Past HorizonsOnline Journal of Volunteer Archaeology and Training

Aerial Images of Jordan Trouble in Jerusalem Mysterious Pits Food for Thought

Capturing the MomentThe Archaeology of the battle of culloden

Issue 2 : May 2008

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12 Capturing the MomentDr. Tony Pollard explains how he has been using archaeology to re-assess the Battle of Culloden.

818 Ancient ImagesAerial photography discovering new archaeological sites in Jordan, through the lense of David Kennedy & Bob Bewley.

Volume 1 : No. 2May 2008

Editors: Felicity Donohoe & Maggie StruckmeierLayout: David Connolly

Past HorizonsTraprain HouseLuggate BurnHaddingtonEast LothianEH41 4QA

Tel: +44 (0)1620 861643 Email: editor@pasthorizons.comFind us on the web: www.pasthorizons.com

Contributors: Dr Tony PollardNeve GordonYigal BronnerPaul L. DawsonJane CoryellJacqui WoodDavid KennedyBob Bewley

Additional Material: Jon WelshNatasha DudinskiKeith CarverCraig CollinsonDanny Carr Productions

Front Cover: Survey at Culloden Battlefi eld, Scotland(credit: Tony Pollard)

NotePast Horizons can give no endorsement of any listed project or guarantee the accuracy of the information supplied. The editors accept no responsibility for any loss, injury, or inconvenience sustained by anyone using the resources contained within this magazine and/or the websites mentioned herein. When considering a project, be sure to contact the director with any questions you might have about conditions, travel, health issues, etc. Check for references from previous participants, seek advice where possible and select a project that will be of the greatest benefi t to you, the project and the team.

8

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5 Editorial

6 NewsRecent news stories from around the world.

11 ViewpointDavid Connolly considers the discipline of archaeology, and how it can be used and abused.

31 Dig in...A selection of volunteer projects around the world from the Past Horizons website.

28 Dig CookAnnie Evans on culinary escapades, with a delicious recipe each issue.

30 Profi leWe interview Dr Tony Pollard, Director of the Centre for Battlefi eld Archaeology at Glasgow University.

30 ScribeYour news, views, comments & criticisms.

33 Fun PageHave a break

Regulars

24 Food for ThoughtRe-enactment group, the Association d’Artillerie de la Garde Imperial, makes use of experimental archaeology.

26 Digging the PastOne reader shares her experiences on a volunteer excavation in Maine.

8 Digging for TroubleA disturbing report into the excavations taking place at the ‘City of David’ in Jerusalem by the ELAD group.

16 Mysterious Animal PitsA Mesolithic site in Cornwall reveals unexpected evidence of 17th Century ritual.

Contents

past horizons 4 www.andantetravels.co.uktours@andantetravels.co.uk

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Eastern Sicilyin spring

Pompeii in summer

Western Cretein autumn

11-18 May 2008 £1100 (Sgl Supp £95)

with Dr Michael Metcalfe

21-28 July 2008 £995 (Sgl Supp £145)

with Dr Andy Fear

7-14 Oct 2008 £1100 (Sgl Supp £120)

with Dr Georgina Muskett

Bare Bones Tours We offer carefully planned itineraries with your own specialistarchaeologist, so that you can explore the ancient world - not just thehighlights, but also lesser-known sites, and really understand them.

The Bare Bones formula allows you individual freedom within a groupstructure, so there is plenty of free time and the opportunity to goexploring alone, but enjoy like-minded company should you wish it.

A personal introduction by Dr Michael Metcalfewho lives in Syracusa and is Lecturer in AncientHistory there. All the highlights of the East of this large island,and cross the straits of Messina to see theamazing Riace bronzes.

The eruption of Vesuvius in AD79 devastatedlives and livelihoods throughout the Bay ofNaples. It also uniquely preserved the evidenceof those lives. Our hotel for this summer tour is close to thecoast, has wonderful views over the Bay, and apool!

This unusual trip includes all the highlights ofthe centre and west of the island of theMinoans, and a walk down the fabulous Samariagorge. Aptera displays the entire story of thearchaeology of the island in its continuousoccupation. An archaeological treat in beautifulsurroundings.

In the wide landscapes of northern Tunisia lie the ruins of Roman towns, more or lessunaltered since the 5th century AD. This is a trip of superlatives, exploring world-classsites in romantic landscapes and seeing mosaic art at its most sophisticated andcolourful. The story of the fall of Carthage, read from the vantage point of the Romanforum, will remain with you long after you return!

Ring for further details, or visit our website...01722 713800 tours@andantetravels.co.uk www.andantetravels.co.uk

Archaeology in Tunisia

26 Oct - 2 Nov 2008 £950 (Sgl Supp £45) with Dr Denise Allen

AITO - ATOL 3552

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Editorial

Community service

The past two months has been busy for us. We have been taking part in a community archaeological dig in the

Scottish village of Cousland. We had a large turnout from the local community and the weather threw everything it had at us – some would say typical Scottish weather; sun, wind, rain and fi nally snow. Alongside the excavations, historian Louise Yeoman delved into the historical records

and, armed with some exciting facts, treated us to what I can only describe as a brilliant performance in the village hall, regaling us with stories of the people and events that shaped Cousland as it appears today. We will be going back to do more some time this year, so watch out for an article in a future issue.

After the fi rst magazine came out we had plenty of very positive feedback. I asked if anyone had anything of interest that they wanted us to include, and one of the most interesting responses came from Jacqui Wood of Saveock Water Archaeology based in Cornwall (see article pg. 16). She is the director of a volunteer project, which has been running for a number of years, and has come across some very strange pits on the Saveock site. As far as the team at Saveock know, there has been no other excavation of this type of site, so if you think you can shed any light on the mystery please get in touch with us.

At the beginning of June we will be running an archaeological project on behalf of the National Trust for Scotland after a very successful fi rst year involving Bank of Scotland employees in a corporate challenge. The challenge involved moving large chunks of stone from the stream using only a spade, a rope and two planks of wood, and surprisingly, they all chose to come back again this year as they found it fun and extremely satisfying. In the exercise we managed to retrieve about 250 architectural fragments from a 18th century tea house which collapsed in the stream in 1960 when a tree fell on top of it.

Someone also up for a challenge is Annie Evans our resident Dig Cook (pg. 28) who is off to Greece soon to cater for the Mount Lykaion Project. There will be many hungry mouths to feed on this large survey and excavtion at the Sanctuary of Zeus in Arcadia and we are looking forward to a few good stories when she gets back in August.

Finally, Past Horizons has decided to create a heritage video website, where you can upload, share and watch short fi lms just like You Tube. It is online now and you can fi nd it, along with other multimedia sections at:www.pasthorizons.tv

Maggie StruckmeierMaggie Struckmeier

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Eastern Sicilyin spring

Pompeii in summer

Western Cretein autumn

11-18 May 2008 £1100 (Sgl Supp £95)

with Dr Michael Metcalfe

21-28 July 2008 £995 (Sgl Supp £145)

with Dr Andy Fear

7-14 Oct 2008 £1100 (Sgl Supp £120)

with Dr Georgina Muskett

Bare Bones Tours We offer carefully planned itineraries with your own specialistarchaeologist, so that you can explore the ancient world - not just thehighlights, but also lesser-known sites, and really understand them.

The Bare Bones formula allows you individual freedom within a groupstructure, so there is plenty of free time and the opportunity to goexploring alone, but enjoy like-minded company should you wish it.

A personal introduction by Dr Michael Metcalfewho lives in Syracusa and is Lecturer in AncientHistory there. All the highlights of the East of this large island,and cross the straits of Messina to see theamazing Riace bronzes.

The eruption of Vesuvius in AD79 devastatedlives and livelihoods throughout the Bay ofNaples. It also uniquely preserved the evidenceof those lives. Our hotel for this summer tour is close to thecoast, has wonderful views over the Bay, and apool!

This unusual trip includes all the highlights ofthe centre and west of the island of theMinoans, and a walk down the fabulous Samariagorge. Aptera displays the entire story of thearchaeology of the island in its continuousoccupation. An archaeological treat in beautifulsurroundings.

In the wide landscapes of northern Tunisia lie the ruins of Roman towns, more or lessunaltered since the 5th century AD. This is a trip of superlatives, exploring world-classsites in romantic landscapes and seeing mosaic art at its most sophisticated andcolourful. The story of the fall of Carthage, read from the vantage point of the Romanforum, will remain with you long after you return!

Ring for further details, or visit our website...01722 713800 tours@andantetravels.co.uk www.andantetravels.co.uk

Archaeology in Tunisia

26 Oct - 2 Nov 2008 £950 (Sgl Supp £45) with Dr Denise Allen

AITO - ATOL 3552

editor@pasthorizons.com

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A piece of hominid jawbone unearthed in a cave in Spain is the oldest known fossil of a human ancestor in Europe and suggests that people lived on the continent much earlier than previously believed. The fossil found last year at Atapuerca in northern Spain, along with stone tools and animal bones, is up to 1.2 million years old. A member of the research team, Jose Maria Bermudez de Castro, said that the jawbone – which contains teeth – was discovered in cave sediments alongside 32 stone tools.

Professor Chris Stringer, the head of human origins at the Natural History Museum in London, said “While early H. erectus fossils are known from Dmanisi in Georgia, dated to about 1.7 million years ago, the oldest European fossils, from the Gran Dolina site at Atapuerca in Spain, and from Ceprano in Italy, are only about half of that age”

He added that the specimen is classified and when combined with the emerging archaeological evidence, the suggestion arises that southern Europe began to be colonised not long after humans had emerged from Africa – which would have been doubted even five years ago. He is however cautious about inferring that this new find indicates that Homo antecessor originated in western Europe out of a founding population like the sample known from Dmanisi.

NE

WS Oldest European Human Found in Spain

Dedicated Heritage Video site launchedWe are proud to announce the creation of a dedicated Heritage Media website. The first of its kind, this video sharing site is similar in many ways to You Tube, and like that site, you can view videos or sign up and upload, comment and rate them. There are several categories ranging from Excavations and Training to Humour and Places to Visit. We have already over a hundred videos online, and look forward to seeing this grow over the coming months and years, as this becomes the place to visit for sharing our passion for archaeology.

In addition, the site also contains links to this magazine, the weekly Podcast news from Stonepages & BAJR, a music radio station to match your mood and also the valuable Past Horizons Project search, giving access to hundreds of archaeology projects across the world.

News report from Reuters

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Japanese Royal Tomb opened to scholars for fi rst time“A rare visit by archaeologists to a fi fth-century imperial tomb offers hope that other closely guarded graves in Japan might soon be open to independent study.”Read Full Story: http://tinyurl.com/6bgg2t (National Geographic)

From Indus Valley to coastal Tamil Nadu“Megalithic pottery with graffi ti symbols that have a strong resemblance to a sign in the Indus script have been found in Tamil Nadu.”Read Full Story: http://tinyurl.com/5ty6zd (The Hindu)

Gloucester’s Roman mass grave skeletons were plague victims“A mass Roman grave, discovered in Gloucester in 2005, may have contained the victims of an acute disease of epidemic proportions, possibly plague.”Read Full Story: http://tinyurl.com/67ntkj (24 Hour Museum )

Ancient Maya tomb yields “amazing” fabrics“Fabric fragments excavated from the tomb of an ancient Maya queen rival modern textiles in their complexity and quality, scientists say.”Read Full Story: http://tinyurl.com/68avju (National Geographic)

Mysterious buildings discovered by Polish archaeologists in Sudan“Archaeologists from Warsaw University, headed by Dr Bogdan Żurawski discovered the remains of an Early Christian church and an even older palace.”Read Full Story: http://tinyurl.com/67cggf (Polish Press Agency)

Did the Flores Hobbit have root canal treatment?“A paleoanthropologist at the University of Adelaide in Australia contends, on the basis of photographs, that ‘LB1’ had a fi lling - possibly a root canal. ”Read Full Story: http://tinyurl.com/6kw3pz (Scientifi c American)

Much still to be learned about Cahokia Mounds“In 1980, a plan to acquire land, build an interpretive centre and learn what they could about the Cahokian people was created. Now, they are working on a plan for the next 30 years”Read Full Story: http://tinyurl.com/6x8899 (National Examiner.com)

For more news stories that are updated constantly, try:Past Horizons News Blog: http://pasthorizons.wordpress.com/category/news-and-articles Stonepages Weekly News and Podcast: http://www.stonepages.com/news CBA Archaeology News Feed: http://www.britarch.ac.uk/newsfeed

Small FindsSmall Finds You can follow a direct link to a website where you see this symbol:

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By YIGAL BRONNER and NEVE GORDON

photographs by natasha dudinski

By YIGAL BRONNER and NEVE GORDON

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Yonathan Mizrachi, an Israeli archaeologist, said in a recent telephone interview with us, “Archaeology has become a weapon of dispossession.” He was

referring to the way archaeology is being used in Silwan, a Palestinian neighbourhood in the oldest part of Jerusalem. We believe archaeological digs are being carried out here as part of a concerted campaign to expel Palestinians from their ancestral home, orchestrated by an Israeli settler organization called Elad, a name formed from Hebrew letters that stand for “To the City of David.”

For several years, Elad has used a variety of means to evict East Jerusalem Palestinians from their homes and replace them with Jewish settlers. Today Silwan is dotted with about a dozen such outposts. Moreover, practically all the green areas in the densely populated neighbourhood have been transformed into new archaeological sites, which have then been fenced and posted with armed guards. On two of these new archaeological sites, Jewish homes have already been built.

Although the balance of power is clearly in the settlers’ favor, Silwan’s residents have begun a campaign, “Citizens for Silwan”, to stop the excavations. They are joined by a number of noted international scholars and a handful of Israeli academics, who are trying to help them remain in their homes. Notably absent from the list are prominent Israeli

archaeologists, many of whom depend on funds from the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Silwan is a stone’s throw away from the Temple Mount and the Al Aqsa Mosque — among the holiest and most sensitive sites in the Middle East. While archaeology’s mission is to study the history of peoples by excavating and analyzing their material culture, inscriptions, and other remains, it has often been deployed in the service of nationalism. In Israel, for example, it has typically been used to underscore the

Jewish and biblical past of the land to differentiate Zionism from more-traditional colonial ventures. Zionism, after all, has always portrayed itself as a return to the original Jewish homeland and not as a conquest of foreign lands.

According to the Old Testament, King David established Jerusalem as his capital, but the Jews were later conquered and expelled. Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the Six-Day War four decades ago, and ever since, Israeli archaeologists have been trying (unsuccessfully) to produce proof of David’s presence in that area. Occasionally they have even refrained from documenting the long Muslim presence, which is the cultural heritage of the Palestinian inhabitants. And, at any rate, the fact that not a single Muslim structure has been preserved in the entire national park that has been set up in Silwan is a clear indication of this erasure strategy.

By concentrating almost entirely on unearthing the remains of the Judean kingdom, while ignoring the subsequent 3000 years, archaeologists have violated several ethical rules as stipulated by the World Archaeological Congress. These include the acknowledgment of the “indigenous cultural heritage, including sites, places, objects, artefacts, human remains” as well as establishing “equitable partnerships and relationships” between archaeologists and indigenous peoples whose cultural heritage is being investigated.

In 1998, Elad received a major boost when the Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority and the Jerusalem Municipality hired the settler organization as a subcontractor to run “The City of David”, the national park located in Silwan. Subsequently Elad, which received government money and a permit to carry out archaeological excavations

the politics of archaeology

Sign to ‘The City of

archaeologists have violated several ethical rules as stipulated by the World Archaeological Congress.

continued

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Yigal Bronner teaches in the department of South Asian languages and civilizations at the University of Chicago. Neve Gordon is a senior lecturer in politics at Ben Gurion University of the Negev. His book, ‘Israel’s Occupation’,will be published by the University of California Press in November.

For further information on the content of this article you can visit the website at:www.alt-arch.org

or go straight to the petitionwww.alt-arch.org/petition

A video on this report can be found hereYou Tube Digging For Trouble (Journeyman Productions)

For another example of archaeology compromised by the complicated politics within Jerusalem where construction work on the Temple Mount is seen by all sides as an attempt to undermine the other. http://www.har-habayt.org/cnn29-6.html

in the area, outsourced that work to a state agency, the Israel Antiquities Authority. Empowered by different arms of the Israeli government, Elad accelerated its efforts to Judaize East Jerusalem. The group successfully lobbied the municipality to issue demolition orders for 88 Palestinian homes so that it could build an archaeological park in the neighborhood — a plan that has temporarily been suspended because of international pressure.

More recently the Israel Antiquities Authority began digging under the homes of some of Silwan’s residents without informing them. Fearing that their buildings’ foundations were being undermined, the residents petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court. On the very same night they fi led their appeal, their homes were raided by Israeli police, and fi ve people were arrested. While the High Court of Justice later issued a restraining order against the Antiquities Authority, bringing a temporary halt to the most recent archaeological dig, the court may decide in favour of Elad when it hears the case. After all, in the past the court has hesitated to act against Elad, refusing, for example, to evict the settler organization from the national park even after it was proved that basic legal protocols were not followed when the state initially authorized it to run the park.Those scholars who have come to the aid of Silwan realise that the Palestinians there have become a symbol for the struggle over Jerusalem: a struggle that could easily explode into not just another round of Israeli-Palestinian violence, but, because of the neighbourhood’s proximity to the Temple Mount and the Al Aqsa Mosque, also into a confl agration that could ignite the whole Middle East.

David Shulman, who organized the campaign, sent a protest to Benjamin Kedar, professor of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and chairman of the board of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Shuka Dorfman, director general of the Israel Antiquities Authority, as well as to Israel’s foreign minister, Tzipi Livni. He and the campaign are asking Israeli authorities to stop Elad’s activities and strip the extreme settler organization of its authority to run any archaeological excavations in the future. It is now up to other scholars from all over the world to join their call.

Settlers’ houses in Silwan House sitting above new archaeological excavations

Excavations taking place in Silwan by Elad

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While putting together the current issue of Past Horizons magazine, I became aware that we were going to highlight one of the basic concepts of archaeology. The idea is simple, but one

that is often prone to human fallibility.

Approaching a site with a pre-conceived notion of what you will fi nd, or what you are looking for, will inevitably end up with you forcing your fi ndings to fi t the theory. In some cases, people hold a copy of the bible in one hand and a trowel in the other, trying to prove a line in the Old Testament - and sure enough, each stone, each hill, each potsherd becomes proof in itself, self-referencing and

creating a whole story which, if the evidence is looked at impartially, collapses in on itself.

Taking two of the articles in this magazine as examples, you can see the clear difference in approach. Tony Pollard and his team investigate the battlefi eld of Culloden (a known historical event) as a survey, where data is collected and information gathered - then the interpretation is constructed. The conclusion, therefore, is based on what is found, rather than what ‘should’ be found. In Silwan, the archaeology group is starting in a similar way - the City of David is indeed a historical fact. However, in contrast, rather than gathering pure data of the entire chronological sequence of the development of that location, both pre and post City of David, and then examining it to see what it means, they seem to be looking for evidence of purely a single phase of the stratigraphy, fi tting every potsherd and wall into their own narrow agenda.

I am also guilty of this archaeo-crime. While leading a community project at Cousland in Scotland we excavated in the shadow of a small castle with three walls still standing. It seemed reasonable to assume that the fourth wall would lie in the area of our trench. However, so convinced was I by this wall, which of course had to be there, that every stone, every layer was assigned to the wall, the interior, the exterior, and assumptions made based only on my expectations of what should be there. Fortunately for everyone, I soon realised that what we should be doing was let the layers do the talking, and to stop chasing walls. It turned out that the entire east end of the castle had been demolished and a two-plus metre quarry pit excavated into the bedrock, ensuring that there would never be a wall to fi nd and there would never be an inside or outside, only a large clay fi lled quarry. (An article on this project will be coming in a later issue).

The point of that confession was to highlight the danger of searching too hard for something you are determined to fi nd, because that is exactly what you will do: you will always fi nd it, you will always squeeze evidence into the box marked ‘fact’ when all you should be doing as an archaeologist is gathering data without prejudice of over-interpretation.

To badly misquote the TV gameshow Catchphrase, “Say what you see, not see what you say” is what we all must strive to do as archaeologists.

David Connolly, BAJRFor more examples of what we can now call Bad Archaeology - www.badarchaeology.net/

Is seeking the Ark or Eldorado right? What do you think?

If you want to comment, email us at editor@pasthorizons.com

When archaeology tries to prove a point.

These examples show how archaeology may be used to prove theories: Mount Ararat in Turkey www.noahsarksearch.com The Exodus in Arabia bibleprobe.com/exodus.htm Pyramid in Bosnia www.bosnianpyramid.com

VIEWPOINTVIEWPOINT

An isolated case…?

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THE BATTLE of Culloden marked the fi nal defeat of the Jacobite cause in Scotland after more than half a century of sporadic confl ict. Fought in 1746,

it is famous for being the last pitched battle fought on British soil, and the site has long been a popular visitor attraction.

The initial archaeological investigation of the battlefi eld was carried out under the auspices of the Two Men in a Trench television series back in 2000. The initial results were quite striking, and a number of preconceptions about the battle were challenged. It was quite incredible how much material had been left behind by an event that lasted around an hour and took place well over 250 years ago. It is this challenge of capturing the moment which, to me, has been one of the great attractions of battlefi eld archaeology.

To its credit, the National Trust for Scotland, which owns much of the site and for half a century or more had been presenting it to the public, took it on the chin and made the bold decision to reinterpret the site, taking into account the archaeological fi ndings. This prompted further archaeological work which included metal detector survey, topographic and landscape survey,

geophysics and excavation. What became the Culloden Memorial Project was to climax with the opening of a new visitor centre in April 2008 – and an entirely revised interpretation of the site itself.

That early work achieved several things: a feature which for a long time had been thought to represent the remains of a barn infamous for being put to the torch with Jacobite prisoners locked inside it. Limited excavation revealed a walled kitchen garden dating back no further than the 19th century. The next revelation was that the battle, or at least parts of it, did not take place where various interpretation panels had them marked.

The area of the most intensive fi ghting, at the point where the Jacobite infantry charge hit the left of the government line, was a good distance further to the south than previously thought. The location was identifi ed through the presence of debris scatter consisting of musket balls, cannon shot, buttons, buckles, and pieces of broken musket.

One of the most dramatic of these fi nds was part of a brass trigger guard from a Brown Bess musket. The metal had been bent out of shape and exhibited a crescentic

Metal detecting survey close to the Jacobite line at Culloden

The Archaeology of the battle of culloden

by dr. tony pollard

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scar where a lead ball had connected at high velocity, breaking it off the weapon and very possibly going on to injure or kill the man who was carrying the musket. Similar pieces display fractures suggesting that they were cut from the stock of the weapon by the down stroke of a Jacobite broadsword.

Another revelation was that it was possible to distinguish the bullets, which are really nothing more than lead balls, fi red by one side from those of the other. The Jacobites were using French muskets of slightly smaller calibre than the Brown Bess carried by government troops. Things are a little more complicated than that, however, as government weapons were captured by the Jacobites after victories at Prestonpans and Falkirk.

Later metal detector fi nds included a pewter cross dropped by a Jacobite and a well-worn silver shilling of William III, presumably a ‘king’s shilling’ kept by a government soldier as a lucky charm, though its presence on the fi eld may indicate an end to that luck.

We are fortunate at Culloden to have a series of

contemporary battle maps which show key landscape features such as the buildings of the Leanach farmstead (where the supposed barn was), an old track running across the fi eld and a series of enclosures which played a part in the battle. The Jacobite line was strung out between two of these enclosures and the government troops knocked holes in one of these in order to outfl ank the Jacobites. Landscape survey and excavation has successfully relocated these features, and in doing so once again demonstrated that the previous on-site interpretation was fl awed.

Topographic survey has emphasised that the fi eld was not fl at as suggested by the maps, but contains various undulations and variations which may have heavily infl uenced the nature of the Jacobite charge, effectively covering their advance onto the government left. It also looks highly likely as the track across the moor was used to deliver at least part of the attack – something that has been missed by historians writing about the battle.

A small cottage still stands on the fi eld where the Leanach farmstead was located at the time of the battle

Trigger guard hit by musket ball ‘ King’s Shilling’ (William III) Jacobite pewter cross

continued

past horizons 14

(three buildings are shown on most of the maps sitting on the left fl ank of the government line). More recent work has added weight to the suspicion that this stone-built dwelling was a 19th century rebuild as a number of accounts mention a turf-built structure. This was further suggested by the excavation of a nearby geophysical anomaly that proved to be a construction slot, which would not be expected if it had been a dry-stone building. It is hoped that future excavation will clarify the nature of this structure and uncover the remains of the other buildings from that original farmstead.

The archaeological investigation at Culloden has made an important contribution to the growing fi eld of battle and confl ict archaeology, and it will continue to function

as a laboratory on which techniques can be honed and interpretations tested. It is hoped that the inferences drawn from archaeological data, which can be tested against various historic accounts, may allow us to make more assured interpretations of battle sites for which the historical record is not so rich (this is not to suggest that all the written accounts of Culloden are accurate).

All talk of a laboratory aside, it should not be forgotten that many men lost their lives on this hallowed ground, which today remains a place of pilgrimage for many. The events of April 16, 1746, need to be remembered; archaeology is one way that we can ensure that those memories are as reliable as possible.

The video is a trailer for the new fi lm that forms part of the exciting new Culloden Battlefi eld visitor centre.

www.nts.org.uk/Culloden

The fi lm was produced byNobles Gate for the NTS. Directed by Craig Collinson.www.noblesgate.co.uk

Around 1pm the Jacobites opened fi re on government troops who responded with cannon. One hour later Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army had been cut down by the bayonets used to challenge the feared Highland charge and broadsword. It resulted in one of the bloodiest and most memorable battles in Scottish history.

Culloden Visitor Centre movie still by Danny Carr Productions

past horizons15

Centre forBattlefi eld Archaeology

The Centre for Battlefi eld Archaeology was established within GUARD and the Department of Archaeology at Glasgow University in early 2006, and is the only university-based institution of its type in Europe. Over the last two years the centre has established itself as an international centre of excellence for the archaeological study of battlefi elds and other confl ict-related sites.

The centre carries out archaeological fi eldwork on a commercial basis and as part of on-going research programmes, with the Culloden project being a good example of this approach. An interest in the archaeology of WWI was most recently furthered with the excavation of a dugout built almost 50 feet underground by British troops in early 1918, not far from the town of Ypres in Belgium – the results of which will be shown as a Time Team special in November.

A number of projects have encouraged voluntary participation from those with little or no archaeological experience. Last year saw the community-based investigation of the remains of the 17th and 18th century fort in the town of Fort William, which brought to light evidence for the burning of the earliest town by the garrison in 1746. The project was funded by the Highland Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund. A further HLF grant has been awarded for a forthcoming community-based project centred on the 1745 battlefi eld at Prestonpans.

The centre is also home to the Journal of Confl ict Archaeology and the fi rst postgraduate degree course (MLitt) in Confl ict and Battlefi eld Archaeology. As well as archaeology and history graduates, the course encourages applications from those with non-traditional academic backgrounds, perhaps retired people who last saw a university 30 years ago. The course places a heavy importance on fi eld visits and encourages students to take part in the centre’s projects.

Anyone interested in taking part in a future community-based project (or with ideas for one) or enrolling on the 2008-2009 course should contact the centre’s administrative assistant, Natasha Ferguson, also one of the centre’s PhD students. Ms Ferguson can be reached by email on n.ferguson@archaeology.gla.ac.uk

Website: www.battlefi eldarchaeology.arts.gla.ac.uk

Culloden Visitor Centre movie still by Danny Carr Productions

past horizons 16

In 2003 Jacqui Wood, dig director of Saveock Water Archaeology in Cornwall, south west England, along

with her team of trained volunteers made an extraordinary discovery. Whilst following the fl oor of a Mesolithic clay platform they discovered their fi rst pit. It measured approx 42cm long by 35cm wide and 17cm deep and when excavated was found to contain white feathers.

A bird expert at Newquay Zoo in Cornwall confi rmed that the feathers formed part of a swan pelt which had the skin turned out and the feathers facing inwards lining the pit.

To add to the mystery, laid on top of the swan pelt was a pile of tiny stones wrapped in some sort of organic

matter, alongside claws from assorted species of birds. The stones (more like gravel) were a mixture of black slate, quartz and fl int nodules. Flint is only found in the coastal areas of Cornwall and they have managed to trace these type of stones to an area called Swan Pool, a brackish pond cut off from the beach by a sand bank.

That same season in 2003 a total of eight pits cutting the clay platform were excavated. They were aligned either north south or east west but only two were found to be intact, the other six having had most of their contents removed in antiquity. The team continued to fi nd more empty pits until 2005 when they came across a line of three; two rectangular and one round. The round one was investigated fi rst, revealing an amazing assemblage. It had the same swan lining as the others, but on either side lay the bodies of two magpies and over fi fty fi ve eggs. The shells had dissolved, but the membranes were still intact preserved by the constant spring line fl owing from the peat below the mesolithic clay platform. After closer examination the eggs were found to range from bantom size to duck size. What was more intriguing,

Maggie Struckmeier

animal pits

mysterious

By Maggie Struckmeier

Small stones found in pits Birds claws from pit

past horizons17

seven of the eggs contained fully formed chicks on the verge of hatching. A radio carbon date of one of the pits obtained from Beta Analytic Ltd. in Florida placed it around 1640 AD.

As well as the pits the team have also excavated a votive pool which was found to contain 125 different types of textile strips (2 high status silk and wool mix), six brass pins, one with a gold head, many shoe parts, heather branches, cherry stones, human hair, human fi nger nail pairings and part of an iron cauldron.

By the end of the 2007 season thirty fi ve pits had been excavated but the tops of more were starting to appear. Ms Wood and her team are now two months into the 2008 season and at the end of March had made another exciting discovery. Whilst excavating a north south aligned pit an egg appeared. As the excavation continued a spring started fi lling the pit. The muddy slops were then carefully collected up and taken away for sieving. The pit itself seemed to be lined by what they thought were black feathers but it was too wet to tell, so they covered it up for the weekend and took the retrieved mud and started to sieve it. The mud, to their suprise contained claws, teeth and whiskers from a cat. Ms Wood then went back to clean up the pit and found that what she thought were feathers, turned out to be black cat fur

lining with the skin turned down and no evidence of the body. There was a piece of white quartz placed on top of the fur and when fully excavated the pit was found to contain twenty two eggs in various sizes mostly with fully formed chicks.

Bird eggs found in the ‘cat pit’

Ms Wood intends to have two more pits including the latest ‘cat pit’ radio carbon dated and the Natural History Museum in London have offered to identify the bird fi nds. She has been asked to produce a British Archaeological Report (BAR) which is being compiled at present.

mysterious get involved

Volunteers do not need to have any previous digging experience as they will be taught all basic excavtion techniques in the fi rst week.

Parents can excavate with their children (as long as they are over 14 years) and Cornish residents that complete the fi eld school can then join the team and dig throughout the season for a minimal fee to cover teas and coffees.

For more details go to: www.archaeologyonline.org

Cat claws, teeth and a whisker

past horizons 18past horizons 18

ancient imagesby david kennedy and bob bewley

past horizons19 past horizons19

images aerial archaeology in jordan

Jarash – Greek and Roman Gerasa (offi cially Antioch on the Chrysorhoas) – is an outstanding example of a classical city. Here we are looking at the intersection of two colonnaded streets with the North Tetrapylon and the North Theatre. (APA06/DG36, September 11, 2006 (DLK)

FOR MOST of the 20th century it has been clear that aerial archaeology is a powerful tool for

discovery – possibly the most powerful technique archaeologists have for fi nding new sites.

Today, aerial archaeology is widely used in Europe as a cheap and effective means of recording sites and mapping them. It allows whole landscapes to be seen at a glance and sites to be understood more easily than is usually possible on the ground. And it is a simple means of monitoring sites – to see how development is affecting places threatened by farming or roads and expanding towns.

This valuable archaeological technique was pioneered by two countries, Britain and Syria, in the 1920s. Today, work in Britain is generally regarded as the most developed and of the highest quality anywhere in the world, offering advice and training to other nations. However, aerial photography for archaeology in Syria throughout the 1920s and 30s was a stunning success.

The superb books of French Jesuit priest, Père Antoine Poidebard, La Trace de Rome dans le désert de Syrie (1934) and Le Limes de Chalcis (1954) with Renée Mouterde, are now prized collectors’ items. Unfortunately, despite his wonderful air photographs of archaeological sites and the valuable discoveries he made, the work ended in 1939 and was not really adopted by any other country in the region. Although Iraq, Jordan and Iran enjoyed brief periods of aerial archaeology, after 1945 there was effectively no aerial archaeology anywhere in the Middle East – until now.

continued

past horizons 20past horizons 20

Since 1997 we have pursued a programme of aerial archaeology in Jordan. We have fl own every year, usually in military helicopters, and as a result, hundreds of archaeological sites have been photographed and some areas have been surveyed in detail.

Aerial archaeology plays an important role as the development of the landscape changes due to population increases. Numbers are rising rapidly throughout the Middle East and in the case of Jordan, the increase has been fuelled additionally by enormous infl uxes of refugees.

In 1943 the population was estimated at 330,00; today it is six million plus 750,000 Iraqi refugees. That is in increase of 2000% - equivalent over the same period of the UK population rising to one billion rather than an actual 60 million.

Today, Jordan is the only country in Asia – and outside Europe – with a programme of aerial archaeology, and the only country outside Europe to have hosted a residential workshop in the technique. Doing this work has been an immense source of pleasure – skimming over the wonderful landscapes of Jordan is an evocative and unforgettable experience – but the work is extremely important, and a few photographs here illustrate why.

Images of the famous Nabataean tombs of Petra are familiar but usually only from the ground. Here in this photograph from above, the magnifi cent 1st century BC/ AD tomb known as the Khazneh (‘Treasury’) can be seen in a way never possible for visitors on the ground. The superb location is clear and the immense size of this great monument carved out of the mountainside is provided by the tiny people. (APA05/DG22, October 2, 2005 (DLK).

continued

past horizons21 past horizons21

The deserts of Jordan look empty at ground level but from the air can be seen to have thousands of structures which the Bedouin used to call ‘The Works of the Old Men’. Scattered at various places amongst these are what appear to be small settlements though some are extensive enough to be thought of as “villages”. They often lie on high ground near areas of mud-pan, which frequently fl oods in winter, and where water can be conserved by creating deep pits. The ‘huts’ are usually curvilinear. Forms vary but the most striking are wheel-houses, some of which are as much as 50m in diameter and may date back to the 6th millennium BC. (APA07/DG190, October 3, 2005 (DLK)

past horizons 22past horizons 22

‘Conder’s Circle’ lies in a steep-sided valley just south of Khirbet el-Mukhayat and 6.25 km west-northwest of Madaba. First recorded by Colonel Conder as part of his Survey of Eastern Palestine (1889), it has been excavated in recent years. As the photograph shows, the ‘circle’ is slightly oval (c. 92-102 m in diameter) though the enclosed ‘platform’ is a near circle (50-52 m). The rampart itself is broad (18-29 m) and still stands high (3-78 m). The narrow dividing wall is a Byzantine boundary wall unrelated to the original structure. The excavators date it to the Late Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age and regard it as unique.(APA07/DL45, April 17, 2007 (DLK)

past horizons23 past horizons23

Many more images can be found in Ancient Jordan from the Air by D.L. Kennedy and R. Bewley, (London, 2004) available here:BAJR Bookstore.

David Kennedy is Professor of Roman Archaeology and History at the University of Western Australia. His most recent books are The Twin Towns of Zeugma on the Euphrates (Portsmouth, RI, 1998), The Roman Army in Jordan (London, 2004) and Gerasa and the Decapolis. A ‘Virtual Island’ in Northwest Jordan (London, 2007).

Bob Bewley is executive director of the Heritage Lottery Fund. His recent books include Prehistoric Settlements (Stroud, 2003) and Aerial Archaeology – Developing Future Practice (Amsterdam, 2002) with W. Raczkowski (eds).

Jordan has some of the best preserved Roman forts anywhere. This one is Qasr el-Hallabat. It is small but its walls still stand up to fi ve metres high. The Castellum stands on a rock outcrop with wide views on all sides. Later it became an Umayyad ‘Desert Residence’ with magnifi cent mosaic fl oors, frescoes on the walls, a mosque and bath building, and houses scattered around the slopes near the great reservoir. (APA05/DG50, October 3, 2005)

past horizons 24

In experimental archaeology, crafts and techniques are evaluated to see how they make sense in the

appropriate historical context, and in a more informal setting, it also plays an important part of many living history group activities. Napoleonic re-enactment society The Association de Artillerie de la Garde Impériale, based in Yorkshire in the north of England, decided to test a process of marrow extraction to see how the resulting bone fragments would appear, and compare them to archaeological assemblages.

Historical records have shown that Napoleon’s army, like many armies through history, endured basic rations, usually consisting of meat and dried vegetables. Animals were butchered on the hoof, and on long campaigns the source of meat came mainly from

horse and ox, with meat preserved through smoking or part-boiling. However, army regulations stated that if the soldiers were likely to face a period of food shortage, perhaps if they were besieged or on a forced march, they would also be required to extract marrow from animal bones for additional sustenance.

In order to understand the process of marrow extraction that the soldiers may have employed, the Artillerie de la Garde Impériale undertook an experiment based on an English translation of recipe instructions from a 19th century Napoleonic army manual.

Normally, removal of bone marrow fat could easily be accomplished by splitting the long bones with a

chopper. However, the Napoleonic soldier rarely had any special butchery equipment at his disposal and so his musket butt may have been used for this process.

To test this theory, the group used the butt of a 1777 pattern musket to split the long bone of a cow. The bone was placed on a solid surface with one end pointing towards the body and the butt smashed down at an angle. The result after fi ve or six blows produced a large number of small bone fragments, and a jagged break to both the epiphysis (see recipe inset).

The fragments were then crushed, as advised by the recipe, with further blows from the musket butt, which created the thick paste for the soup. The epiphyses, which contain little

Experimental archaeology in Re-Enactment

by Paul L. Dawson of the Association D’Artillerie de la Garde Impériale

Napoleonic 1777 musket

food for thought

past horizons25

There are re-enactment groups across the world from the Prehistoric to the Modern, here are links to get you started:

Association d’Artillerie de la Garde Impériale in Europe www.artillerieapied.co.uk Histrenact in UK www.histrenact.co.uk Wikipedia article on re-enactment (hundreds of links)en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_reenactment

Get involved…

Bivouac on campaign

cow femur highlighting the two epiphyses that would be recovered in

an excavation

RECIPE

Grind up bones cooked with the “evening” meat, or better still bones not cooked in the pot to produce a paste for the soup.Place the paste in a diaphrame (type of tin casserole pierced with holes).Put the diaphrame into a tin pot containing plenty of water and cook the paste.A layer of fat covers the stock and 60 grams of this fat is used to cook the vegetables.

A kilo of ground bone paste cooked in 4 litres of water produces after six hours of simmering, 3.2 litres of stock and a quarter kilo of “solid” nourishment. The stock produced is equal to that produced from 2 kilos of meat.

Shaft

Epipysis

Bone Shaft missing from

assemblage

food for thought

marrow, were the only remaining evidence of the process and in the past would probably have been discarded. For example, Roman sites at Prestatyn in Wales and Silchester in England have provided evidence of butchered bones consisting of just the sort of bone fragments created by the experiment, which have been interpreted as large-scale marrow extraction.

Grinding the bone up further in a mortar left tiny fragments which found their way into the cooking pot. During the cooking process it was found that these fragments were left at the bottom of the pot due to the melting of the marrow and grease.

Not surprisingly, the trial did not extend to a taste test of the marrow due to health and safety considerations (and probably a lack of volunteers) but by undertaking experiments such as this, it can be possible to make sense of what you find – or even what you don’t find – on an excavation. In this case, the experiment has shown that

although the marrow extraction process could be time-consuming and required some effort to prepare, the resulting nutritious value was extremely rich and an excellent source of sustenance for troops reduced to meagre rations – certainly comparable to a good meal.

In addition to bringing history to the public in an interactive and engaging way, living history groups such as The Association de Artillerie de la Garde Impériale are an important and fun way to investigate the past and, as shown here, can play a valuable role in helping inform archaeological interpretation through the use of experimental archaeology.

RECIPE

Epipysis

Gathered around the cook fi re

past horizons 26

After reading about archaeology for decades, it wasn’t until I visited the restored 18th century

town of Williamsburg in Virginia, that I became fascinated by American historical archaeology. For thirty years, I lived in New Jersey and Massachusetts, so my focus was on the northeast, which was largely settled by the English. It was only when I retired and moved to Maine 18 years ago that I had an opportunity to do some hands on archaeology.

Our small town of Augusta, Maine, was the site of a 1628 Pilgrim fur trading post, now long gone, and a 1754 French and Indian War fort. The main building of Fort Western still stands, and the site is now a museum. In 1995, the Fort offered a fi eld school, an opportunity which I rushed to accept. I’ve dug every year since then in several other sites in a fi eld school or as a volunteer.

The site where I’ve dug for the past several years was the home of Nathaniel Bryant, one of the two fi rst shipwrights on the Damariscotta River in Newcastle, Maine. In 1765, Bryant and fellow shipwright, George Barstow, moved from the crowded North River in Massachusetts to adjacent sites in Newcastle, then a sparsely settled area with plentiful lumber available and on a navigable river some 15 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. The Newcastle area is still home to shipbuilders, including another Nathaniel Bryant, descendant of the original Nathaniel.

Bryant and Barstow each had a business other than shipbuilding. Bryant ran a tavern that proved very popular with travellers, and Barstow had a retail store. Neither homestead survived the American habit of tearing down older structures and building new ones.

Tim Dinsmore and Muriel Wilhelm aged 85

digging the past by Jane coryell

Excavated section of the tavern’s cellar wall

Uncovering Bryant’s tavern on the Damariscotta River, Maine, USA

past horizons27

I work with archaeologist Tim Dinsmore, who has been excavating along the Damariscotta River since he was a boy. His son, now age 13, has been digging since he was 6 years old and has become quite expert. One of the reasons historical archaeology appeals

to me is the blending of history and archaeology. Dinsmore knew the outlines of Bryant’s property from deeds and probate records, but not the precise location of the tavern. In 2001, after several years and 150 test pits, a wall of the tavern’s cellar was found. Subsequent years have been spent excavating parts of the 15 foot by 30 foot cellar and looking for the hearth and outline of the rest of the building.

Some of the artifacts that we have found include many fragments of English ceramics such as Wedgwood creamware and even one whole creamware tea bowl, also pearlware, Jackfi eld ware, and salt-glaze stoneware. As you might expect of a tavern, fragments of wine bottles, case bottles, and wine glasses were found, along with animal and

fi sh bones. We also found gun fl ints and shot, shoe buckles, buttons, scissors, and the very occasional Native American artifact.

Archaeology has been a wonderful retirement hobby involving both mind and body. Our fi eld schools include participants as young as 14 and as old as 85, so you’re never too old or too young.

Get involved

Participate in this fi eld school. No previous experience necessary. Runs from 13th July - 1 August 2008.

Web: www.draclt.org/Archaeology.html Email: JaneCoryell@aol.com

Fort Western Discovery CentreWeb: www.oldfortwestern.org

One of the reasons historical archaeology appeals

Archaeology has been a wonderful retirement hobby involving both mind & body

Archaeology has been a Archaeology has been a

involving both mind & body

Zach, Danny and Tim working on the Bryant tavern excavation Field school participants sieving for artefacts

View over Damariscotta, Maine (credit: Keith Carver from Flickr )

past horizons 28

The following dish may seem a little ambitious and fussy for fi eldwork but

I assure you that it is easily achievable with an ordinary domestic stove and the kind of kitchen that you usually fi nd on site. I’ve been cooking for archaeologists for years and I’m sure I’ll collapse in a swoon if I’m ever presented with a kitchen that’s anywhere near professional standard. But when there’s a job to do you make the most of what you’ve got.

To my mind, archaeologists and anyone working in the fi eld should have food that excites the senses. It adds interest to the day and revives their enthusiasm. If, on the other hand, they know the food waiting for them at lunch or dinner will be dead boring their spirits will fl ag and the mood of the dig, and the calibre of the work achieved, will suffer. Fieldwork is a short, sharp burst of activity in a long academic year. Getting it underway requires a great deal of effort – all of which has to be squeezed in around all the usual academic commitments. The cost and the effort of mounting a fi eld team for a dig or a survey is such that going the extra mile with the right cook and providing him or her with good equipment and facilities is insurance for the success of the project. I’m not talking about professional-standard gear here: just a domestic stove or two and at least one refrigerator dedicated to the kitchen. Find another refrigerator for the beer.

Getting the food right will pay signifi cant dividends. Planning the catering should begin at the same time as the fi eld team is being organised.

The dish that follows, when prepared in a well-equipped kitchen for perhaps four

people, is quite simple. However, to cook it for thirty people in a basic kitchen requires rather different techniques. Careful, well-thought-out preparation and a degree of organization is essential. This is why I’ve included the following step-by-step description of the process.

I have chosen this dish because it is delicious, nutritious and full of fl avour. The main part of the dish is chicken, but pork, lamb or beef can be substituted. For the vegetarians, simply leave off the chicken or other meat at assembly time and give them an extra dash of hard-boiled egg.

The only parts of the dish that need to be served warm to hot are the sauce and the bed of rice.

This dish contains a great variety of vegetables, all prepared separately, and brought together at the end. This ensures that each type

of vegetable is cooked to perfection, or served raw. Cooking the different vegetables separately ensures that fl avours are not diluted or blended.

You may not have access to all of the vegetables I have listed but feel free to experiment with whatever is available.

This is a satisfying, fresh-tasting dish with plenty of texture, colour and appeal. It’s tied together by a hearty dash of very tasty peanut sauce. The sauce can be used with other dishes, including chicken, pork or beef kebabs. These should be marinated in a soy, ginger and garlic blend and then barbecued or grilled on skewers. The peanut sauce is added just before serving. Bon appetit!

The Dig Cook’s website http://www.digcook.com The Dig Cook’s websitehttp://www.digcook.com

Annie Evans,The Dig Cook

Recipes for Archaeologists

past horizons29

crispy vegetables & chicken on rice with peanut sauce

(gado gado)

350ml (12 oz) peanut oil (groundnut oil)6 cloves garlic (crushed) or 3 heaped tablespoons garlic paste1 large brown onion, fi nely diced3 large red chillis or 4 teaspoons chilli paste50ml (2 oz) lemon juice50 ml (2 oz) dark soy sauce1kg (2.2 lb) crunchy peanut butter6 tablespoons raw sugar2 400ml (13.5 oz) cans coconut cream400 ml (13.5 oz) water

Heat oil in a frying pan, add onion, garlic and chilli and cook until soft and transparent. Add lemon juice, dark soy sauce, raw sugar, peanut butter and mix thoroughly. Remove from heat, cool fi ve minutes then stir in the coconut cream and water. Adjust seasoning, adding salt as required. Set aside.

3kg (6.5 lbs) white rice, water

Wash rice and cook according to directions. Rice is to be cooked just before serving the dish.

12 Eggs

Hard boil. When cold, peel, quarter and set aside.

4 whole chickens or 4 kg (9 lbs) chicken breast fi llets3 brown onions, halved3 cloves garlic, halved4 tablespoons chopped herbs (parsley, thyme, oregano, chives)Salt and pepper

If using whole chickens, place in a large pot and cover with water. Add onion, garlic, herbs, salt and pepper and bring to a gentle simmer. Poach but do not boil for one to to 1-1/2 hours until chickens are tender. Remove from pot and reserve the liquid as stock.When chickens are cool enough take off all the meat and chop into bite-size pieces. Set aside. Chicken stock can be strained to remove vegetables, cooled, skimmed to remove fat and frozen for future use. If using chicken fi llet, poach as above in stock for approximately forty minutes until tender. When cool cut into small pieces.

2kg (4.4lbs) potatoes1kg (2.2lbs) bean sprouts2 medium cabbages1kg (2.2lbs) green beans3kg (6.5lbs) carrots4 small green cucumbers (or 2 large)12 hard boiled eggs1 large bunch coriander1 large bunch chives4 green capsicum (bell peppers)4 red capsicum (bell peppers)1kg (2.2lbs) red or white or spring onions or shallots2 bunches watercress or 1 bunch watercress and 1 bunch purslane (or lettuce)

Potatoes: peel and cut into 1 cm cubes. Cook until just tender in salted water. Drain and set aside.Peel and julienne carrots. Cut beans into 2cm lengths. Shave cabbage into very thin slices. Boil a pot of water. Blanch carrots for three minutes so they are still crisp. Remove from water and set aside. Blanch beans for two minutes – then treat as for carrots.Blanch cabbage for two minutes, drain and set aside.Cucumbers: cut into rounds and set aside.Red and green capsicums: cut into long, thin strips and set aside.Onion family: cut into thin slices and set aside.Purslane and/or watercress and coriander: wash and blanch, cut into small fl owerets, chop coriander stemsGarlic or onion chives: chop fi nely

To assemble vegetables

Place into a 20 litre (40 pint) pot potatoes, carrots, beans, cabbage, cucumber, red and green capsicums, watercress, purslane, spring onion and coriander. Mix together gently but thoroughly and set aside.Rewarm peanut sauce very gently.

To serve

Place a bed of rice on each plate, add mixed vegetables, then chicken (for the carnivores) and the peanut sauce. Add boiled eggs and sprinkle with chives. This is seriously good dig food.

Quantities are to serve 30

Method

Peanut Sauce

Rice

Eggs

Method

Method

Chicken (prepare several hours in advance)

Method

Crispy Vegetables

Method

past horizons 30

What was your fi rst archaeological experience?As a fi rst year student on a Mesolithic site at Loch Doon in Ayrshire. It was directed by Tom Affl eck, a real character who alas is no longer with us – he’d been a Spitfi re pilot in the latter part of WWII. The dig ended when the water level in the loch rose and submerged the entire site.

Are you dirty hands or inky fi ngers?Diffi cult to tell which is which at times.

Do you prefer teaching or doing?Enjoy both – I hope that my teaching benefi ts from also doing.

Essential item on the battlefi eld: sword or shield?A metal detector and a white fl ag (well, lots of small pin fl ags for actually marking fi nd locations on the survey).

What has been your ultimate fi nd?I found the Ark of the Covenant in Drumchapel a few years back but it got nicked from the back of the van along with the site cameras.

Have you had any life or death moments?I had a very close encounter with the same black mamba twice in one day while in South Africa.

What is your most treasured possession?My personal life.

What are you listening to just now?Been hooked for ages on The Trials of Van Occupanther by Midlake, but more recently the new Nick Cave album, with the very appropriate title of Dig Lazarus Dig.

What is the last book that you read?On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan.

What is your favourite country and why?Scotland suits all my needs, and the more I travel the more I enjoy coming back to it.

What is your best travel tip?Take a friend and avoid Terminal 5.

What makes you angry?At the moment, the milk lorry that delivers to the school across the road at 4am.

What keeps you awake at night?Of late, the milk lorry that makes deliveries to the school across the road at 4am.

Which person do you most admire?I suppose I should say somebody hugely worthy like Nelson Mandela but there can be no denying that I’ve been a huge fan of Peter Gabriel since I was a teenager.

What is the worst job you have done?As a school boy I had a weekend job at a kennels in a run-down farm outside Oban. There was a lot of shovelling s***t involved and the place was infested with rats (yes, I’ve had a few problems with wildlife).

If you weren’t an archaeologist, what would you be?In my dreams a fi lm maker, but probably one with an urge to be an archaeologist.

What is your current obsession?Painting with medieval pigments – which means I have to grind my own colours from various exotic minerals. They have fantastic names like Blue Vitriol, Realgar and Dragon’s Blood. The paintings are rubbish but the process is fascinating.

Will you always be an archaeologist?To a degree yes, but my fi rst novel comes out in August and I would like to fi nd more time to write fi ction (the painting is research for my next novel).

How do you want to be remembered?Not too painfully.

Dr Tony Pollard is director of the Centre for Battlefi eld Archaeology at Glasgow University. Previously, he worked as a project director and manager with both GUARD and the Field Unit of University College London. He has carried out pioneering fi eldwork on battlefi elds in North and South Africa, South America and Europe, and was a co-presenter of the BBC TV series Two Men in a Trench. Along with Dr Iain Banks he is co-editor of the Journal of Confl ict Archaeology.

profile

past horizons31

This is only a small selection of scores of sites, many more can be found here:Past Horizons: www.pasthorizons.com Archaeological Institute of America: www.archaeological.org/webinfo.php?page=10015

england: Bamburgh Research ProjectAn archaeological project set up in 1996 to investigate the history of Bamburgh through a systematic archaeological investigation of the castle and its environs. 16 June - 24 Aug 2008Website: www.bamburghresearchproject.co.uk

romania: Noviodunum Archaeological ProjectThe project will be working on the Roman to late Byzantine naval base, fortress and town of Noviodunum. 12 July - 23 August 2008Website: www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/project/noviodunum

menorca: The Necropolis of the Roman City of SaniseraAn excavation of a cluster of Roman tombs belonging to a cemetery located on the outskirts of the roman city of Sanisera. 12 May - 31 Oct 2008Website: www.ecomuseodecavalleria.com

mongolia: Bioarchaeological excavations at Baga Gazaryn ChuluuExcavations at local cemeteries dating to the fi rst millennium BC with an analytical emphasis on bioarchaeology and skeletal analysis. 21 June - 13 August 2008Website: www.csen.org

Alaska: Kodiak Community Archaeology ProgramCommunity archaeology invites volunteers to work as members of an archaeological fi eld crew, studying Kodiak prehistory with professional researchers. July - August 2008Website: www.alutiiqmuseum.com/CommArch2006.htm

USA: Cahokia Mounds, IllinoisExcavations at the remains of the most sophisticated prehistoric native civilization north of Mexico at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. 19 May - 1 August 2008Website: www.cahokiamounds.com/volunteers_dig.html

jordan: Great Arab Revolt ProjectThe Great Arab Revolt Project is planned as a 10-year project to investigate First World War archaeology and develop new heritage sites for visitors. 12 - 26 November 2008Website: www.jordan1914-18archaeology.org

israel: Tell AssawirThe mysterious, unknown Tell Assawir lies in the centre of Israel, not far from the Mediter-ranean coast and near the entrance into the historical Ara Pass. 31 Aug - 24 Sept 2008Website: assawir.haifa.ac.il

easter island: Easter Island Cultures You will have the chance to probe deep into the past to discover what forces caused a disas-trous political and religious revolution here in the 17th century. Sept 2008 - April 2009Website: www.earthwatch.org/expeditions/stevenson.html

Dig In..... get involved with archaeological projects around the worldYou can follow a direct link to a website where you see this symbol:

past horizons 32

Both sides of the story

Congratulations with your new magazine on volunteering in archaeological digs.

In this current issue of Past Horizons I saw something, that caught my eye. You have a story about a woman going to Israel. I fi nd this highly disturbing, because the state of Israel is using archaeology as a political weapon in its colonial policy against the Palestinians and as a justifi cation for its illegal occupation of Palestinian land. In this story these Israeli claims are taken as scientifi cally proven, which it is not! By publishing this story in your magazine, you encourage others to go to Israel and participate in excavations. In my opinion you should study both sides of the story, before you run another positive story about Israeli archaeology again.

Dr. W.A. van der Veen

Ed: Several interesting points are raised here which are hopefully addressed by the article ‘Digging for Trouble’ in this issue. The previous article referred to, ‘An Israeli Adventure’, was written from the perspective of a UK student participating in a volunteer dig and how this was a very positive experience for her. Archaeology can sometimes be abused for political aims in any country, something I think we all have to be aware of.

Congratulations

Discovered your magazine for the fi rst time today and wanted to write to

congratulate you on such a great publication. I have spent hours and hours ‘fl ipping’ the pages and being gob-smacked and amazed so I just had to write and congratulate you. The content of the magazine is fantastic and your use of the Digipage software is inspirational. As someone who has been surfi ng the web since 1994 I have to say that this is just about the best thing I have seen so far.

Lesley Symons

Ed: The people at Digipage have been a great help to us in utilising this new technology and we will be collaborating with them in the near future to allow others to upload their own publications or reports in a similar format.

Awesome resource

Just wanted to tell you how cool I think this is. I’ve just subscribed for the updates for

this magazine. I’ve always loved ancient history and the world of archaeology, and wanted to say thank you providing such an awesome resource for free.

Christine R. Senter

Pushing the boundaries

I think it is great and exactly what the internet should be doing. The music and

movement are rather spooky but that is what it is about - challenging our ideas of publication and pushing the boundaries. Brilliant - hope it thrives, must sign up for the next issue.

Caroline Wickham-Jones

Enjoying the videos

Thought the new magazine was interesting, informative, well laid out with clear text

and good illustrations. The video clip was an added bonus which I enjoyed watching. I look forward to seeing the next edition.

Fran Briscoe

Curious

I’m curious about the format of the magazine - since it’s online only, why use a format

that looks and acts like a printed magazine with “turning pages” and all? That is, instead of a format that’s more online related.

Marc Simon

Ed: A “traditional website” always requires scrolling and clicking to “new pages”, however, people seem to feel more comfortable with a format where they can turn the pages and read articles like an even more traditional magazine. The big difference here is the visual and interactive aspect, where links can be followed and static pictures can be replaced with video and sound.

Do you have something to say?Email us at editor@pasthorizons.com

SC

RIB

E

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Fun Page..... archaeology can be fun...honest

Where in the World??Where are the following places?

click each image to fi nd out if you are right

Crossword answers (from issue 1)

Archaeologists’ Bloopers

“I remember on my second ever dig, having to be gently restrained from enthusiastically laying into what looked like a wonderful square black pit, but was in fact the shadow from the shed in the garden next to the site.”

Beardstroker

“A friend on a Roman site came in one day to great excitement because another staff member had found a broken clay roof tile exhibiting engraved Latin text.

My friend was shown the tile by the fi nder who reverently pointed out the letters: NIV and said that it was entirely possible the rest of the tile would be found.

My friend raised one eyebrow, took hold of the tile ... turned it ‘upside down’ to reveal the letters AIN as in DRAIN!”

Steven

“Many years ago I was site assistant to a supervisor who was very sensitive regarding the public image of archaeology. He was particularly keen to promote a scientifi c ethos when fi lling in context sheets and he once pulled me up, as I had described a 500mm thick dump deposit over most of the area of the trench as ‘consisting largely of broken fl ower pots’. He told me, ‘The phrase you are searching for, Kev, is ‘horticultural earthenware… ”

Kevin

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