The Land of Morgan

A number of injuries were observed in a recent examination of 150 Thames ‘river skulls’. Eight of these, exhibiting both healed and unhealed blunt force trauma, were sampled for AMS ¹⁴C dating. The results span the Middle Bronze Age to the Late Iron Age/Romano-British period, with the majority falling within the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age. Given the potential time-span involved, this clustering is striking—particularly as it is consistent with the results of other dating programmes on Thames crania—and appears to confirm the likelihood of an association between human remains and weaponry entering the Thames over this period. In this regard, it is intriguing that the majority of the injuries are the result of blows with a blunt instrument, raising questions over the nature of conflict at this time. Other crania do show sharp force injuries, but have yet to be systematically dated. We discuss these results in the broader context of recent discoveries of human remains and weapons associated with watery places in later prehistory across northern Europe, reinforcing the idea that both are best seen within a context of ritual deposition, though the details vary across time and space.     

Evaluating the Manufacturing and Retailing Practices of H. J. & D. Nicoll through a c. 1860 Boy’s Suit

A boy’s suit of fawn wool sold by H. J. & D. Nicoll of London, dated c. 1860, in the Fashion Museum, Bath, raises a number of issues. Combining the long trousers worn by adolescents with a jacket associated with younger boys, it marks a turning point in age-related dress codes. Mass produced but with hand stitching, it presents evidence of the exploitative practices Nicoll had been charged with in Henry Mayhew’s Morning Chronicle letters in 1850. The prominent labelling of the suit relates to Nicoll’s publicity strategies and to the importance of boys’ clothing for ready-to-wear retailers. A comparison of the suit with other surviving garments and with marketing documents illuminates the way that Nicoll positioned itself within the retail market. The rarity of this survival and the scarcity of information on a high-profile and long-lasting retailer make this an important case study for investigating the origins of the ready-to-wear clothing trade in Britain.     

London’s Olympic waterscape: capturing transition

The waterways of London are an essential component of the city, with the River Thames playing a prominent role in the heritage, history and identity of place. The upcoming 2012 Olympics are highlighting the Lea Valley waterways in east London as another important part of London’s waterscape, expanding London’s global presence as a ‘water city’. As part of the Creative Campus Initiative, we undertook a project based on the broad themes of water, London and the Olympics that would give voice to the changes taking place. The result is London’s Olympic Waterscape, a 20-minute film comprising both ‘expert’ interview material discussing broad themes and developments and an embodied record of our engagement with the Olympic area during a brief period in the construction process. The present article is about the journey we took through and around the east London ‘Olympic’ waterways as we attempted to capture this transitional moment on video.     

THERMOLUMINESCENT DATING OF COLOMBIAN POTTERY IN THE YOTOCO STYLE

Two contexts from the Colombian sites, Yotoco Ferry and Moralba, had been linked by archaeological similarities in pottery style, and dated by association with ware from other sites at circaa.d. 1000. However, radiocarbon dating of those contexts set Moralba at circa 800 b.c. , some 2000 yr older than Yotoco Ferry. Thermoluminescent dating of pottery from Yotoco Ferry dated it at circaa.d. 900, and pottery from Moralba was dated at circaa.d. 870. In addition a metal-smelting pottery crucible, thought to be prehispanic, was studied by thermoluminescence and dated, on the contrary, at less than 120 yr old.     

HMQS Mosquito: the rediscovery and identification of Queensland's first warship

In 2009, the remnants of Her Majesty's Queensland Ship Mosquito, a 2nd‐class torpedo‐boat built in 1883, were relocated. Purchased by the colonial government of Australia in response to heightened tensions between Great Britain and Imperial Russia, Mosquito was assigned to Queensland's capital, Brisbane, where it had a largely uneventful career. Following removal from active duty it was stripped and abandoned on the foreshore of a tributary of the Brisbane River. This paper discusses Mosquito's historical background, and chronicles the rediscovery of the vessel, and the archaeological investigation and identification of its remains. © 2010 The Author     

From wic to burh: a new approach to the question of the development of Early Medieval London

During the ninth century the focus of occupation in Saxon London shifted eastwards from the Covent Garden area back to the former Roman city of Londinium. Combining detailed case studies with the results of correspondence analysis, this paper critically compares archaeological features and assemblages at sites dated c. AD 770 to c. AD 850 in Middle Saxon Lundenwic with sites dated c. AD 850 to c. AD 950 in Late Saxon Lundenburh. Differences in the archaeology of the two settlements are discussed. These distinctions reveal specific areas of discontinuity that strongly support current models of a hiatus between the decline of Lundenwic and renewed activity in Lundenburh.     

Viking age wood resources at Argisbrekka,Faroe Islands

A project is described concerning the examination of wood from two settlements on Eysturoy. Argisbrekka is a seasonally occupied inland settlement radiocarbon‐dated to the 9th–11th centuries, while Toftanes is a year‐round coastal settlement from the 9th–10th centuries. Preliminary investigations of wood from houses and refuse layers at Argisbrekka demonstrate the utilization of three resources: (a) local vegetation of Juniperus, tree Betula and heathland dwarf shrubs, (b) driftwood Picea and Larix, (c) imported wood Pinus and Quercus. The impact of man and husbandry on the vegetation probably resulted in the extinction of tree Betula and the almost total disappearance of Juniperus.     

The Geoff Egan Memorial Lecture 2012

Abstract

Archaeological excavations since 1994 have been uncovering the remains of James Fort in Virginia, the initial site of England’s Jamestown colony, established in 1607. Recovered from closely dated contexts that are associated with documented historical events, the material culture is revealing new and interesting information about the early settlement. The objects reflect the colonists’ interaction with the Virginia Indians, the activities of specialists sent to turn New World resources into profit for the colony’s investors, as well as the choices that individuals made as they transported domestic goods across the Atlantic.     

An Essay on the Context and Formation of Wilhelm von Humboldt's Linguistic Thought

SUMMARY

This essay combines the study of Humboldt's sources with a critique of the treatment of this subject in most studies of Humboldt and his linguistic thought. One crucial issue is the date of his early ‘Über Denken und Sprechen’, which is our first evidence of his mature thinking about language. This text is conventionally dated 1795, thus ruling out that Humboldt might be indebted to the anthropo-linguistic philosophy that he explored in Paris a few years later. But a host of facts make the date untenable and the debt unquestionable, including incontrovertible evidence that ‘Über Denken und Sprechen’ relies on Condillac's argument for the anti-idealist principle that the distinction between subject and object is the absolute precondition for self-awareness and reflection, and thus, by the same token, for the concept of Weltansicht. ‘Über Denken und Sprechen’ also shows that Humboldt was inspired to choose Condillac's and Destutt de Tracy's argument over that of Fichte for what Berkeley disapprovingly called ‘outness’. This analysis exemplifies the critique that is advanced in this essay.     

A Seventeenth-century Boat found in London

Abstract

A flat-bottomed barge carrying a cargo of bricks was excavated where it had sunk on the bed of the Thames off Blackfriars in London. Details of the boat’s construction were recovered, and associated finds suggested a date in the third quarter of the 17th century, perhaps connected with intensive rebuilding activity after the Great Fire of London in 1666.     

IS THE MACROSCOPIC CLASSIFICATION OF FLINT USEFUL? A PETROARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF FLINT RAW MATERIALS FROM THE IBERIAN NEOLITHIC MINE OF CASA MONTERO*

Casa Montero is a mining complex located outside Madrid (Spain), dated from the Early Neolithic (c. 5400–5000 cal bc ). An area of some 4 ha has been investigated and some 4000 shafts recorded, of which 324 have been excavated. The characterization of its raw flint materials and the establishment of its diagnostic features are indispensable in the reconstruction of the distribution of the mine's products beyond the immediate site. This work reports the geological study of the mine's Miocene flint layers and their petrological characterization. Archaeological samples from the mine's shafts were classified according to macroscopic features and petrological characteristics.     

RADIOCARBON MEASUREMENT BY ACCELERATOR MASS SPECTROMETRY: AN EARLY SELECTION OF DATES

Dates from the first runs of the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit span the range from present to c. 17,000 bp, with errors (1 s.d.) from ± 100 to ± 300 years. Material dated comprises bone, wood, charcoal, seeds, organic residues in pottery, and charcoal inclusions in slag.     

‘To Clapham’s I go’: a mid to late 18th-century Cambridge coffeehouse assemblage

SUMMARY: The recovery of a large closely dated assemblage that can be unambiguously associated with a mid to late 18th-century Cambridge coffeehouse provides the first opportunity for a detailed consideration of material associated with these significant institutions. A cellar located off All Saints’ Passage in Cambridge, England, backfilled c. 1775–80, produced a substantial assemblage of over 500 objects; principally ceramics, but also including vessel glass, clay tobacco pipes, animal bone and other material. Marked items and assemblage composition allows this material to be unambiguously associated with Clapham’s Coffeehouse, run by William and Jane Clapham c. 1746/48–79. Relatively few archaeological assemblages related to these important 18th-century socioeconomic institutions have been recovered and the material associated with Clapham’s Coffeehouse possesses a distinctive ‘signature’, albeit one that is not necessarily generally applicable to other coffeehouses. There were a substantial number of ceramics associated with tea drinking. Coffee-drinking vessels were frequent but less common and there was relatively little evidence for chocolate drinking. A range of alcoholic drinks were also consumed and dining was common, with a particular emphasis on snacks, whilst smoking appears to have been uncommon. The assemblage is compared with other groups associated with coffeehouses, a series of groups from earlier inns in the vicinity and broadly contemporary domestic assemblages from Cambridge and inn groups from England. The archaeological evidence indicates that the materialities of coffeehouses were not significantly different to that of other establishments, such as inns, and challenges some currently held views of coffeehouses derived from documentary sources.     

Excavations at Rainbow Quay,an 18th-century whale rendering plant,Rotherhithe, London

Abstract

An excavation was jointly undertaken by Thames Valley Archaeological Services and Pre-Construct Archaeology at Rainbow Quay, Rope Street, Southwark, London, (TQ 3650 7912), during July and August 1996. The proposed development of the site by Fairclough Homes (Southern) Ltd of some 0.82 ha., sandwiched between Greenland Dock and South Dock (see Fig. 1), provided an excellent opportunity to unearth and investigate a sequence of dock related structures dating from c. 1700, when the Howland Great Wet Dock (later known as Greenland Dock) was constructed¹ through to the 1970s when the docks were closed. The scope of this article is to describe the results of the excavation and in particular to discuss the usage of the site during the 18th and early 19th centuries. Of special interest were structures pertaining to the whaling industry, their demolition and subsequent replacement with warehousing facilities.     

Dying Embers: Fire-lighting Technology and Mortuary Practice in Early Bronze Age Britain

In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire

That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,

As the death-bed whereon it must expire

Consum’d with that which it was nourish’d by.

Shakespeare, Sonnet 73

We examine the known examples of strike-a-light kits within prehistoric mortuary contexts in mainland Britain. Building on the seminal work of Clarke in the 1970s, and Needham’s recent work on Beaker grave groups, many further examples of this burial practice are documented from both historic and recent excavations. It is evident that strike-a-light kits have a considerable longevity in prehistoric mortuary practice, with all but one dating to between c. 2500 cal. BC and c. 1500 cal. BC. Our analysis presents new radiocarbon dates and data from stable isotope studies of human remains that indicate the practice reached a peak between c. 2200 and c. 2000 cal. BC. Strike-a-light kits appear to be associated both with individuals born local to their burial place, as well as those born at a considerable geographical distance. It is argued that strike-a-light kits had a particular significance in the burial of adult males, and that kits were symbolic inclusions rather than being linked to the practice of fire-lighting during the men’s life-time in this period.     

The Ring family of Bristol,clay tobacco pipe manufacturers

Abstract

The Ring family ran two of the most important pipemaking businesses in 19th-century Bristol. This account is in three parts: Part 1 is a survey of the documentary evidence for the two companies. Ring & Cookworthy were in operation from 1802 until 1819, R. F. Ring & Co. worked under various managements from c. 1812 until c. 1884. Part 2 provides data on the export of Ring-made pipes, collected from the Bristol Presentment Books. Pipes were sent mainly to America, but also to Ireland, Spain, the Caribbean and elsewhere. Part 3 illustrates waste from their kilns found in dumps in various parts of Bristol. These groups are all dated to c. 1850.     

‘With utmost certainty’: two late medieval pioneers of technical chronology

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the chronological methods developed and deployed by two little known medieval scholars, Giles of Lessines (active in the 1260s) and Heinrich Selder (1370s), both of whom made noteworthy advances in the use of astronomy to establish dates and intervals between events in ancient history. Based on their reading of Ptolemy's Almagest, both authors emphasised the importance of dated astronomical observations, such as eclipses, arguing that the recorded intervals between these observations were endowed with a unique degree of reliability. Several key examples of how they mobilised Ptolemy's astronomical data to rectify parts of the timeline between the creation of the world and the present will be discussed. These show that the technical arguments contained in Giles’ and Selder's writings reached a level of sophistication and accuracy that has previously only been associated with chronologers of the early modern and later periods.     

Early medieval origins of iron mining and settlement in central Sweden: multiproxy analysis of sediment and peat records from the Norberg mining district

The historical Norberg mining district in central Sweden with its shallow, easily accessible iron ores figures prominently in the earliest documents from the 14th century concerning mining or metallurgy. This 1000-km² district is considered to be one of the first areas in Sweden exploited for iron ores and, in fact, Europe’s oldest known blast furnace, Lapphyttan, is located in the Norberg district about 10 km from the mines in the village of Norberg (Norbergsby). Earlier archaeological excavations suggest the furnace was in operation as early as the 11th or 12th century (870 and 930 ¹⁴C yr BP), and a number of other sites in the district have been dated to the 13th–15th centuries. Here, we have analyzed two lake sediment records (Kalven and Noren) from the village of Norberg and a peat record from Lapphyttan. The Lapphyttan peat record was radiocarbon dated, whereas the sediment from Kalven is annually laminated, which provides a fairly precise chronology. Our pollen data indicate that land use in the area began gradually as forest grazing by at least c. AD 1050, with indications of more widespread forest disturbance and cultivation from c. 1180 at Lapphyttan and 1250 at Kalven. Based on ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb isotope ratios in Kalven’s varved sediment record, there is an indication of mining or metallurgy in the area c. 960, but likely not in immediate connection to our sites. Evidence of mining and metallurgy increases gradually from c. 1180 when there is a decline in ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratios and an increase in charcoal particles at Lapphyttan, followed by increasing inputs of lithogenic elements in Noren’s sediment record indicating soil disturbance, which we attribute to the onset of mining the iron ore bodies surrounding Noren. From AD 1295 onwards evidence of mining and metallurgy are ubiquitous, and activities accelerate especially during the late 15th century; the maximum influence of Bergslagen ore lead (i.e., the minimum in ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb isotope ratios) in both Kalven and Noren occurs c. 1490–1500, when also varve properties change in Kalven and in Noren sharp increases occur in the concentrations of a range of other ore-related metals (e.g., arsenic, cadmium, copper, iron, lead, mercury and zinc). From the 15th century onwards mining and metallurgy are the dominant feature of the sediment records.     

Zu papyri osloenses III

The sixth Roman ode of Horace has usually been dated to 29/28 B.C. from the reference to the great temple restoration programme in the first stanza. This dating, however, tends to affect our reading of the whole cycle. An ‘inner’ dramatic date deliberately established by the poet (post Actium but before 28 B.C.) should not be mistaken for the time of writing (after 28, probably about 25 B.C.). There are even calculated effects arising from the poet's use of a dramatic date. Moreover, the poem is not independent to the effect that it is a self‐contained expression of the poet's political stance. Its provoking diagnosis of contemporary society is a warning reflecting Augustus’ policy and paving the way for reforms. It is instructive to compare epode XVI, to which III 6 bears resemblances which seem to support the late dating of the epode (cf. the author's Horaz und Actium 1984).     

Eric Bogle’s No Man’s Land and the grave of Willie McBride at the Somme

ABSTRACT

Eric Bogle wrote No Man’s Land in 1975. When it was released as The Green Fields of France by Davey Arthur and the Fureys in 1979 the song topped the Irish charts, while as far away as Australia it was declared one ‘of the most striking musical essays yet written on the futility of war.’ Yet No Man’s Land has been associated with controversy too: branded a rebel song in Ulster during The Troubles, singled out by Tony Blair as a ‘peace anthem’ and prelude to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, and controversially chosen by the Royal British Legion for the Poppy Day appeal in 2014. In addition to exploring the ‘complex relations between cultural and political history’ in Ireland, this article also looks at the making of the documentary film ‘Eric Bogle: Return to No Man’s Land’ (by Dan Frodsham) in which Bogle returned to the grave of Willie McBride on the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme to recite his poem to the now famous Inniskilling. To Bogle’s surprise the grave had become a pilgrimage site for this, an entirely fictional, Irish martyr created then immortalized in his own composition written four decades earlier.