Current Archaeology

CA 232

This month’s Current Archaeology offers in-depth looks at stories that have been front-page news in recent weeks.  We begin with conclusions: as presented by Alice Roberts in the BBC’s new documentary on human evolution, are we all Africans? The recently completed restoration of the famous garden at Kenilworth Castle is also making headlines.  Is the letter upon which we base our understanding of the famous garden’s design a forgery? These heady examinations are followed by a look at the archaeology on the Otterburn Training Area in Northumberland.  The land of Otterburn is stunning and full of fantastic archaeology from the Neolithic through to recent years; it is also part of the second largest active firing range in Britain. How does archaeology fare on a Defense Estate?  Read on, and find out.

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Forteviot

A 9th century palace, an enormous 3,000-year-old Neolithic earthworks and the origins of Scottish kingship: Gordon Noble and colleagues from the University of Glasgow investigate.
Few visitors notice the plaque in the village of Forteviot, Perthshire, Scotland, that records the death of Kenneth Mac Alpin, a 9th century king of Scotland. It refers to a passage in one of the few surviving early manuscripts from Scotland, The Chronicles of the Kings of Alba, that states in AD 858 Kenneth Mac Alpin ‘died finally of a tumour, on the Tuesday before the Ides of February [the 13th], in the palacium [palace] of Forteviot’. This makes Forteviot the earliest identified royal centre in Scotland.

 

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Buried face down: Prone Burials

Archaeologists have excavated over 600 bodies from around the world, mysteriously buried face-down. Britain is the biggest hotspot – with more than 200 prone burials. What do they signify? Caroline Arcini of Sweden’s National Heritage Board has been investigating.

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Jargon, beauty, the South Downs, a heritage hero, Robin Hood and dragons...

Jargon: which words would you ban?
The Local Government Association has published a list of words and phrases that it thinks council staff and members should not use because they make it harder for the electorate to understand what councils do. In truth, many of them should simply be banned because they are empty of meaning. Much fun has been had at the expense of one particular phrase – ‘predictors of beaconicity’ – which originated in a Department for Communities and Local Government report of 2007 called: Predictors of Beaconicity: which local authorities are most likely to apply to, be short listed and awarded through the Beacon Scheme.

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Allotments, spearing bison, Brookside, Brown's museum, the Olympics, nighthawking...

Let it grow
One can only applaud the National Trust’s decision to create 1,000 allotments within its disused walled gardens and on land within its estates, even if that number is tiny compared to the 100,000 people currently on allotment waiting lists. Archaeologists have always made good gardeners: one Winchester-based pottery specialist, sadly no longer with us, used to win all the prizes at the local produce show.  Another well-known Roman archaeologist retired to the west of England some years ago where he has the perfect arrangement with the local pub: he does their garden in return for free beer. Yet another busy and well-known former county archaeologist finds time not only to manage an allotment, but also to tend the lovely public gardens round Kettles Yard and St Peter’s Church, on Castle Hill, in Cambridge; while a fourth regularly sends correspondents bulletins on the state of his gooseberries along with learned papers on medieval archaeology in Wales.

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From Festivals to Garden Sheds...

When, at the IFA’s Liverpool conference in April 2004, I argued for a festival of archaeology to compare with the superb festivals of literature, history, science. jazz, folk and rock music that we already have in this country, I could find not a soul in the archaeological establishment to back the idea. Then, in 2007, I joined the Current Archaeology editorial team and found in Andrew Selkirk someone who had arrived at the same conclusion and who was prepared to commit the necessary resources. As a result, the UK’s first ever Archaeology Festival was launched at the British Museum last year, and was a resounding success.

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Preserving Britain's Glories

When Sir Neil Cossons retired as Chairman of English Heritage in June 2007, his farewell party was held in a building overlooking St Pancras Station. This was a fitting venue given the extent of Neil’s personal involvement in the transformation of William Henry Barlow’s revolutionary train shed – the world’s largest singlespan structure when it opened in 1868 – into the gleaming new UK terminus of the European high-speed train network. The other big mission of his Chairmanship – resolving the ‘national disgrace’ of the Stonehenge landscape – had defeated him just as surely as it had defeated every one of his predecessors, but rescuing St Pancras will go down as one of the great achievements of Neil’s period in office.

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Mick Aston reveals the secrets of Time Team

The Time team is Britain's longest running archaeology TV series. Here, Professor Mick Aston, the leader of the Time Team, reveals the secrets behind the programme's success.

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Visiting Pompeii

Pompeii is one of the World's great archaeology attractions. And more of it is being uncovered every day. Here is our brief guide to the latest research and discoveries. Read more...