Mick Aston is best known as the leader of the Time Team, running around telling other people what to do and where to dig. But Mick is someone who practises what he preaches and for many years now he has been investigating his home village at Winscombe, near Western-Super-Mare in Somerset. Here he practises ‘total [...]
Honor Frost Foundation
December 11, 2012 By Filed Under: Andrew Selkirk
Hurrah! No sooner had I written my blog on Mr Moneybags than I discovered a new Mr Moneybags, or rather a Miss Moneybags, in the form of the Honor Frost Foundation. I have long known Honor Frost as a name to conjure with, one of the glamorous pioneers of underwater archaeology, someone who in the [...]
What price Heritage?
December 10, 2012 By Filed Under: Andrew Selkirk
Money, Money, Money: What price heritage? Twice a year, summer and winter, English Heritage publishes a fascinating magazine called Conservation Bulletin. It is intended for those it calls ‘conservation specialists, opinion-formers and decision makers’; it is a wonderful magazine, as it gives an insight into the concerns and policies of English Heritage, the body we [...]
I’ve been in London 50 years!
November 6, 2012 By Filed Under: Andrew Selkirk
It’s Guy Fawkes night – 5 November 2012 — and I have been in London for 50 years. I first came to London in 1962 to take up a new job and a new life as an articled clerk, and I stayed with my friend David at the Belsize Square Residential Club, a somewhat seedy [...]
Who is Mr Moneybags in archaeology?
November 4, 2012 By Filed Under: Andrew Selkirk
It is a common complaint today that our society has become too unequal. To an archaeologist, of course, the complaint is nonsense. Compare our society to the pharaohs of Egypt, or to most societies in the past — we are remarkably equal. No one is able to afford to build a pyramid today, and even [...]
Digging Selborne Priory
October 30, 2012 By Filed Under: Andrew Selkirk, Featured
What to do when you retire A lot of my friends seem to be retiring at present and for the same reason: that they all got their jobs in and around the magic years of 1972 and 1973. In my last blog I went to Mick Jones’ retirement party at Lincoln, and then at [...]
Lindiana Jones
October 25, 2012 By Filed Under: Andrew Selkirk
Lincoln – Mick ‘Lindiana’ Jones retires On October 20th2012, I went up to Lincoln, to the Retirement Party for my old friend Mick Jones, the Lincoln City Archaeologist, held in the Galleries of the new or newish museum. Highlight of the evening was entertainment provided by Tom Lane, Director of Archaeological Projects Services who [...]
Civilization
October 24, 2012 By Filed Under: Civilization
Now that I am Editor-in-Chief, it means that I am at least semi-retired from Current Archaeology and I am therefore able to devote much of my attention to writing what I call my ‘big book’. And since one should always think big, at least at the outset, I am setting out to write a history [...]
Council for Independent Archaeology – 15 September
September 14, 2012 By Filed Under: Articles
Is it still possible to do archaeology without a grant? Today the whole world seems to be engulfed in an economic crisis, and thus grants of any kind are hard to come by – but are they really necessary? This is a topic that will be tackled head on at the next annual conference of [...]
Kew royal kitchens reopen
May 18, 2012 By Filed Under: News
One of the advantages of being Editor-in-Chief is that sometimes one is invited to some rather nice Press visits. That is how on a rainy day in May we found ourselves visiting the kitchens of the Royal Palace at Kew. The Royal Palace at Kew is the smallest and undoubtedly the prettiest of all the [...]
East, West, Who’s Best?
January 12, 2012 By Filed Under: Andrew Selkirk, News
I was down in the very splendid library of the Society for Roman Studies, looking for a book and happened by chance to notice a title Rome and China. I thought, ha ha!, this is a book for me. Since I am devoting my semi-retirement to writing my ‘big book’, a history of the world [...]
Archaeological magazines in Europe – and America: the Paestum experience
December 1, 2011 By Filed Under: Andrew Selkirk
It is always fascinating to find out how archaeological magazines are doing in other countries, and we had a marvellous opportunity to do this at the Annual meeting called the Borsa Mediterranea del Turismo Archeologico which is held every November at Paestum in southern Italy. Paestum is a marvellous place to visit as [...]
Vienna
October 26, 2011 By Filed Under: Andrew Selkirk
We have just been to Vienna for a short break. We had never been to Vienna and we thought it was about time we went. It was intended to be an entirely non-archaeological visit but inevitably archaeology intervened and I began to ask archaeological questions: how and why did Vienna become so important? Vienna is [...]
Another word on Climate Change
January 20, 2011 By Filed Under: Andrew Selkirk
CA’s Editor in Chief discusses the evidence for climate change and wonders whether we are barking up the wrong tree. Our Archaeology 2010 conference at the British Museum was a great success – as recounted elsewhere in this issue. My main role was to chair a session on ‘climate change’, a subject that has become [...]
Quangos and Conferences
January 20, 2011 By Filed Under: Andrew Selkirk
CA’s Editor in Chief considers the impact of our next government on heritage issues, and relives his season’s epic round of conferences. An election is coming: by the time you read this, there will be a new government. The pundits tell us that whichever government is elected, a certain retrenchment may be needed in the [...]
Good idea, wrong architect?
January 20, 2011 By Filed Under: Andrew Selkirk
CA’s Editor in Chief evaluates the British Museum’s new expansion plan and considers whether the end will justify the means. The British Museum is expanding again. After the triumph of the Great Court building, which has been one of the most successful museum transformations in recent years, the museum is now launched on its next [...]
Who champions the amateur?
January 20, 2011 By Filed Under: Andrew Selkirk
CA’s Editor in Chief defines the difference between community and amateur archaeology, and cautions not to leave our past to the politicians. It is commonplace today to say interest in archaeology is growing – a feeling well-expressed by Suzie Thomas in her very interesting article Common Ground (p.28). Yet I can’t help feeling that something [...]
The Roman Baths: Britain's most profitable museum?
January 20, 2011 By Filed Under: Andrew Selkirk
I make a visit to the refurbished Roman Baths at Bath. On 9 September 2010, I was invited down to Bath for a Press Day at the Roman Baths. I had not been there for many years: indeed, I think I last saw the Roman Baths when Barry Cunliffe was still excavating there. I remember [...]
Celebrating 250 Issues of CA
January 20, 2011 By Filed Under: Andrew Selkirk
Editor in Chief Andrew Selkirk reminisces over 250 issues of Current Archaeology. When I launched Current Archaeology, way back in 1967, I never thought I would be around to see CA 250. Mind you, for the first 206 issues, CA was bi-monthly and since it has become monthly, the numbers are adding up rather more [...]
Barbarism and Civilisation
January 20, 2011 By Filed Under: Andrew Selkirk
A response to Miles Russell’s and Stuart Laycock’s theory of UnRoman Britain. In their interesting essay UnRoman Britain, in CA 249, Miles Russell and Stuart Laycock argue that Romanisation in Britain was only a veneer, and that most of the population of the country remained firmly ‘UnRoman’. I disagree. I think that their argument is [...]
