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Academic Research: A Day of Meetings…

By Chris Green on July 2, 2012 in Anglo-Saxon, Bronze Age, Day of Archaeology, DayOfArch2012, Digital Archaeology, Early Medieval, Education, Iron Age, Roman, Romano-British

I work as a researcher at the School of Archaeology, University of Oxford. My job is to look after the GIS elements of a large (ERC funded), 5 year project to study the English landscape from 1500BC to AD 1086, which we call the EngLaId project. For any who don’t know, GIS stands for Geographic(al) Information Systems (or sometimes Science) and it is, essentially, computer software that lets you create maps and analyse data in its spatial context (to cut a long story short!). Our project is using GIS as one of the tools in its armoury in order to try to understand continuity and change in the English rural landscape over the period of 2,500 years from the Middle Bronze Age to Domesday. My job mostly involves bringing together a large number of pre-existing datasets within GIS software (specifically, ArcGIS) and trying to find patterns and trends over time.

ArcGIS. Spatial data: contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2012 (OS OpenData)

However, Friday was not a day that involved a lot of GIS work for me. Two of my colleagues on the EngLaId team work at the University’s eResearch Centre (OeRC). During the morning, a few of us went over to the OeRC to meet with them and a Professor of Visualisation (Min Chen) and his team. We had a long and interesting discussion about innovative ways of visualising data. Prof Chen made a distinction between the two purposes of visualisation: to enable better academic understanding and exploration of data and to enhance public presentation of data. The former is where his team’s research interests lie and they have done some fascinating work on creating ‘glyphs’ to display multiple data attributes at once. The previous time we met with him, Prof Chen had shown us a series of glyphs that described the behaviour of sperm, which was most memorable for the erratic travel paths of the sperm found in ‘rats on drugs’! The meeting ended with me being invited to take part in a workshop on geospatial visualisation at the end of August.

I returned to my office for a couple of hours, ate some lunch, and set my computer to running some GIS tools. I then returned to the OeRC after lunch, leaving my processing processing, for our biweekly EngLaId team meeting. We normally meet here at the School of Archaeology, but the building is being partly rewired over the summer, so there is currently no space to hold meetings here. The team meeting lasted until after four o’clock, and seemed to be productive.

When we got back to the office, my colleague was told there was in a rat in her office (presumably disturbed by the builders), but I don’t think this rat was on drugs… As it had been a long day, the pub beckoned, so we swiftly adjourned to there. I had to return to the office later to check on my GIS processing (and pick up my bike), which had completed by that time.

Friday wasn’t really a typical day for me, as I am more usually found working at the computer in our attic office. But it was a fairly productive day over all, despite the relative lack of normal work. If anybody wants to know more about EngLaId, then please feel free to check out our own blog.

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Rathnadrinna Research Excavation, Cashel, Co. Tipperary, Ireland

By Richard O'Brien on July 1, 2012 in Community Archaeology, Day of Archaeology, DayOfArch2012, Early Medieval, Excavation, Post Medieval, Prehistory

This year marks the first season of excavation on Rathnadrinna Fort, funded by the Royal Irish Academy of Ireland. Rathnadrinna Fort is a trivallate, circular hilltop enclosure situated in Lalor’s-Lot townland, 3.33km south-southeast of the Rock of Cashel, Co. Tipperary, Ireland. The hilltop affords the fort extensive views across the adjacent low lying land and is inter-visible with a number of high-status forts surrounding the Rock of Cashel, to the north. Rathnadrinna Fort is the largest and best preserved of Cashel’s forts, and research here presents an ideal opportunity to learn more about the evolution and function of such sites in a royal landscape.

After three weeks digging we have uncovered a stone-lined corn-drying kiln outside the fort, the excavation of the fort ditches is underway and these are proving to be substantial in nature. We have revealed the old ground surface beneath portions of the fort banks and the excavation of the fort interior is revealing many interesting features. Finds to date include worked flints, an unidentified ferrous object from the fill of the kiln, and an interesting assemblage of late post medieval finds from a dumping episode outside the fort bank.

Our international team of volunteers includes diggers from Brazil, USA, Poland, Lithuania, Germany, Austria, England and Ireland. We have facilitated local primary school visits where the children were able be archaeologists for a day, meet the diggers and see our discoveries. For the Day of Archaeology Rowan Lacey gave a display of flint knapping, James Bonsall did a Magnetometer Survey over our kiln, Liudas Juodzbalys showed us a DVD of his experimental iron working, we had a game of hurling, the site director bought everyone a bag of the finest Morelli’s chips and Mickaela from San Paulo made a cheese fondue! Follow us on www.facebook.com/rathnadrinna

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The Bitterley Hoard – Day of Archaeology Blog

By Peter Reavill on June 29, 2012 in Anglo-Saxon, Day of Archaeology, DayOfArch2012, Early Medieval, Excavation, Iron Age, Medieval, Museum Archaeology, Periods, Post Medieval, Prehistory, Roman, Romano-British, Viking

Dear followers of the Day of Archaeology,

I hope you have found some my posts interesting today – just wanted to say thanks for reading them and also thanks to Dan Pett and Lorna Richardson (and the rest of the team) for doing lots of the organising for this social media event.

If you want to stay up to date with what’s going on at the PAS keep an eye on our blog and news pages

http://finds.org.uk/blogs/

http://finds.org.uk/news

That’s all from me for this year

All the best

Peter

Peter Reavill

Finds Liaison Officer Shropshire and Herefordshire

Portable Antiquities Scheme

peter.reavill@shropshire.org.uk

Blog: http://finds.org.uk/blogs/themarches/

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Day of Archaeology in Macedonia

By NGO Archaeologica on June 29, 2012 in Day of Archaeology, DayOfArch2012, Early Medieval, Education, Excavation, Museum Archaeology

Archaeologists in Macedonia, under the leadership of NGO Archaeologica, have joined together to celebrate this day by making a documentary film, photo exhibition and public presentations that you can follow the Web site of Archaeologica (www.archaeologica.org.mk), and the web site of the Day of Archaeology 2012.

We filmed one documentary about one day in archaeology and how is it spend in museums or on the sites. Some of our archaeologists are doing underwater archaeology and you can see the second short movie about their job and their ordinary day on the field. The third short movie is about making of our documentary about the site Golemo Gradiste – Konjuh, Macedonia. These days Archaeologica was filming this site for making a documentary for following season 2013 and representing the movie on the forthcoming archaeological film festivals. Enjoy watching the videos.

A day with Macedonian Archaeology

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Old Uppsala and Beyond

By Asa M Larsson on June 29, 2012 in Anglo-Saxon, Commercial Archaeology, DayOfArch2012, Early Medieval, Excavation, Iron Age, Medieval, Osteology, Prehistory, Viking

Kerstin Westrin and Jonas Wikborg, assist projectleader, excavating a pit house at Old Uppsala. Olle Heimer is looking through the contents of the floor layer. Photo: Asa M Larsson

Rescue excavations – the curse and boon of our profession. We may bleed for the heritage sites that are lost forever, but without the expansion of modern society we would get very little chance to peek into prehistory on a grand scale. This summer there are a lot of archaeologists crawling around Gamla (Old) Uppsala in Sweden, the idyllic suburb north of present day Uppsala, where the impressive great burial mounds of some undisclosed Iron Age VIPs still stand.

Urbanisation came late to this part of Northern Europe, but Uppsala was probably one of the first places in Sweden where this happened, sometime in the Early Middle Ages (or Late Iron Age as the period is still called here in Scandinavia). Exactly when – and how – is a matter of fierce debate, so you can imagine the gleeful joy with which archaeologists here greeted the fact that the railroad drawn straight through Gamla Uppsala needed to be expanded. It’s a massive project involving thousands of square meters of Iron Age and Medieval settlement sites as well as an Iron Age cemetery. It is also one of the most protected heritage areas in Sweden, so the project is a collaborative effort involving our own firm SAU, the Uppland County Museum, as well as the archaeological unit of the National Heritage Board. The more the merrier!

Sofia Prata, osteologist at SAU, is excavating a burial urn with a cremation from the Viking Age cemetery at Old Uppsala. Photo: Asa M Larsson

Not that I get to stick my fingers into the rich, dark culture layers with amulet rings and bear claw clasps, stuck behind a desk as I am doing administrative work as usual. But I manage to sneek out now and then and visit my colleagues in the field. So far the SAU team have found parts of a smithy and several pit houses, as well as long houses from the Vendel and Viking periods (c. 550-750 CE and 750-1050 CE respectively). The cremation cemetery that was identified in a field during last year’s test excavations has turned out to be much larger and more well preserved that we had expected – which is fun but, as we all know, also a bit of a headache for the County Museum that oversees the excavation. The osteologists from SAU will have their hands full, analysing all the cremated human and animal bones.

Celebrating with ice coffee and cherries – ’cause we earned it!

Still, contrary to popular opinion not all archaeologists are out in the field during the summer. Some have been chained to their desk to finish up a report on sites in that we excavated a few years ago. These Bronze and Early Iron Age sites and burials in Northeastern Uppland were established during a perod where the region changed from archipleago, to coast, to inland due to the shore displacement going on since the end of the Ice Age. Today we were frantically double and triple checking the text and illustrations before handing in the manuscript to the Uppsala County Board, who will decide if it can be published.

Afterwards we celebrated. On Monday we continue with other projects at hand, or in a few cases, actually take a vacation…

If you find yourselves in the vicinity of Uppsala this summer and autumn, be sure to visit us – we have guided tours in English as well.

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Friday fun in the ScARF office – part 1

By emmajaneoriordan on June 29, 2012 in Day of Archaeology, DayOfArch2012, Digital Archaeology, Early Medieval, Education, Historical Archaeology, Iron Age, Maritime Archaeology, Medieval, Post Medieval, Prehistory, Roman, Science, Viking

Not even being the Day of Archaeology 2012 could bring the sunshine to Edinburgh today, so whilst the view from the office at the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (SoAS), is definitely dreich, at least reading about all this archaeology will brighten up the day!

My name is Emma Jane O’Riordan and I am the Project Assistant for the Scottish Archaeological Research Framework (ScARF) or @scarfhub on Twitter. The project took part in the Day of Archaeology last year too so you can read about the background to the project in the 2011 posts from the Project Manager, Jeff Sanders here and here.

Continue Reading →

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A day with the UCL Institute of Archaeology Library: 29th July 2011

By Katie Meheux on August 5, 2011 in Anglo-Saxon, Archaeological Prospection, Conservation, Day of Archaeology, DayofArch2011, Digital Archaeology, Early Medieval, Education, Egypt, Environmental Archaeology, Iron Age, Medieval, Museum Archaeology, Osteology, Palestine, Periods, Post Medieval, Prehistory, Roman, Romano-British, Science, Survey, Viking

Books, books, books. Journals, conference proceedings, technical reports, e-resources. And lots more.

Institute of Archaeology Library

You might wonder why a library wants to contribute to the Day of Archaeology and what our relevancy might be. But libraries, especially specialist libraries like the UCL Institute of Archaeology, are vital for archaeological research and have been part of archaeology since the beginning – the Society of Antiquaries Library was founded in 1751! Researchers – students, academic staff, commercial researchers and even interested members of the general public – come to libraries to find the factual information and the theoretical frameworks that drive and structure their work. It’s also here that the final published results of excavations and fieldwork – site reports – end up!

So if you want to find out a little bit more about what we do and what our customers use our facilities to research, read on!

Our day…

My day starts at 8.30 a.m. I have an hour before the library opens and I usually take this time to open up, sort out the ‘reshelving’ (books used in the library or returned during the previous day) and have a look round for any problems, potential areas of work or to get ideas about how to improve our working space and collections. Ian, one of our shelvers, has been working on periodicals (journals) ‘weeding’ and created some extra space for both the periodicals and the

Egyptology shelves

Edwards Egyptology Library. I work through the Egyptology collection, assessing where we need to shift the books to leave space for growth – I estimate we have space for 3-5 years’ growth overall that can be distributed amongst the shelves. Most humanities and social sciences research libraries have space problems and we’re no exception. Because so many of our books and journals are used for research as well as teaching, we can’t send older material to Stores, as it needs to be on the shelves for researchers to consult. We’re trying to make space where possible by sending journals that are also available electronically to Stores – ‘weeding them’. Electronic access means that we can still provide access to key resources, but we don’t have to have them physically on the shelves.

Yu-ju Lin and Paul Majewski, two of our library assistants, arrive and the library opens at 9.30 a.m. Paul starts work on the virtual exhibitions page we’re building to accompany a Friends of the Petrie Museum exhibition that will be opening in the library in September.

Yu-Ju and the missing book

Yu-ju goes out to look for missing books. In a library with over 70,000 books and 800 periodical sets (I’ve no idea how many actual individual volumes of these we have!) books can easily become mislaid. So shelf tidying and looking for books reported missing to us each week is a vital part of our work. It’s a good day – she finds an important missing book needed by the Ancient History department straight away.

I look through my emails and answer any enquiries. These can be from our current students and staff about their library records and our collections, but also from other researchers asking about our archive material (which is held by UCL Special Collections), staff and students from other universities asking about using our collections or from members of the public who just want answers to archaeological questions. There aren’t too many today, so I start working through our Accessions List (the list of new books that have arrived in the library that month) highlighting some for our Ancient World/Archaeology blog. Once I’ve done this, I continue some on-going work with free online journals. I have a long list of free electronic resources from AWOL (Ancient World Online) that I’m working through looking for digital duplicates of our paper resources. Where possible, we try to always provide digital access to resources – students and staff can get to the 24/7 and pressure on our paper copies – both in terms of use and preservation (general state of repair) – is lessened.

Ricky Estwick

Ricky Estwick comes with our delivery of mail from elsewhere in UCL Library Services. Although we’re a library in our own right, we’re also part of UCL Library Services and our work flows and patterns fit in to the larger structure of the organisation. We don’t for example, do our own cataloguing. This is done in a central cataloguing unit to ensure standardisation across UCL’s library collections and so our material is in line with global information standards. Ricky brings books and periodicals that have arrived for us from different libraries, as well as materials from cataloguing, acquisitions and Stores.

Scott Stetkiewicz comes to the Issue Desk to ask about obtaining materials from Scottish excavations for his MSc dissertation on slag analysis. We have a look through the resources available in the library and online through English Heritage, the Archaeological Data Service and Heritage Gateway.

Stuart Brookes comes in to borrow books for his project ‘landscapes of governance: assembly sites in England, 5^th – 11^th centuries’. Continue Reading →

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8. Community Education: Preparing to teach a workshop

By LIPCAP on July 30, 2011 in Anglo-Saxon, Community Archaeology, Day of Archaeology, DayofArch2011, Digital Archaeology, Early Medieval, Education, Finds, Romano-British

This post is going to outline work I’m doing in preparation to teach a community archaeology course (which focuses upon the transition from the Roman to Early Medieval period in Derbyshire). I’ll be discussing some of the research I’m undertaking for this, and the process of planning and developing a course. I’ll also discuss the importance of AdEd beyond personal interest and development at the end of this post.

Continue Reading →

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6. Roman and early Medieval Crickley: Matrices and contexts

By LIPCAP on July 29, 2011 in DayofArch2011, Early Medieval, Finds, Iron Age, Roman

This post will outline one of the most important tasks in post-excavation analysis – working out and showing how features relate to one another. I’ll discuss how records of data retrieved from the Crickley excavations might be used to establish stratigraphic relationships, and illustrate one common way of showing relationships – a type of diagram known as the Harris Matrix. I’m currently undertaking this task in I’m preparation to digitise plans of a building in a GIS programme (see 7. ‘ Digitising Crickley Plans and Using GIS‘). I’ll begin with an example of how a matrix might be used, in conjunction with context records.

Continue Reading →

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Interpreting Ancient Metalworking

By Tim Young on July 29, 2011 in Commercial Archaeology, Day of Archaeology, DayofArch2011, Early Medieval, Finds, Medieval, Science

The Day of Archaeology is a pretty busy one in the office – not just the usual need to get specimens analysed and reports out of the door, but also with the added urgency of being almost the last day in the office before holidays.

As an archaeometallurgical specialist, I examine assemblages of metalworking residues (mainly slag…) on behalf of field archaeologists, both in academia and in the commercial world. My particular interest is in iron – so although I undertake projects dealing with all sorts of materials, it is with iron that there is the greatest synergy between my commercial work and my research interests. You might have thought we already know all there is to to know about iron making and iron working – but nothing could be further from the truth. This is a dynamic and rapidly advancing branch of archaeometallurgy and experimental work on various techniques is a key aspect of what I do – at least when the opportunity arises.

The reports I’m completing today include two for assemblages from a pair of adjacent Early Medieval sites in central Ireland. Intepreting such material entails bringing together various strands of data:

- there is the overall make-up of the assemblage, the types of slag, their proportions and distribution within the site. Much of that information is produced during the assessment stage of the project.

- there are detailed observations to be made about the form of individual pieces of slag. Often they can be identified to a general process or technology at this stage.

- there are bulk chemical analytical data. I use information generated by XRF (X-Ray Fluoresence Spectrometry) for the major elements and by ICP-MS (Inductively-coupled plasma - mass spectrometry) for the trace elements – thats over 50 elements altogether.

- and there are also the microstructural and microanalytical data that can be obtained by examining polished blocks of material under the SEM (scanning electron microscope). This gives information on the individual minerals within the slag: what they are, how they formed and sometimes what reactions were taking place in the slag before it solidified.

That, then, are the various sorts of data, but the challenge (and the fun) is in the synthesis of that information into an intepretation. That interpretation needs to be both scientifically rigorous and archaeologically useful. It needs to reflect the place of the metalworking activity in the lives, culture and economy of real people. Its not just a case of what was happening, chemically, within a hearth or furnace – but what that means in a human context.

So where is the synthesis of today’s data going? Well, one of the key observations on the material I’m writing up today is that the morphology of the slag tells me it comes from iron working (rather than primary smelting), but it contains a high proportion of material (particularly the elements manganese and barium) that must have been derived from the original smelting of the iron ore. This means that these slags were generated during the refining of the raw iron bloom to produce a useable material.

A manganese- and barium-rich slag under the SEM

One of the great debates in early ironworking studies at the moment is whether such slags were generated during a bloomsmithing operation (thats to say the smith alternately heated the raw iron and forged it with a hammer to drive out the slag impurities) or by a remelting process (in which the smith completely melted the raw iron to allow the escape of the trapped slag). In the past it has been assumed that all bloom refining was by bloom smithing – now it seems remelting may have been much more important than we thought.

It is to debates such as this that experimental work can make a great contribution.

An experimental approach to studying bloom refining - a bloom remelting experiment run with friends in Virginia

Today’s report writing was, at one level, supplying data and interpretation to a developer-funded project – and relates to the interpretation of life in 7th century Ireland. At another level it was another piece of the jigsaw in trying to understand a key early technology used in many parts of Europe. It will be a while before that all comes together as a comprehensive understanding of the technique – but when it does, that information can then be fed back again into the understanding of people’s lives 1400 years ago.

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