchaeology.wordpress.com/2016/01/01/the-grand-challenges-for-archaeology-a-blogging-carnival/">The Grand Challenges for Archaeology</a></i>,
which asks “What are the grand
challenges facing YOUR archaeology?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first
thing to say is that I'm glad that we are being encouraged to home in on our
own personal domains within archaeology- the days when scholars like Gordon
Childe could be personally familiar with more or less the entire prehistoric
archaeology of Eurasia are long gone, and I suspect that we all struggle to
keep on top of the literature within our own little disciplinary nests. I'm
quite sceptical of the notion of pan-disciplinary grand challenges- they are
either so vague as to be meaningless (e.g. social inequality; globalism etc.) or
actually not really that pan-disciplinary at all (e.g. the origins of
agriculture). I much prefer more localised, specific challenges which have the
potential to shed more light on a smaller area.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the UK we
have an established tradition of Research Agendas – such as the <a href="http://www.durham.gov.uk/media/1551/Shared-Visions-North-East-Regional-Research-Framework-for-the-Historic-Environment/pdf/SharedVisionsNERegionalResearchFrameworkHistoricEnvironment.pdf">Research Agendafor the North-East of England</a> which I've been closely involved with or the excellent
on-line <span style="background: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.scottishheritagehub.com/">Scottish ArchaeologicalResearch Framework (ScARF)</a></span>. These to some extent flag up the perceived priorities for the archaeology
of local areas- and they are extremely useful and valuable tools. But they are
often written from the perspective of what is possible and realistic in terms
of future avenues for research – I want in my blogs to be a little more
ambitious and think about the question from a slightly more blue sky
perspective assuming (of course, incorrectly) that money / time is no object.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am going to
do two entries because my work straddles several chronological periods; in this
entry I am going to focus in on the early medieval period which is perhaps my
main stamping ground<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From my
perspective the big challenge is for early medievalists to get to grips with
the potential of archaeological science related to population mobility.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For
researchers on early medieval England, the twin issues of the Anglo-Saxon ‘migrations’
and the construction of ethnic identity continue to be a contested and lively
subject for debate. Put very crudely, there is an ongoing debate about how
England became Anglo-Saxon- was it a result of mass Anglo-Saxon immigration and
population replacement or small-scale Anglo-Saxon immigration and acculturation
of aspects of Anglo-Saxon society by the indigenous British population? Of
course, within those two sides of the argument are a wide number of alternative
perspectives and the debate is far more subtle and complex than my crude
characterisation would suggest. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Over the last
10-15 years we have seen the increased intervention into this debate by scholars using a range of scientific
techniques , particularly bone chemistry (which has the potential to help
identify where an individual spent time as a child) and DNA which has the potential
to identify relationships between individuals and groups at a variety of scales
– this can be done using modern populations and projecting inferences back into
the past or increasingly using ancient DNA. There was a hope that these techniques might
have been a magic bullet which could clearly and unproblematically identify the
extent of migration into England. However, inevitably the results have not been
as clear-cut as everyone originally hoped. As a result there has sometimes been
a dismissal of such techniques as unsatisfactory or pointless<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My <b>grand challenge</b> is to see a massive
increase in the use of these techniques and crucially a major change in the questions we
are trying to ask with them. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first
problem is that when we actually look at the number of sites where these
techniques have been used, the figure is tiny- for early medieval England (5<sup>th</sup>-7<sup>th</sup>
century AD) for example, bone chemistry has been used on a handful of sites –
<a href="http://dro.dur.ac.uk/5871/1/5871.pdf">West Heslerton</a>, <a href="http://dro.dur.ac.uk/12156/">Berinsfield</a> and <a href="http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/myads/copyrights?from=2f6172636869766544532f61726368697665446f776e6c6f61643f743d617263682d3831302d312f64697373656d696e6174696f6e2f7064662f417263686976655f4d6f6e74676f6d6572795f69736f746f7065735f6f665f4f5f616e645f53722e706466">Wasperton</a> with occasional work on individual
burials. This work is very useful in telling us about population movement in
individual cemeteries, but of very little use in unpicking the national
picture. In early medieval England, the patterns of population movement and the
shifting social dynamics across the country are likely to have been massively
regionally variables and locally nuanced. The work of archaologists such as Sam
Lucy has shown how cemetery rituals could vary widely between local cemeteries-
there is no reason to assume the process of population movement would not be as
equally as variable. Why should the pattern of population movement in North
Northumberland be the same as that in Suffolk, or Herefordshire or the Upper
Thames. Equally, variability may be reflected at a very local level too. The
only way to address this is to have a large-scale campaign of bone isotope
analysis rolled out across tens, maybe hundreds of early medieval cemeteries –
allowing us to properly compare and contrast the variation in population
patterns across England rather than extrapolate national patterns from a tiny,
tiny, handful of sites. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A related
challenge is to re-configure the way we talk about the movement of people within
early medieval England (and Britain as a whole). Almost the entire debate is
couched in terms of Germanic migrations – but there are two problems with this-
first, it assumes that all probably population movement was Germanic- yet one
of the key things that has out of the isotopic analyses of sites such as West
Heslerton and Bowl Hole, Bamburgh, is that people were moving in other directions,
including moving west to east as well as east to west. For example, the
isotopic analysis of West Heslerton shows as many if not more individuals
ending up in the cemetery who had their origins west of the Pennines as east of
the North Sea. Yet, because ultimately we take our narratives and hypotheses
from Bede and Gildas (quite understandably) we never really address the extent
of this alternative direction of travel. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A second
problem is we tend to assume all population movement is some form of ‘migration’
and is (a) deliberate (b) long-distance and large-scale. Yet there are lots of
other ways in which people might move from their place of origin. For example,
there is forced movement through the slavery (for example Patrick’s initial
visit to Ireland) and also both local and long-distance movement through other
social mechanism such as marriage, internal colonisation or fostering. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It would be great
to see for example, a focused campaign of both Ancient DNA and bone chemistry
on a regional group of cemeteries, such as those from the Upper Thames valley. This
would obviously have the scope to tell us about the extent of population
movement from the Anglo-Saxon homelands, but it would also have the potential
to tell us as much about the movement of individuals from other parts of
Britain (Cotswolds, Midlands, East Anglia) into the area, and also drilling
down more closely allow us to address issues about kinship and marriage
patterns. Attempts have previously been made to identify related individuals
within a cemetery through non-metrical trades, but think of the potential to
identify family groups over several generations- identifying individuals
marrying in and potentially the movement and budding off of elements of the kin
group through fostering elsewhere or marrying into nearby families. Looking at
a slightly later period, wouldn’t be great to look at an early medieval
monastic cemetery for example and be able to pick up not just whether the monks
were local or not, but the extent of inter-relationships between them- were
they being drawn from the same family groups or was there far wider
recruitment?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Combining
this with other elements of grave analysis, this would allow us also to radically
increase the subtlety of our understanding of burial rites, the representation
of individuals in death and even social mobility. So, rather than obsessively
chewing over Germanic Migration let’s try and think about population mobility
at a variety of scales ranging from the very local to the international. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course
there are immense practical challenges- the cost would be astronomical and time
/ lab resources would be significant. So much of the funding of archaeological
science focuses on what is innovative and new at the expense of consolidation
and wider application of an existing, effective techniques. Also, we would need
to be very careful in couching the questions and interpreting the answers. In
the past, some scientific studies were great at identifying patterns but far
less effective in providing the contextual analysis, as there was often a lack
of archaeologists involved at all stages of the project, although this tendency
is improving. Equally, it is axiomatic
that there is clear distinction between biological relationships, geographic
origin and ethnic identity. This new data certainly would not be a short cut or
magic bullet answering all our underlying questions about early medieval England,
but what it would do is open up a lot more very very interesting debates.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-4854628046657366512015-12-17T05:41:00.001-08:002015-12-17T05:41:13.849-08:00Distribution of English mumming plays: some first thoughts<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpgmjIKCQzWics0mdUXvI-T_CeqB7un87OU6dSCGOlsgNxoWk-_KHqcJPLelMmJ-j9WdinB46uY5lXX6J-9zc1enxjOvVvCAHBOYibs7iebyMId-SkpcJDb1nZqc6g-oLZJEUmEGwWe38/s1600/DSCF1420.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpgmjIKCQzWics0mdUXvI-T_CeqB7un87OU6dSCGOlsgNxoWk-_KHqcJPLelMmJ-j9WdinB46uY5lXX6J-9zc1enxjOvVvCAHBOYibs7iebyMId-SkpcJDb1nZqc6g-oLZJEUmEGwWe38/s320/DSCF1420.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mumming play- Wantage - 26/12/13</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">A couple of years ago I gave a
paper at a <a href="http://www.spma.org.uk/prizes-and-grants/grants/research-grant-award-reports/leicester-post-graduate-conference-2013/">post-medieval archaeology conference</a> in Leicester which conveyed
some general thoughts about morris dancing costume and regalia (a topic which
I've explored in <a href="http://outlandish-knight.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/pitt-rivers-museum-morris-dance-bell.html">other blog posts</a>). The paper was mainly focussing on the way
in which costume was used and its wider social importance. I was primarily
looking at the Cotswold morris tradition of the South Midlands, rather than
taking a wider national perspective on traditional public dance traditions. I
touched briefly on the fact that there are some records of high-status families
paying for new kit for a local morris side to perform at a family event. This
led Ronan O'Donnell to ask a perceptive question about whether morris sides
were more common in 'closed parishes', that is to say parishes in which most or
all of the land was owned by a very small group of landowners, often only a
single family, as opposed to 'open parishes' which had multiple landowners.
This issue of the number of landowners has importance beyond a simply economic
one, as it had consequences for a range of other factors including provision of
social support and religious freedom.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Although I haven't pursued the
open-closed question in detail here, Ronan's question did make me start to
think about the wider social context of morris dancing and other traditional
practices. Whilst Cotswold morris has a fairly circumscribed geographical distribution
with few outliers, I've been thinking about the social context of a related
tradition, the mumming play, a form of stylised, traditional drama performed at
certain seasons, particularly Christmas. The cast were usually young men or
children and in some ways it constituted a form of structured, socially
sanctioned 'begging'. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLPUZLlagsevEG47dfnGbmooFN6a4k9tkH3-ltcHSdLCuLHBjLWnvz2rQVxnd3Vj8Pwvw6k-l1W5RINPKfJTWcxohlb0TUpmEXexJ_7aSGBNlYvW75nUP-Coi4avx0VoxxE38Lsw-T57w/s1600/mumming+map+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLPUZLlagsevEG47dfnGbmooFN6a4k9tkH3-ltcHSdLCuLHBjLWnvz2rQVxnd3Vj8Pwvw6k-l1W5RINPKfJTWcxohlb0TUpmEXexJ_7aSGBNlYvW75nUP-Coi4avx0VoxxE38Lsw-T57w/s320/mumming+map+1.jpg" width="274" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Distribution of mumming players based on Chambers 1933</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Because of the underlying
corporate nature of the practice I was toying with the idea that there might
have been a relationship between the distribution of mumming plays and the
spread of the most cooperative forms of agriculture. I tried playing with this
idea and plotted the distribution of known mumming traditions (mainly 19<sup>th</sup>
century records) against the English rural 'central province' which is
essentially the region of English landscape that was dominated by the medieval
open field system, a form of farming that involved a significant level of co-working
and corporate responsibility, and a consequence, a high degree of settlement
nucleation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">When plotted against each other,
there is certainly a broad correlation, but it was not terribly precise –
clusters of mumming plays can be seen outside the central province,
particularly Berkshire, Hampshire and Sussex – there are other outliers,
notably a small cluster in Cheshire and a couple in Cornwall. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdmIKE3VWqzQ2wX3B2lzqqaV30ksaICfP3J_6XJo0V2Dg1O42m3T6nEPKO_xCKYPy8V-BY0nV_mgrPP86-Wp-UgF4tuv4n5G_zw1CDR3DHDmNYc2xhyNVNM6DvPJUpYJF8FXC56bqQ8c8/s1600/central+province.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdmIKE3VWqzQ2wX3B2lzqqaV30ksaICfP3J_6XJo0V2Dg1O42m3T6nEPKO_xCKYPy8V-BY0nV_mgrPP86-Wp-UgF4tuv4n5G_zw1CDR3DHDmNYc2xhyNVNM6DvPJUpYJF8FXC56bqQ8c8/s320/central+province.jpg" width="264" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Distribution of mumming plays plotted against the<br />main landscape provinces <br />(from Roberst and Wrathmell 2003)<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Instead I tried another variable-
and plotted the degree of settlement nucleation against the distribution of
mummer plays. The precise variable I used as the Hamlet Dispersion Score
calculated for Wrathmell and Robert’s Atlas of Rural Settlement in England
(2003), which plots the extent to which settlements were dispersed or scattered
or alternatively clustered into nucleated points. In the map, the most
nucleated areas as blue and the most dispersed areas are pink/red.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">This plot fits the distribution
of mummers plays much better and encompasses the Hants, Sussex, Berkshire
outliers. There are two things to note though- it works less well for the
Cheshire group and the Cornwall group. In the latter case, Cornwall has a very different tradition of
traditional folk drama that I need to be explore more and it may be that there
are different influences at play here. I still need to mull over the Cheshire
examples. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4N3mdixmCIQ_U3hQm6jxp4SLWj6waH9LdepSdTtal81Abd4OqF41jPZtVTLR9-eUkZVQHc4azUu0qvxjNjJScQyr8YgmK9PMtlnq0Qed1m9olwPOHEdp7MYj3l77Qyo37rYWqvjVVFcA/s1600/nucleation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4N3mdixmCIQ_U3hQm6jxp4SLWj6waH9LdepSdTtal81Abd4OqF41jPZtVTLR9-eUkZVQHc4azUu0qvxjNjJScQyr8YgmK9PMtlnq0Qed1m9olwPOHEdp7MYj3l77Qyo37rYWqvjVVFcA/s320/nucleation.jpg" width="277" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Distribution of mumming plays plotted against <br />settlement dispersion scores <br />(from Roberts and Wrathmell 2003)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">However, I would draw some
tentative initial conclusions. The distribution of mumming is more related to
settlement type rather than perhaps the underlying pattern of agricultural
organisation (although of course the two are related). It does show that the
basic distribution of mumming is not random and does seem to be influenced by
other factors, most likely nucleated settlement. This makes sense; a tradition
that is a broadly cooperative venture bringing together a peer-group is more
likely to be carried out in a context where that peer group is able to interact
on a fairly regular basis and where there is the social and physical space for
this kind of venture to develop. These conditions are less likely to be met
where settlement patterns are dispersed and consist mainly of isolated farms
and hamlets rather than nucleated villages. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">So where do we go from here. I
think the key challenge is to avoid simplistic models of causation; these
traditions although occurring within a broad system of constraints and
affordances provided by settlement type are likely to also have been influenced
by other factors operating on a far more local and contingent basis. For
example, it is apparent that there is a large area of nucleated settlement
where there are no significant records of mumming – particularly Bedfordshire,
most of Northamptonshire and most of Buckinghamshire. Whilst nucleated
settlement may provide a suitable context of mumming it is clearly not the
cause of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At the moment I'd like to take
this forward in two ways – first, I want to return to Ronan's initial question
about 'open' and 'closed' parishes and see whether there is any relationship
between the kind of social practice represented by mumming and the
socio-economic structure of the parish within which they occur. Are there
certain scenarios beyond a crude measure of nucleation that might constrain or
enable these traditions? Secondly, I'd like to try and really drill down and
look at the social and physical context of mumming in a number of case study
areas. I'd envisage this might include looking at the social origins and
networks of those taking part in mumming – Keith Chandler’s brilliant social
history of morris dancing in the South Midlands <i>Ribbons, Bells and Squeaking Fiddles</i> is an inspiration here. But I’d
also like to try and physically map the residence patterns of participants and
trying to understand precisely where performances took place. Obviously, this
will rely on finding traditions where there is enough evidence to start
answering this question, but my current plans are to take two groups of plays
as case studies- those in York area and those in South Oxfordshire, areas. We
shall see what we shall see....<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Some practical notes: I got my
list of mumming play traditions from EK Chambers <i>English Folk Drama</i>- it
dates to the 1930s and there are certainly more recent additions to the corpus,
but not enough to change the overall distribution. The distribution of the
central province and settlement nucleation are from Brian Roberts and Stuart
Rathbone's Atlas of English Rural Settlement with the <a href="https://historicengland.org.uk/research/current-research/heritage-science/Atlas-of-Rural-Settlement-in-England/">digital data taken fromthe HE websit</a>e. The data was all brought together fairly crudely on Google
Earth, but I hope to move this to QGIS given some time<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-41032513269584686182015-10-31T06:14:00.004-07:002018-09-20T12:10:38.817-07:00“A person of antiquarian pursuits”: M R James and archaeology<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="height: 0px;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ucLynwf-Fzlr2MayfJ4jUcsoNC7d3KHzSZltuGCxx8hDOq7DBgKgWMEqLCGIw-vjxaMDoxKm0ywOWwPZol_JvLS7tY1KE3sD7Madad3qkAR_cf_sJ_h6bEQIP4q49VUz7jUd6O0V59M/s1600/head.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ucLynwf-Fzlr2MayfJ4jUcsoNC7d3KHzSZltuGCxx8hDOq7DBgKgWMEqLCGIw-vjxaMDoxKm0ywOWwPZol_JvLS7tY1KE3sD7Madad3qkAR_cf_sJ_h6bEQIP4q49VUz7jUd6O0V59M/s320/head.jpg" width="239" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 18.6667px; line-height: 21.4667px;"><i>This is the text of a paper I gave at the MR James conference (<a href="https://mrjconference.wordpress.com/">M R James and Modern Ghost Story</a>) in Leeds earlier this year- it's unedited, unreferenced (and pretty much unproofread), but hopefully will be of interest to some- if you are interested in a copy of the accompanying Powerpoint just drop me a line:</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The material past looms large in the ghost stories of M. R. James.
In almost all his stories, the supernatural crisis is catalysed or channelled
through a physical object, sometimes a manuscript or book (<i>The
Tractate Middoth</i>), sometimes an image (<i>The
Mezzotint</i>) and sometimes physical objects, as diverse as a bone whistle, a
dolls house or a strip of wallpaper. Although James’ academic work was
primarily focused on the study of text, both as editions and as physical manuscripts,
it also engaged widely with physical objects, particularly sculpture, stained
glass and wall paintings – what Monty himself described as ‘Christian
archaeology’. As well as this interest in the materialised past, practitioners
of the study of the past, archaeologists and antiquarians, also make regular
occurrences in his stories, some simply as supporting cast (the FSA in An
Episode of Cathedral History; the archaeologist in ‘O Whistle and I’ll Come to
you my lad’or </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> the doomed barrow digger, Paxton in ‘A Warning to the Curious’. </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">In this paper, I want to draw out and cotnextualise MR James
engagement with archaeology. Exploring his own direct and indirect engagements
with the emerging discipline in the later 19</span><sup style="line-height: 115%;">th</sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> and early 20</span><sup style="line-height: 115%;">th</sup><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">
century and also highlighting the ways in which he harnessed his engagement
with archaeology in his ghost stories.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Tracing its origins back to scholars of the 16<sup>th</sup> and 17<sup>th</sup>
century, such as William Camden (1551-1623) and John Leland (1503-1552), the
early study of the physical remains of the past had been dominated by an
antiquarian perspective. Early writers, drew on the chorographic tradition,
structuring studies by region or area – taking a broad approach, recording
genealogical information, information about important buildings, snippets of
folklore, natural wonders and unusual objects, this encyclopaedic approach
revelled in juxtaposition and collation, but made little attempt at either
chronological or regional synthesis. Often drawing on local informants, early
antiquarians carried out little fieldwork beyond the occasional illustration of
significant castles or abbeys. However, these were the first sustained
engagements with the recording of antiquities- and crucially marked the
beginning of the rediscovery of the middle ages, treating pre-Reformation texts
and monuments as both worthy of study but also bracketing them off as belonging
to antiquity allowing a narrative of rescue and rediscovery to be sustained. A
prime example of this can be seen in the work of the antiquary John Aubrey-
like many early antiquaries he was a polymath – best known outside archaeology
for his biographical sketches ‘Brief Lives’ he published widely on folklore,
place-names, antiquities and with his </span><i><span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Monumenta Britannica</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> he
was a key figure in trying to understand major prehistoric monumental
complexes, such as Avebury and Stonehenge. However, whilst this prehistoric
material dominate the modern perception of his archaeological interests, he was
also a key figure in developing approaches to the medieval past- his
unpublished, yet influential, <i>Chronologia
Architectonica</i> of 1670 was an attempt to develop a chronological typology
of medieval architecture and crucially contained not just physical descriptions
but illustrations drawn by Aubrey himself in the same way he surveyed in his
plans of prehistoric sites. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The long 18<sup>th</sup> century saw the development of the
antiquarianism, both in terms of scope and methodology but also its
institutional structure. First, the level of recording and fieldwork developed-
building on the methods of Aubrey and others. Excavation whilst often
exceptionally crude by modern standard was increasingly carried out-
classically on prehistoric burial mounds. Major early excavators included
figures such as the Reverend Bryan Fausett (1720-1776) and the Reverend James
Douglas (1753-1819) – the former opened over 700 barrows, prehistoric and
Anglo-Saxon over his career. The 18<sup>th</sup> century thus saw an increasing
emergence of prehistory as a distinct sub-field, comprising both standing
monuments and excavated remains.
However, whilst figures such as William Stukely – more commonly
associated, like Aubrey, with work on prehistoric sites, did record medieval
buildings, medieval archaeology was treated as a topic for which the main
resource were standing buildings rather than a field for subsurface
intervention. The motif of barrow breaking was however used by James in <i>A Warning to the Curious</i> although in
this case in the context of an Anglo-Saxon rather than a prehistoric barrow.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">A major development for the wider field of antiquarianism was the
establishment of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1707 and receiving its
royal charter in 1751. This provided an institutional focus for antiquarian
pursuit in England- as well as crucially being responsible for a series of
journal – most notably <i>Archaeologia</i>
and <i>Vetusta Monumenta</i> - both of which published from the very
beginning material on medieval topics. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Rather topically, one of the few areas where medieval antiquities
were actively investigated through excavation was the graves of kings.
Particularly under the stimulus of Richard Gough, Diretor of the Society of
Antiquaries from 1771 to 1797. In 1774, the tomb of Edward I was opened in
Westminster Abbey revealing both the body and associated grave goods, Edward
IVs grave in St George’s Chapel, Windsor, was opened in 1789, and King Johns
grave excavated in Worcester Cathedral in 1797. This investigation of graves
clearly finds resonances in some of James’ stories, particularly An Episode of
Cathedral History- but as we shall see he also later had a more direct
involvement in the opening of medieval graves.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The later Victorian saw changes in emergence of deep time-
scientific understanding of prehistory particularly due to increase of
excavation – drawing on notions of social evolution ultimately derived from
Darwinism, but also principles of stratigraphy derived from geology, all of
which profoundly influenced the development of archaeology as discipline. But
the mid 19<sup>th</sup> century also saw the establishment of an increasingly
structure academic framework for the archaeological study of the past.
Crucially this was the great period of the flowering of national, county and
local archaeological societies. A key moment was the establishment of the
British Archaeological Association in 1843, in reaction to a perceived over
emphasis on earlier periods of history by the SA, as well as a perception that
it was London-biased and aristocratic. The aims of the BAA were clearly “for the encouragement
and prosecution of researches into the arts and monuments of the early and
middle ages” . Amongst its aims were the organisation of an annual
archaeological congress<span style="background: #e8e7e4; color: #080808;">, along
the model of the French Congrès Archéologique or the annual meetings of the
British Association for the Advancement of Science. There was a rapid schism
however, partly along class lines. The majority of the founders of the BAA were
from trade backgrounds, but following a squabble about publication, a new
Archaeological Institute was founded by a faction led by Albert Way of a
notably differing class complexion.
Despite the increased ‘professionalization’ of the archaeology and
antiquarian studies in this period, the remit of both societies was still very
wide. The first volume of the Archaeological Journal published by the Archaeological
Institute including papers on Roman London, </span></span><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Observations on the Primeval Antiquities of
the Channel Islands<span class="apple-converted-space">, </span>On Anglo-Saxon
Architecture and, and I quote ‘The Horn-shaped Ladies' Head-Dress in the reign
of Edward I<span class="apple-converted-space"> “. The term ‘archaeology’
still had a wide semantic range and in the words of Chris Gerrard “the
relationship between antiquarianism, historians, architects and archaeologists
was uncertain territory”. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The mid-19<sup>th</sup> century saw a huge range
of other societies being established at this time – both historical- the
Surtees Society 1834, the Early English Text Society 1864, the Harleian Society
1869, and archaeological -</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">By 1886 there were some 49 county and local
archaeological societies, including the Cambridge Antiquarian Society of which
James became a member. It is to this kind of society that Baxter, the
antiquary, in <i>A View from a Hill</i>
seems to have belonged. The protagonist “spend a morning half lazy, half
instructive in looking over the volume’s of the County Archaeological Society’s
transactions in which were many contributions from Mr Baxter on finds of flint
implements, Roman sites, ruins of monastic establishments – in fact most
Departments of archaeology.”. In the story, Baxter was the local watch maker,
and this reflects an important aspect of the widening of archaeology as a
sphere of research, a process of social democratization. Even as early as the
early 19<sup>th</sup> century, not all antiquarians were of aristocratic,
gentry or ecclesiastical backgrounds. William Cunnington, the important early
19<sup>th</sup> century field worker was a local merchant.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">A facet of many of these early societies was an
increasing emphasis on campaigning to preserve and protect historic monuments-
something which was not within the constitution or ambition of the Antiquaries.
Despite the rampant medievalism of mid-Victorian society, with the emergence of
Gothic as a natural architectural style with figures such as Pugin and Gilbert
Scott in the vanguard of this taste-making, historic monuments were
increasingly under threat. Indeed, it is this very resurgence of medievalism
that led to a sustained attack on the historic fabric of Britain’s churches.
The Oxford movement with its aim to revive and renew traditional and more Catholic styles of worship led to an
assault on the interiors of medieval
churches with later features regularly removed and stripped back to
achieve an allegedly more authentic, medieval style. This movement was
motivated by an enthusiasm for the medieval – the aims of the Cambridge Camden
Society, so closely associated with this thrust, were “to promote the study of
Ecclesiastical Architecture and Antiquities and the restoration of mutilated
Architectural Remains”. However, the followers of the Camden society and its
Oxford counterpart, the Oxford Society for Promoting the Study of Gothic
Architecture did great harm to the historic interiors of British parish
churches. Despite both his loyalties to the Victorian world (remember if you please that I am a Victorian
by birth and education…”)and his love of the medieval, James’s attitude to this
medievalism was one of ambivalence. His preferred architectural style appears
to have been neo-Classical, and the unconstrained and insensitive removal and
reordering of the 17<sup>th</sup> and 18<sup>th</sup> century interiors of
medieval cathedrals to be replaced by neo-Gothic furnishings is at the core of <i>An Episode of Cathedral History</i>, and the
fragment of medieval stall and its associated paper message presumably came to
the knowledge of the narrator following their removal from the cathedral. It
was in reaction to such destruction thatWilliam Morris founded the Society for
the Protection of Ancient Buildings in 1877, although the views of the ‘anti-scrape’ as it became known were
not always popular.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm; padding: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">A wider
concern about the destruction of historic and archaeological monuments reached
parliament and steered by Sir John Lubbock, 1<sup>st</sup> Baron Avebury, in
1882, the A</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">ncient Monuments Protection Act was passed. Lubbock was an
important figure in the development of prehistoric archaeology in Britain –
heavily influenced by social Darwinism, he was writer of some of the first
major syntheses of the development of prehistoric society, coining the terms
Palaeolithic and Mesolithic. If the name Lubbock rings a bell for many of you,
it most likely because one of the early memoirs of M R James was written by
Samuel Gurney Lubbock – a nephew of John Lubbock. Monty was also friends with
John Lubbocks sons, Harold and Eric. He certainly visited the Lubbock family
home, where he met Baron Avebury’s second wife, Alice Pitt-Rivers, daughter of
Augustus Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers, another towering figure in late Victorian
archaeology. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm; padding: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm; padding: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">But how does MR James relate to this wider
development of archaeological endeavour in the later 19<sup>th</sup> and early
20<sup>th</sup> century?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm; padding: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">As a child he wrote to his father that he wanted “above all things
to make an Archaeological search into the antiquities of Suffolk, to get
everything I can for my museum” and later that he planned to “prosecute my
archaeological studies at the Guild-Hall library in the holidays”. Growing up
in rural Suffolk he lived in an area with a strong antiquarian tradition –
indeed, the sons of one of the earlier vicar’s of Great Livermere “Honest” Tom
Martin was a noted Suffolk antiquarian and the Suffolk Institute for
Archaeology was founded in 1848. One possibility I have not been able to confirm is that James
knew about the excavation of the important Anglo-Saxon boat burial at Snape –
probably of a member of the East Anglian royal family these burials and the associated
barrows stood on the main road into Aldeburgh, where he spent much time as a
child. The tumulus was obvious and is shown clearly surviving on the 1<sup>st</sup>
Edition Ordnance Survey map. It seems
inconceivable that given his proclivities he was not aware of it and must have
consciously or unconsciously fed into the plot of a <i>Warning to the Curious</i>, particularly given its setting in Seaburgh,
clearly based on Aldeburgh.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Despite his occasional roof-climbing adventures, Monty had
relatively little exposure to archaeology or ecclesiology at Eton. However,
when he arrived at Cambridge he emerged into a city and university on the
leading edge of the disciplinary development of archaeology. We might perhaps
at this stage identify three key, distinct, but cross-fertilising streams in
archaeology. Prehistoric archaeology, being pushed forward by Lubbock and
others, medieval archaeology, which was still a blend of more scientific
approaches but still heavily influenced by antiquarian and art historical
perspectives, and finally, an area I’ve not yet touched on, classical
archaeology. This latter field grew out of the world of classical studies and
was profoundly text led and art historical, but with a commitment to excavation.
Classical archaeology was in particular going through a phase of rapid
development – in the decade leading up to his arrival at King’s in 1882, in
particular the work of Schliemann at Troy had received international acclaim. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Cambridge University was the first British university to have an
endowed chair in Archaeology- the Disney professorship set up in 1851; it
required the holder to give three lectures a year for a stipend of £100. In O
Whistle.. the ‘person of an antiquarian persuasion’ who encouraged Parkins to
visit the site of the Templar preceptory was given, in a typical MR James
in-joke, the name Disney. On his arrival at Cambridge, the holder was Percy
Gardner, a specialist on Greek art , with close connections to the British
Museum, but someone whose engagement in research was from the perspective of
connoisseurship rather than fieldwork. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is important to remember that MR James arrived at Cambridge to
study the Classics tripos and he selected Classical Archaeology for special
study in Part II of the Tripos: he wrote in 1885 ‘the field is so frightfully
wide that I want all the time I can get, and not sanguine about the results.
Sculpture, painting, coins, inscriptions, mythology, gems –each of these
implies a good deal of reading”. Much of his learning was closely supervised by
Charles Waldstein, American archaeologist and Olympic shooter who at the time
was Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum,. Monty was soon appointed Assistant
Director eventually succeeding to the Directorship after Waldstein, although in
this position he focused primarily on the acquisition of manuscripts rather
than artefacts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was in the domain of classical archaeology that he made his
first, and most significant, engagement in field archaeology. In 1887, Henry
Babington-Smith an Eton and King’s College contemporary of Monty’s was granted
£150 to engage in archaeological fieldwork in Cyprus - under the auspices of the Cyprus
Exploration Fund, set up with support of the Hellenic Society. However, he
instead took up a civil service job as an examiner in the education department.
Monty was asked to accompany the expedition at short notice. The overall
project was led by Ernest Gardner, the younger brother of Percy Gardner (Disney
Professor) – who was the Director of the British School at Athens- who had
excavated with Flinders Petrie. Another participant was David Hogarth, who
ended up as Director of the Ashmolean Museum, and was later a close friend of T
E Lawrence, for whom he was first an academic influence in Oxford and then
served alongside in the Arab Bureau during WWI. Whilst Gardner was an
experienced excavator, Hogarth recalled in his memoirs that the others <span style="background: white;"> ‘were so raw as not to know if there were any
science of the spade at all’. The focus of the excavations was the Temple of
Aphrodite, but also included exploring a number of other related sites. James
had two roles, on site he seems to have led with the study of the epigraphy,
transcribing and translating the many inscriptions found during the work. He
also provided a typically Jamesian wide-ranging and eclectic overview of the
historical source material for the site, drawing on Classical texts as well as
medieval and post-medieval travellers’ stories. The final results were jointly
published by James, Gardner and Hogarth in the Journal of Hellenic Studies, a
series edited by Percy Gardner. </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is intriguing that despite his engagement in Classical
archaeology through his involvement with the Pylos excavations, his role as
Assistant Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum and, by no means least, his
education at Cambridge, that so little evidence of this makes its way through
to his published ghost stories. Neither, despite, his friendship with the
Lubbock’s does any evidence of an interest in prehistoric archaeology beyond a
passing reference to prehistoric flints in a View from a Hill.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">However, when it comes to medieval archaeology and physical
remains, it is a different matter, both figure in the bulk of his academic work
and his ghost stories. Despite being primarily remembered as a textual scholar,
James’s research was not just dominated by an interest in producing edited
texts, but also cataloguing - this meant
engaging with all aspects of the manuscript- not only its content, but also its
physical appearance (i.e. illumination and marginalia) and provenance – in this
respect it was as much an archaeological and art historical endeavour as a
purely textual pursuit. In particular his fascination with hagiography and
apocrypha intersected and fuelled a fascination for understanding and unpicking
medieval iconography.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Surprisingly, at the age of 30, when the Disney Chair of
Archaeology became empty, Monty gave serious thought to applying for it. His
writings when thinking of applying and his application to the Vice Chancellor give
a clear understanding of his perspective<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“My object in all has been to trace, so far
as I could, the historical development of sacred art from the point of view of
selection and treatment of subjects, and to bring it into connexion with the
literature and legends to which the artist had access/ In other words, I have
worked with the view to applying to Christian art those methods which are
applied nowadays to the remains of classical sculpture and painting”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 35.45pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> “During the last twelve years I have accumulated
a very large mass of materials illustrative of Christian art and iconography.
This material consists in the main of descriptions as full and accurate as I
could make them, of sculpture, painted glass, pictures and illuminated
manuscripts existing in a very considerable number of English and foreign
churches, libraries, galleries and museums..”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">This in fact fits in nicely with some of the important work done
by earlier Disney chairs. The outgoing Professor George Forrest Browne had <span style="background: white;">made a special study of runic stones, and
published<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="italic"><i>The
Ilam Crosses</i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(1889)
and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="italic"><i>The
Ancient Cross Shafts of Bewcastle and Ruthwell</i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(1917). </span>An earlier chair,
Churchill Babington, had also contributed articles on medals, glass, gems and inscriptions
to the <i>Dictionary of Christian
Antiquities</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">What is surprising though in Monty’s unsuccessful application was
how little he had published on topics even broadly related to medieval
archaeology or art history. Whilst the modern publication requirements for an
academic clearly did not apply in later 19<sup>th</sup> century Cambridge, this
is a little disconcerting. It is hard not to draw notice to the thoughts of
Parkin’s in <i>Oh Whistle</i> when he
discovers the Templar Preceptory: ““Few people can resist the temptation to try
a little amateur research in a department quite outside their own, if only for
the satisfaction of showing how successful they would have been had they only
taken it up seriously. Our Professor, however, if he felt something of this
mean desire, was also truly anxious to oblige Mr Disney”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In fact it was in 1892, the year of his unsuccessful application,
that he made his first foray in text in church archaeology despite the fact
that he had been clearly exploring church art for a long time. The subject was
the sculpture on the Lady Chapel at Ely Cathedral- he had declared an intent to
write a monograph on this following an undergraduate visit, but it clearly took
him a long time to work up to it. The sculptural programme, heavily defaced by
Protestant iconoclasm, was poorly understood. Drawing on his knowledge of apocrypha he
identified the programme and read a paper to the Royal Archaeological Institute
in August 1892- this was subsequently published in the<i> Archaeological Journal</i>, and then reworked as monograph.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Whether or not provoked by his failed attempt at the Disney Chair
the 1890s and early 20<sup>th</sup> century saw Monty issuing a series of
papers on topics related to church art – particularly glass and wall painting-
and all with a strong element of iconographic analysis – obviously recalling the
detective work of the Reverend Somerton on deciphering the message in the
stained glass from Steinfeld Abbey in the <i>Treasure
of Abbot Thomas</i>. Most of this work was published in the Reports and
communications of the <i>Cambridge
Antiquarian Society</i>- of which James was a committee member until around
1910. Unlike many of local archaeological journals, due to its University
connections the Reports and Communications had a far wider purview publishing
on a wide range of international topics. For example, the 1903 volume which
contained a paper by James on French tapestries, also include articles on Irish
folklore, Roman Britain, Aztec civilisation, Estonian harpoons, and the ruins
of Rhodesia. In addition to publishing papers, he read many more to the society
which were not published- sometimes two on one night.<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white;"> </span></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">His involvement with the Society was important as it meant he was
mixing with other important archaeologists in Cambridge and beyond- including
the Disney Professor. He also saw papers read by key figures in the developing
world of medieval archaeology, such as W St John Hope, with whom he later
collaborated and Frederick Bligh Bond, the
notorious archaeologist and psychic whose research at Glastonbury, was
he claimed, steered by his spiritualist contacts with a medieval monk of the
abbey, and ultimately led to his dismissal from the excavation committee- one
wonders whether the conceit of using psychical powers to see the past partly
inspired a View from the Hill.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In 1901, there were plans to bring relics claiming to be the bones
of St Edmund to the newly constructed Catholic Westminster Cathedral. James,
along with others, wrote to The Times arguing that the provenance of these
items was dubious in the extreme. Whilst some of the correspondent appear to
have had a confessional perspective, James simply took issue with the use and
abuse of historical records.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is not clear whether directly or indirectly provoked by this
debate, excavations took place in the chapter house at Bury St Edmunds, with which
MR James became involved. This resulted in the discovery of a series of burials
which James, using textual sources identified – this fulfilled his predictions
laid out in an 1895 monograph on the church in which he suggested<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“...if a systematic excavation could be undertaken, as a result of
the publication of this book, I should be better repaid thereby for the pains I
have spent upon it than by any other means ... From the lie of the land I am
inclined to believe that much of the crypt would be discovered, and that the
sites of the Abbots’ tombs in the Chapter-house (including that of Abbot
Sampson) might be ascertained (James 1895: 115).”. Following the excavations,
he wrote to The Times re-iterating this identification- although this led to an
anonymous rebuttal, also in the Letters page, followed by further support from
elsewhere. Whatever the final conclusions, it is clear from the correspondence
that he was not present during much of the actual excavation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">James was then again involved in a burial excavation in 1910, when
the remains of Henry VI were investigated in St George’s Chapel in Windsor.
This was led by W St John Hope, indefatigable excavator known for his
“ungentlemanly burrowing” and his “robust” excavation techniques, who James
knew from his Cambridge Antiquarian Society days. James was present in his
capacity as Provost of Kings as a representative of the two colleges founded by
Henry VI. The published description of the opening of the unmarked tomb in the
presence of several officials, the cathedral architect and verger again calls
to mind the opening of the mysterious tomb in <i>An Episode of Cathedral History</i></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> probably written a couple of years later in 1913.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Throughout his later life James continued to write about church
art and archaeology although after 1910 he mostly stopped publishing in the <i>Cambridge Antiquarian </i>reports and
communications. Instead he published his work as small monographs, such as his
work on the sculptured bosses at Norwich cathedral , or in the Cambridge Review
– as well as regularly writing to the The Times. He also increasingly published
in the journal of the Walpole Society a new body established in 1911.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In some case, he revisited work he had previously explored- most
spectacularly in the case of the Eton College Chapel wall paintings; as school boy he had spoken in a debate
declaring the destruction (as it was then though) of the paintings was ‘among
the worst crimes of the century”- he had also given a paper on them in 1894 to
the Cambridge Antiquarians. Finally after WWI as Provost of Eton he was able to
effect the removal of the stall revealing the surviving paintings. Other work
published on wall painting was done in collaboration with EW Tristram, who had
been closely involved with the restoration of the Eton paintings and shows
James willing to collaborate with talented younger scholars.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">A final aspect of his archaeological publication are his two more
popular guides- <i>Abbeys (1926)</i> and <i>Norfolk and Suffolk</i> (1930).<i> Abbeys </i>was a publication by the Great
Western Railway and intended to help promote tourism within Britain. Both are
extensively illustrated with line drawings and photographs and clearly aimed at
the popular reader, and so untypically for James, there is very little critical
apparatus. Instead as he willingly acknowledges he draws on his own notes,
experiences and general guide books (although he does not mentioned the Bell’s
Guides which get name checked in. In the short bibliography in Abbey’s he does
mention antiquarian works, as well as work by colleagues and acquaintances such
as Bligh Bond on Glastonbury. Whilst not academic publications they clearly key
in James’ own fondness for church visiting and ecclesiology which went back to
his boyhood. If not labours of love, they certainly can be seen as a
contribution to the wider, more popular literature aimed at the interested
amateur which James himself regularly used on his visits in Britain and beyond<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">To conclude- it is clear that James was engaged and informed by
archaeology and archaeologist over his career. His academic research, something
that Pfaff’s biography goes into in far greater depth, is at the intersection
of palaeography, history, art history and archaeology. Despite his brief
excursions into Classical archaeology as a young man, his engagement with the
material remains of the past is solidly rooted in the medieval world. At its
heart is a very text-led conviction that a thorough grasp of the textual
sources – whether part of the cannon or more apocryphal or esoteric- is at the
heart of the interpretation of medieval ecclesiastical decoration. Within the
fairly limited scope of his archaeological work, figurative representation in
ecclesiastical contexts, he was doubtless correct. He never attempted to move
beyond the text, to address imagery in its own terms or widen his interests
more widely into the study of military or economic history and archaeology.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY6p33kG4M1tBT4JC2MHcbIfCeCuwqJrJVe21f_5D7q-yIbMyKH0d9wmYXoO45sn7P6AQAAc6FhxJ2qRoiBkKXYAZoK4hlbjeaxiE-LnT63SQ8L0Re9PPvdI5fHMmTTDcw5QDZaiP0F2w/s1600/head.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY6p33kG4M1tBT4JC2MHcbIfCeCuwqJrJVe21f_5D7q-yIbMyKH0d9wmYXoO45sn7P6AQAAc6FhxJ2qRoiBkKXYAZoK4hlbjeaxiE-LnT63SQ8L0Re9PPvdI5fHMmTTDcw5QDZaiP0F2w/s1600/head.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2486014069491785541.post-40501325772468079712015-10-04T13:49:00.002-07:002015-10-04T13:49:52.173-07:00David Inshaw and Silbury Hill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg_4DdDeN6wJtDUMjWB3mOppWRTx7ZNlqjyT1aT-Uo4CC-B5vIMbFe2HCQPnPmU7zZhkZ4uRf-cclYpYx0WiwfVgOAakJB4GBsl-HPRtIZRWaemQRlfwZGc6gwxjZDLT4SmzbYmLo2M9c/s1600/220px-DAVID_INSHAW_Storm_over_Silbury_Hill_2008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg_4DdDeN6wJtDUMjWB3mOppWRTx7ZNlqjyT1aT-Uo4CC-B5vIMbFe2HCQPnPmU7zZhkZ4uRf-cclYpYx0WiwfVgOAakJB4GBsl-HPRtIZRWaemQRlfwZGc6gwxjZDLT4SmzbYmLo2M9c/s320/220px-DAVID_INSHAW_Storm_over_Silbury_Hill_2008.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There was a
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/oct/02/david-inshaw-changed-landscape-of-art">good article</a> in The Guardian yesterday about the artist David Inshaw. I suspect
like a lot of people I first came across the work of David Inshaw via the cover
art of the Arden Shakespeare series in the 1980s, some of which we had at
school. Theses editions had the covers provided by members of the <a href="http://www.leicestergalleries.com/publication/the-brotherhood-of-ruralists-and-the-pre-raphaelites/17">Brotherhoodof Ruralists</a>, a group of artists established in the 1970s by, amongst others,
Peter Blake, a slightly unlikely figure for such an avowedly neo-Romantic
movement. Inshaw is best known for his quasi-surrealist, slightly ominous
landscapes and views – the <a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/inshaw-the-badminton-game-t03189">Badminton Game</a> is the best known (again, used as a
book cover, for T</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">he Penguin Book of
Modern British Short Stories</span>). This first exposure must have been at
more or less at the same time as I was first becoming really aware of the
Wiltshire Downs and the landscape around Avebury and Silbury Hill, and the two
are permanently linked in my mind. Although I always knew that much of his art
derives from the area round his home in Devizes, it was only relatively
recently though that I discovered that he has also regularly painted Silbury
Hill. I first came across one of these pictures on the cover of Adam Thorpe’s
wonderful little psychogeography-cum-memoir <i><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/17/on-silbury-hill-adam-thorpe-review">OnSilbury Hill</a> </i> (remind me I must bog
about Adam Thorpe at some point…), although this particular image Wiltshire
Landscape- Silbury Hill is surprisingly un-Inshawesque, in that it’s a relatively
straightforward landscape despite the slightly contorted topography and blood
red sun. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">More generally though, there is often a
feeling of repressed tension about his images- the sense of a storm about to
break. There is also a nice combination of realism and heavy symbolism that
comes straight out of the surrealist tradition and plugs into that 1970s
psychedelic pastoralism that strangely surfaced so regularly in childrens’
television of the 1970s and early 1980s. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ve
<a href="http://outlandish-knight.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/visions-of-avebury-equivalents-for.html">previously written </a>about the artistic responses to Silbury Hill/Avebury by
slightly earlier Neo-Romantic artists, such as John Nash and John Piper so it
is nice to see my two interests connecting (by a leyline?).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipQbgGGf0N540Ypy7AC8VKmwzV546TmMJMm8vEQJomdhkAqKBe2angPIg6GbOFyMBfw1Ng6XAHKP9mJKdu0zUlMaORRBVwovzg0-kIoPPaGbJqtgm7_p41TRzBbFweAlPhnCWF53MplAc/s1600/6b717963e68d7dbed7b7acef2532a5bb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipQbgGGf0N540Ypy7AC8VKmwzV546TmMJMm8vEQJomdhkAqKBe2angPIg6GbOFyMBfw1Ng6XAHKP9mJKdu0zUlMaORRBVwovzg0-kIoPPaGbJqtgm7_p41TRzBbFweAlPhnCWF53MplAc/s1600/6b717963e68d7dbed7b7acef2532a5bb.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6bKZOfQJ3pAzuOCT9d0zOYsT2rIvENUj94IgScSZaTqmWlksfoig445DJ98ywCjdKHu9JDvQVeiaTFR4TFVrynwa3kwuMRczVrr7vM0lU0WSDCly3ukJPGoR3bmHg2cZHSq_xzsqxxoU/s1600/David-Inshaw-Silbury-from-the-distance-HQ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6bKZOfQJ3pAzuOCT9d0zOYsT2rIvENUj94IgScSZaTqmWlksfoig445DJ98ywCjdKHu9JDvQVeiaTFR4TFVrynwa3kwuMRczVrr7vM0lU0WSDCly3ukJPGoR3bmHg2cZHSq_xzsqxxoU/s320/David-Inshaw-Silbury-from-the-distance-HQ.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCh4pyx8Id6eRgTFFzZdBFXAhLE0GIhaQ5YMChaKwW6DAlgwCfHf3Z2wnEEntz3Ud8SOPIVO0PByCHJRjkfVmBgCapacMuFPB3tljIjUwTZ3zefFcs3Ek33_Jn2CZDn8JuH-3nQ3DbGWg/s1600/David-Inshaw-Silbury-Hill-In-May.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCh4pyx8Id6eRgTFFzZdBFXAhLE0GIhaQ5YMChaKwW6DAlgwCfHf3Z2wnEEntz3Ud8SOPIVO0PByCHJRjkfVmBgCapacMuFPB3tljIjUwTZ3zefFcs3Ek33_Jn2CZDn8JuH-3nQ3DbGWg/s320/David-Inshaw-Silbury-Hill-In-May.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
David Pettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13514706608520437856noreply@blogger.com0