During the Celtic Tiger economic boom, Ireland experienced a period of prosperity which led to an unprecedented ‘golden age’ for commercial archaeology. In a four-part series, Brendon Wilkins examines the top sites, finds and controversies that defined over a decade of discovery. Imagine a place where the term ‘millionaire archaeologist’ would not sound ridiculous, and [...]
When the Celtic Tiger roared: the golden years of commercial archaeology in Ireland
January 25, 2011 By Filed Under: Features
An Interview with Rónán Swan of the National Roads Authority
January 24, 2011 By Filed Under: Lisa Westcott
The road more travelled: Rónán Swan discusses life on the road schemes with CA Editor Lisa Westcott. Why did you become an archaeologist? My father, Leo Swan, was an archaeologist, so I grew up with it. All my holidays were spent on sites, or fieldwalking places like the Dublin mountains, Tara, and the Boyne Valley. My [...]
Are we all Druids now?; National Trust lacks soul?; Carlisle Castle; Socks with sandals; World Heritage diet
January 20, 2011 By Filed Under: Chris Catling
Are we all Druids now? Tuning in to the BBC’s religious affairs programme on 1 October, Sherds was amused to hear Emma Restall Orr, founder of the Druid Network, talking about the ‘long hard struggle’ to persuade the Charity Commission for England and Wales to grant charitable status to the Druids. This was a frustrating [...]
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 [...]
UnRoman attitudes: exposing the myth of Britannia
December 25, 2010 By Filed Under: Features
We traditionally see Roman Britain from the Rome-centred view; but how did the Britons really react? Now, a new book by Miles Russell and Stuart Laycock explores a different perspective, asking: what did the Romans truly ever do for us? In 2010, 1600 years after the traditional date when Rome cut the province of Britannia [...]
Contradictory policies; Coastal delights; Ringo's house; Museums 'best place to lose wallets'; London Lives 1690-1800
November 20, 2010 By Filed Under: Chris Catling
Contradictory policies David Cameron marked the beginning of the holiday season (now but a distant memory) with a speech on tourism that included some startling statistics: did you know that Britain is only 22nd in the list of most popular destinations for Chinese tourists – by comparison, Germany is 10th. Or that the UK is [...]
The end to 'bad laws'?; Quirky collections; Museum of Leathercraft; re-branding towns and boroughs
October 20, 2010 By Filed Under: Chris Catling
Plans to ‘de-regulate’ Britain ‘Help us repeal bad laws,’ said Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg on 1 July, asking the public for feedback on unnecessary legislation the British people would like to see scrapped. One response, published in the Independent on 5 July 2010, was so witty, it deserves a wider audience. ‘In Hereford’s Cathedral [...]
Interview: Alice in Archaeologyland
September 24, 2010 By Filed Under: Lisa Westcott
Alice Roberts, one of the most popular presenters of archaeology on TV, discusses the bare bones of her new series with CA Editor Lisa Westcott. How did you get involved in TV archaeology? I started out in medicine and was a junior doctor in south Wales. But I wanted to indulge my interest in anatomy [...]
Heritage plaques; Heads at Westminster; Even infamy in fleeting; How much for Stonehenge?; How towns attract tourism.
September 20, 2010 By Filed Under: Chris Catling
Heritage plaques Strict rules govern the erection of Blue Plaques, the circular memorial tablets in Wedgwood blue that mark the residences of celebrated historical figures. The person commemorated must have been dead for 20 years or have passed the centenary of their birth; should be considered eminent by other members of their profession or calling; [...]
Vikings: Raiders and traders
August 25, 2010 By Filed Under: Chris Catling, Features
A group of 51 fit and battle-ready Scandinavians met a brutal death in the years between AD 910 and 1034; crudely beheaded, their remains were thrown into a mass grave near Weymouth in Dorset. Chris Catling asks how this discovery fits in with our picture of the Vikings. Recent discoveries such as the Dorset Ridgeway [...]
Conservation in the community
August 24, 2010 By Filed Under: Features
American-born conservator Dana Goodburn-Brown has worked around the world and made numerous appearances on television. Now, her infectious enthusiasm is inspiring a band of volunteers based in the unlikely location of a Kent shopping centre. CA’s Caitlin McCall went to meet her. What does a conservator do? A conservator is responsible for the care, preservation [...]
Freudian dating parties; Glamorous heritage; Archaeologist Sienna Miller?;The heritage buffs' anthem; Early Animal, Vegetable, Mineral
August 20, 2010 By Filed Under: Chris Catling
Freudian dating parties Responding to the news that the National Trust and Mills & Boon have formed a partnership to publish bodice rippers set in historic houses, several CA readers have pointed out that the link between heritage and romance is far from new: museums and galleries have been exploiting their potential as trysting places [...]
Liquid History: Excavating London’s great river, The Thames
July 25, 2010 By Filed Under: Features
Prehistoric forests, the skull of a child, the slipway of a Victorian engineering masterpiece and part of a Tudor palace jetty: all have emerged from the mud and gravel on the foreshore of the Thames, thanks to an exciting new project to record the archaeology of London’s great river. Nathalie Cohen tells CA about the [...]
Archaeology in action: Mike Heyworth
July 24, 2010 By Filed Under: Lisa Westcott
Dr Mike Heyworth, Director of the Council for British Archaeology, tells CA Editor Lisa Westcott about the CBA, pubs and politics. How did you first get involved with archaeology? When I was 14, I went along to a weekend excavation at Old Down Farm, near Andover. My main reason for wanting to go was that [...]
Sexing-up the heritage; Vexing the Viscount; The Profumo Affair; Pipe pilfering Queen
July 21, 2010 By Filed Under: Chris Catling
Sexing-up the heritage Regular readers will begin to think that Sherds is obsessed with matters amorous, but in truth this is only a reflection of the extent to which the world is becoming ever more eroticised. Even Dr Who now has a feisty heroine who makes suggestive innuendoes about how long it is since the [...]
Howburn Farm: Excavating Scotland’s first people
June 25, 2010 By Filed Under: Features
At Howburn Farm in South Lanarkshire, a scattering of flints, discovered by the Biggar Archaeology Group, turned out to be evidence of the earliest human habitation in Scotland. Tam Ward and Alan Saville explain. How far north did Palaeolithic people settle in Britain? The general belief is that they did not go much further than [...]
