Sails from the Roman port at Berenike, Egypt

A 1st-century AD midden deposit at Berenike, a major port on the trade route between the Roman Empire and India, has produced cotton textile fragments reinforced with a rectangular grid-pattern of cotton strips, interpreted as the remains of sails. Webbing fragments of cotton and linen, in some cases attached to stout cotton or linen cloth, may also have come from sails. The only published example of a Roman-Period sail is a linen sail of 1st-century BC-AD date from Thebes in Egypt, to which the Berenike fragments bear a close resemblance. The S-spun linen sails were presumably manufactured in Egypt. Most of the Berenike material, however, was of Z-spun cotton: an import, it is argued, of Indian origin. The construction of Mediterranean-type sails entirely from Indian materials has implications for the presence of Westerners on the Indian sub-continent.     

Excavations on the Titelberg,Luxembourg

Abstract

The center of the hillfort “Titelberg,” near Petange in extreme SW Luxembourg, was investigated in 1972-74 by the University of Missouri at Columbia and the Luxembourg Musées de l'État. The American excavations have revealed a side street which, when considered with evidence unearthed by the Luxembourgers, indicates an insula system for the hillfort in Gallo-Roman times. Habitation lasted until the 4th century A.C., but this part of the site was most heavily used in the time of Augustus, when a coin-flan casting operation was conducted in a provincial Roman-style building. Underneath this building were found 14 successive floor levels in at least two different Celtic-style structures also housing coin-casting operations. Calibrated and adjusted radiocarbon dates support an archaeological dating to ca. 300 B.C. in La Tène Ic or II for the earlier of the latter structures. The late Iron Age hillfort was preceded by two separate Neolithic occupations.     

Publishing Archaeological Excavations at the Digital Turn

ABSTRACT

This paper engages with repeated calls within archaeology for a re-envisioning of the excavation report, contextualized by the transformation of scholarly communication taking place across the humanities and social sciences. This widespread transformation is rooted in a growing interest in showing data together with synthesis and argument, the importance afforded to public engagement, and the proliferation of digital platforms that enable creative presentations of scholarly work. In this context, we discuss our experience producing an excavation report that attempts to integrate several forms of scholarly and public-facing communication on a digital platform, and aims to engage audiences at multiple levels, while simultaneously facilitating data reuse and laying out the authors’ current interpretations. We consider the benefits and challenges of producing work in this way through the example of producing the Gabii Project’s first volume, A Mid-Republican House from Gabii, developed through a collaboration between the Gabii Project team and the University of Michigan Press. This experience is contextualized within the broader discourse surrounding changing expectations about open access, authorship and credit, and sustainability of digital scholarship in academic publishing.     

Excavations in the Ancient Centre of Antwerp

EXAMINATION of the structure of the stone tower and excavation of it and of the associated earthworks at Lydford, Devon, revealed that the earliest structure, presumed to be the firme domus referred to in the Pipe Rolls for 1195, had been a free-standing, purpose-built gaol. It was partly demolished, and the upper part entirely rebuilt towards the middle of the 13th century. The original ground floor was filled up and the tower enclosed by a ditch with a mound piled against it. A small bailey was also added. The ‘castle’ continued to be used as a prison for the Devon Stannaries until the 18th century.     

Underwater Excavations at the Etruscan Port of Populonia

Abstract

The 1987/1988 field season at the U-shaped civic ceremonial center of Cardal in the Lurin Valley, Peru, included mapping and excavation of public and domestic architecture. Occupied from 1150 to 800 b.c., Cardal provides evidence of a more elaborate ground plan than was previously recognized, including dual causewayed plazas, and 10 semisubterranean circular courts. Excavations of the public architecture revealed the periodic burial and construction of ritual buildings, including a steep central stairway and an atrium whose exterior wall was decorated with a polychrome mural of a gigantic mouth band with massive fangs and interlocking teeth. The investigations on the pyramid summit also yielded evidence of a free-standing building with a dual altar, and a burial area. Information on domestic architecture and subsistence recovered from behind the public complex is also discussed. Finally, Cardal is compared to Garagay, a coeval U-shaped center in the neighboring Rimac Valley, and it is argued that the evidence available does not support the hypothesis that these monumental centers were constructed by “complex societies” in the traditional sense of the term.     

Excavations in the West Bailey at Corfe Castle

A DATA BASE containing all the information available to the authors on Anglo-Saxon structures has been devised and installed on a computer. A preliminary analysis of the data concentrating on the dimensions of the buildings has revealed some significant trends in their lengths, widths and proportions. These trends are interpreted within what is known of the social and economic context of the period. In addition, a method of comparing the complete set of buildings on a site has been developed. It can be used, for example, to find sites with similar sets of buildings which may, therefore, also share other characteristics.     

Excavations in the Outer Precinct of Tintern Abbey

EXCAVATION REVEALED an aisled guest-hall, possibly of 13th-century date, which parallels structures at Kirkstall and Waverley abbeys. This was replaced in the 15th or early 16th century by a new guest range with indications of differing provision for high-status guests. A smithy and non-ferrous industrial activity, notably cupellation and bell founding, are also described.     

Excavations at Lochrin Distillery,Edinburgh

Abstract

Lochrin Distillery was founded by John Haig around 1780, at a time when the scale of Scottish distilleries was increasing dramatically and distilling was, briefly, the most significant industry in the land. Nevertheless, frequent increases in excise duty meant that these were challenging times for distillers, and Lochrin was mothballed and re-opened several times before finally closing in 1848. By the end of the century, the distillery buildings had been swept away.

In 2005, Abercorn Archaeology LLP excavated parts of the former distillery prior to redevelopment, concentrating on the still house. Remains of six still bases considered to derive from three phases of construction were recorded, together with the footings of a worm tub and a large basement structure. The excavations have clarified the evolution of the distillery, confirming that large lowland distilleries of the period were dynamic enterprises, frequently adapted in the light of the challenges facing the industry.     

Excavations at Tilbury Fort,Essex

Tilbury Fort is situated on the N. bank of the Thames 25 miles doumstream from London (TQ 651 754) (FIG. 1). It is the best preserved example of late 17th-century military engineering in England and has been in guardianship since 1950. Plans by the Department of the Environment to alter the visitor access to the site from the riverfront to the landward approach necessitated excavations to establish the original construction of the earthworks, redan and ravelin and to identify the routes and levels of the roadways. Excavations were undertaken in 1973 by Jerry Pratt, concentrating on the ravelin, and in 1980 by the Passmore Edwards Museum. The results of both excavations are presented in this report.     

Excavations at the Medieval Village of Wythemail,Northamptonshire

EXCAVATION of a single enclosure revealed a sequence from early 13th-century timber buildings to structures with stone foundations, or completely stone-built, in the later 13th and 14th centuries. A two-roomed long-house was replaced by a more complex four-roomed long-house built on a different alignment. Also in the enclosure were a sequence of six outbuildings rebuilt in various positions. In the 13th century there were changes in property boundaries and in the 14th century a road was cut obliquely across the enclosure leading to fundamental changes in planning. Evidence for climatic deterioration was given by the increasing use of drains and of paved and cobbled surfaces in the early 14th century. Finds included metal objects, animal bones, local shelly pottery, and 12th- to 14th-century sherds from Lincolnshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire.