T'was the Night before Christmas... Some thoughts about Progeny

The Christmas season is truly upon us here at Archaeosoup Towers...

The halls have been 'decked', presents have been wrapped, Mrs Soup has a gorgeous Turkey brining in the workshop and my lovely Mum is asleep in the guest room... And here I am, early on Christmas eve (5:02 am) typing away because I have caught my obligatory festive cold and cannot sleep (because I cannot breathe).

However, just as many people in around 24 hours will be eager to hop out of bed to begin the process of opening presents and depositing a confetti of shredded wrapping paper all over the living room floor - I find myself, this morning, eager to jot some ancillary thoughts down in a blog-post.

This post is, once again, with regards to one of my more popular (or certainly one of the most frequently watched) videos 'Hidden Histories: What is a Celt?'

I think it is worth while taking a few paragraphs to briefly explore an irony implicit in the responses posted to that video - This is the concept of progeny.

The main reason I made that HH video was to explore the question of genetic and cultural legacy, using 'Celticism' as a case study. My goal was to explore the complex relationships between cultural identity, genetic legacy and a broader mythology of time and place...

I was not aiming to tear down the proud legacy of Celtic culture, art or language - Afterall I am a proud Man of Wales, a Welsh-speaker and a great fan of all things 'Celtic'. Rather I was was encouraging an assessment of what these associations and ideas actually mean... And thus what they do not mean.

While many people appear to 'get' what I was doing, there remain many who either willfully ignore or twist what is said in the video - Or worse still, 'agree' with me only to refer to other 'stocks' of genes from other 'peoples' and places.

For example comments along the lines of...

   "Excellent video - However, I have always felt that the true Irish are comprised of the DNA from Scythians."

or

   "Viking DNA is not responsible for all of the red hair in Britain."

...revolve around the ironic notion that there are/ were pure stocks of forerunner DNA. That somehow there is such thing as 'Viking' genes or 'Celtic' blood and that, depending on the commentor's perspective, modern 'Celts' are either pure, impure, or mixed from a very limited palate of genetic paint.

However, that was/ is the whole point of the video - to question the notion of such purity, stocks of genes, and to highlight the wondrous spectrum of humanity which makes up the beings we are...

And ultimately to encourage a more nuanced and real understanding of the past, beyond cartoon characterisations of people, places and times - and our relationship to them!

As far as I can see there are at least two issues at work here:

1) The Cultural Perception of Genetic Legacy.

It is oh-so-hard for people to divorce how they think of family from how they think about genes and genetics. Often people will talk about having a 'line', usually a patronymic line of ancestry which they can trace back through time, giving them their identity (and genes). 

This is not only convenient for claiming rights to property, tracing bonds of affinity and friendship through marriage and trying to understand where one comes from; it is also hard-wired into our brains! We find it very difficult - Heck, I find it very difficult - to conceive of my patronage as anything more than a line. At most, many people think in terms of coming from a 'community', a little like a phratry, with shared cultural rights through a perceived genetic brotherhood or bond... an ancestral father / mother or group. 

Though, usually we conceive of a line - My father, his father, his father and so on...

However, this is not the case.

The above diagram is based on an excellent article written by MF Bonnan (see here). It illustrates that at every stage in one's family tree there are a number of genetic influences at play. Every generation brings a multiplier effect and before you know it, rather than a single line reaching back into time immemorial, you are connected with every other human being on the planet. As shocking as it may seem, you are not just you... You are also a human being and a member of a broader species.

This network reaches across the world and down through the ages and is the reason why, rather than a single thread, you are made up any number of influences from across time and around the world. Go far back enough and we will find things are very different from our parochial assumptions.

Mrs Soup is an excellent example. She is from Ballymena in Northern Ireland. So she's 'Irish' right?

Well, back one generation her Father is from the Republic of Ireland and her mother is from Nothern Ireland... Still 'Irish' though, yeah?

Back a few more generations, in one part of her Father's side of the family tree, takes us to to County Kerry... Still very Irish!?

No!

By this time, that one branch of Mrs Soup's ancestors were from Germany! They had been invited into the area following the great famine to begin farming abandoned land. Re-building communities ravaged by a lack of food.

So - If one goes back a few generations and chooses ONE element of ONE parent's family tree, things quickly change - And we haven't even researched all of the other branches!!!

In the same way that many people (often Americans) say to Mrs Soup.

   "Oh hey, I'm Irish too." (ignoring the political complications of the North/ South divide) "I'm 1/16th Irish on my Mother's side"... She could (and sometimes does) quite happily respond.

   "Go that far back and I am 'from' South West Germany!"

The funny thing is - She is absolutely Northern Irish, she loves being from Northern Ireland. But she is painfully aware that that doesn't mean that *echo voice* 'She and all of her line have always resided upon the emerald isle...'

2) Misunderstanding of the Role and Meaning of Mutation.

People frequently point to genetic markers to 'prove' their patronage. Whether these be 'obvious', physical features which show up in the one's phenotype or more subtle genetic 'signatures' made up of 'junk' DNA, accumulated over time; these are often used like lines back into the past.

Firstly, the above point re: cultural perception of 'lines' absolutely applies here. We get all sorts of genetic stuff, seen and unseen, from all sorts of people in our past! Sometimes these features will show up in our physical features and abilities, sometimes they will not - But they are there, like genetic baggage. However, while this baggage can be useful for seeing what is 'under the hood' it does not act as a single tracer back through time. 

There is a popular perception that a genetic test will tell you where your 'line' (see again where this concept is hard to escape) has come from. One swab of cheek cells, some money and lab-time are all you need to see this thread through time...

However, rather than a thread, a tapestry is revealed. There will be interesting genetic threads here and there; perhaps a particular mutation shared with many others in Anatolia, which indicates that someone, somewhere in your vast family tree was born of a certain community and picked up this trait. Though like sand on the beach, the tides of time shift and re-configure people, place and culture with each generation.

Over the years people move, marry, inter-marry, run away, change name, change culture, hide, kill, rape, lie, pretend, invent, adopt, seek kinship and embrace all sorts of social 'truths' in the pursuit of as good a life as they can manage. This results in a wondrous array of genetic influences in our (your) ancestry and, beyond the use of surnames in the Middle Ages, an increasingly difficult network of branches, cross-overs and dead-ends for 'the individual' to navigate.

Not to mention the interesting convergent 'evolution' which appears in phenotypes! For example, there are many ways to 'be' blond. The genes responsible for expressing blond hair in different parts of the world are... different. 

That is to say that you may be blond but it doesn't mean you have a Scandinavian or Near Eastern heritage. You may have got that gene from a family connection with the Solomon Islands! And even if your family does have links with Scandinavia, blond hair is a fairly recent sexual-selection ie that feature became culturally attractive and therefore propagated over time... It's not of a 'pure' origin.

...*and breathe*

So, there we have it - It is now 7am, I have listened to the latest News Quiz Podcast and I am getting hungry - time for breakfast.

In conclusion, I would encourage you - dear reader - to take a moment and try to imagine the vastness of your heritage. The vast distances and spans of time which your forebears have navigated, resulting in you.

This is remarkable. Far from simple and took a very, very, very long time.

I am not a Celt denier... Or rather a Briton-basher. I also love my modern Celtic culture. 

However, I am not willing to say that I am so very inbred as to have one line in my unimaginably large and old tapestry. Maybe several of my threads are indeed from these islands and the continent, perhaps some of those unnameable ancestors even fought the Romans for home and hearth in ancient times.

But those Iron age folk, connected by virtue of my genetic code, may never have know each other! They may not have called each other 'Brother', they certainly didn't call one another 'Celt'!

Who knows, perhaps there's a runaway Roman Auxiliary from Africa in my past?

However more than this, beyond the romance of 'Celts', 'Germans', 'Barbarians' and 'Rome', beyond even the inconstant and fickle boundaries of Europe - waxing and waning with ages of ice...

I am a human being.

So are you.

Cheers! x

PS: Merry Christmas! :D

Internet Abuse, Death Threats and Observable Truth.

The more dedicated Archaeosoup-ians among you may have noticed that I have not published 'Aspects of Archaeology: GIS', the 'Thank you' video for the Indiegogo campaign, an 'Archae-Facts' or even an 'Archaeoscoop' this week...

Indeed, I have been less prolific with my video publishing than usual for a couple of weeks now.

This is partly because I have been waiting for requests for GIS data to be answered. Happily on Friday some GIS data came through and will be employed as a case-study in the upcoming video.

It is in part because I have been busy. There is an ever growing demand on my time and I am happy to report that there are many projects on-the-go.

However, the main reason is because of a campaign of internet abuse which has been directed my way.

It began a couple of weeks ago with harsh comments on Youtube videos, ranging from calling me a liar to actually telling me to kill myself! Frankly, people say all sorts of random things on Youtube and I ignored the comments, deleting the most offensive and even blocking a couple of users (afterall who needs that in their life!?). I thought this would be the end of it... But...

Last weekend (17th & 18th) the archaeosoup@gmail.com email address (the account where you usually send your archaeology questions for me to attempt to research and answer in as useful a way as possible) received a deluge of abusive messages, rather than questions. This shook me up a little but I assumed that I had made it onto some forum where a moron had asked people to bombard me with abuse. Eventually, I resolved to delete the emails and watch the Wales Vs. Argentina Rugby match to relax - They lost :(

However yesterday it reached a whole new level with a package being delivered to Archaeosoup Towers. It had a strange foreign postmark and contained an abusive message, smeared in what appeared to be human excrement!

The most disturbing element of this development was that, yes bodily harm and murder were threatened - but Mrs. Soup was named! ! !

I never use my wife's name in Archaeosoup videos. This is partly because you guys started calling me and her Mr and Mrs Soup and the nickname stuck. Though it is primarily because we're both fairly private people and the Archaeosoup Videos are about Archaeology, the joy of studying the past and the way such study can enrich our lives! Archaeosoup is not a vlog of our lives and I am sure you appreciate those lines being maintained so that the content is always interesting and rarely banal.

Not only was Mrs. Soup named but where she works was mentioned and there was a threat to attack, rape - YES rape!!! and kill her too!

So - This is why I am taking the week away from making videos. We're in contact with the police and trying to relax after such a visceral threat was sent to our home at Archaeosoup Towers!

Don't worry - our address is no longer on Archaeosoup.com - It is a shame as I have received some lovely packages from followers of Archaeosoup... Perhaps a PO box is the way forward?

But why!? I hear you cry! Well all of the abuse has been with regards to a video I made examining the phenomenon of the pyramids in Bosnia. I have been accused of being a liar, in the pocket of evil powers and all the worst things which pseudo-archaeologists associate with so-called 'mainstream' archaeology.

The video in question, as ever, was carefully researched. I spoke to a professor of Balkan Archaeology, two post grads, rang a few Uni depts where I have good contacts and read 30 + news stories and articles... And the Wiki Page haha. I commended the question-asker for their interest and curiosity (afterall if true the Bosnian pyramids would be AMAZING) but I wasn't going to lie! These do not appear to be pyramids, rather they are natural geological formations which are vaguely pyramid shaped.

I am an Archaeologist and the burden of proof must be met by those who make claims, be it the location of a field boundary or the discovery of a pyramid complex!!! No recognized proof has been produced.

However there are those who have a near fanatical need for these phenomena to be real and they are apparently not afraid to make their point by invoking violence.

For our sense of security and sanity - this video is likely to be taken down in the near future. I do not like the idea of threats dictating honest inquiry but this threat was a little too close for comfort.

Both Mrs Soup and I will be taking the week to recover from the scare and, frankly, I need to de-fuse as yesterday I was VERY ANGRY - not to mention the continuing stress of the past couple of weeks.

I am sure you will understand this reasonable delay in scheduled programming ;p

News stories and visual witticisms will continue to be posted on the FB Page and Twitter feed.

The moral of the story... Don't be afraid to ask questions or answer them honestly and if someone bullies you online, at home, work, school or wherever. Tell someone! Share it! Don't let the prats affect more of your time than they're worth!

Take care,

Marc.x

What is a Context? A Quick Note...

This is just a quick note in response to a question posted in the comments for the video: Questions of Doom: What is a Context Sheet?

"And now could we please have an explanation of your explanation? To begin with what, exactly, is a context? I think it's the grid area where you're digging but positive and negative contexts are a bit more difficult to define, at least for the layman. I assume a positive context would be something like a spoil heap and a negative would be an ancient ditch or other excavation but I'm not completely sure."

Well, in the context of Archaeology… ho ho… a ‘context’ is a discernible, discreet, element of a site.

Almost all historical sites have been formed by multiple events and occupation layers. These can be broken down into units of formation activity and thus placed into a chronology to establish the order in which those events occurred. Each unit, each event, is a context.

The digging of a ditch or pit is a context; the fill of that ditch is another. The fill could be a burial; it could be multiple filling events resulting in multiple contexts. Building a wall would form a context and the collapse of the roof onto the floor would be yet another. So forth and so on.

Natural depositional events, for example silt laid down by flood also results in a new context.

A spoil heap, i.e. deposited by an Archaeologist, is not a context.

Contexts can be referred to as positive or negative depending on their effect on the formation of the archaeological record. A positive context adds material to the site whereas a negative context removes material from the site or from one place to another (for example digging a ditch and using the fill to make a bank).

While a context can be located on a site using the grid square system, it is not related to that system. In the same way: A grid square system is useful for locating features on a map but it doesn't dictate where those features are, what they’re called or how they were formed. For example, a forest may haphazardly occupy varying portions of many grid squares, it bears no relationship to those neat units of space. The grid system is merely a way to easily refer to portions of an excavation – before anything is identified or excavated!

Hopefully this is a useful note?

Cheers,

Marc (Mr Soup).

A Celtic Quandary

Question:

   “Hello Monsieur Soup

Concerning the Celts. It seems many archaeologists are coming forth and stating that there were really no Celts, and that the idea of Celts was for a modern-day European identity of some sort.

Yet from what I've read, many convincing archaeological finds and sites have shown that the Celts certainly did have a pan-European culture in their styles of art, in their trade, and in their beliefs.

Oh what am I to believe Great Soup-sayer?

Confoudedly yours,

Gaul Gravy”

Response:

Hello,

   In about a week's time we're going on a two-week journey to visit friends and family in Southern England and Wales. Next week's 'Question of Doom' is already 'taken' so I thought, rather than wait for a few weeks, I would respond to your email with an email... and possibly post this on the Archaeosoup blog.

   Yes! It can be extremely confusing when it comes to the Celts. However, there are several ways of conceptualising the situation which might help:

1) Modern Countries:

   If one considers the area covered by ancient and modern Celtic cultures, it's a huge area! From Anatolia to Iberia; Northern Italy to the tip of Scotland, an area of approximately 9,000,000 km-sq. Today, this area contains approximately 30 countries.

   Now, if an alien was to classify this area today they may well be tempted to say that we collectively represent a 'European' culture and to a certain extent they'd be right. There are similar clothing, belief, economic and political systems across the continent. Increasingly Britain, for example, contains foods from France, Italy, Spain, Poland - pretty much every cuisine in Europe (nevermind the rest of the world).

   However, we all know that things aren't that simple. Within Britain alone there are four distinct National identities (Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish and English) - and that's not considering sub-areas like Cornish identity, the Isle of Wight/ Isle of Mann... And when one examines the rest of the Continent there are many, many more National and sub-National identities. You wouldn't DARE call a Frenchman, English or confuse someone from Turkey with an Irishman!

   Now, I am certainly not arguing that these Nations and National boundaries map directly back onto the past. However they illustrate how easy it is to confuse general cultural similarities with a distinct identity.

2) Tribes:

   The Iron Age peoples of Europe certainly did share artistic developments and styles. It even seems that they migrated from place to place. Consider the Parisii moving from the Paris basin to North Yorkshire! However, it seems that they had distinct tribal identities too. It is thought that the differences between these groups ranged from subtle shifts in dress, colours of cloth etc to differences in language, cultural values and the gods.

   The goddess Epona the protector of horses, donkeys and mules is a good example of this. This goddess quite possibly has her roots in the Danube and spread west with riders into Gaul. She appears to have had limited appeal in the rest of the continent until the Romans - yes the Romans, took her to Spain, Britain and back home to the Mediterranean.

   Apologists of a Pan-European Celtic culture often glorify the war-like nature of the Celts. However this warfare was usually fought between tribes. In 2011 the Fin Cop find of massacred individuals reminded the world that different Iron Age groups, neighbours, made war upon each other. This is not the behaviour of a coherent, continental empire.... Rather the result of culturally similar, distinct groups living next door to each other.

3) Language:

   The Celtic language branch of the Indo-European tree immediately indicates that there is, at least, a distinction to be made between Iron Age folk on the continent and the British Isles. The so-called 'Proto or Common Celtic' branch is divided into four sub-branches:

• Gaulish and its close relatives Galatian (from Anatolia/ Turkey), Lepontic (Cisalpine Gaul), and Noric (Austria/ Slovenia).

• Hispano-Celtic and its close relatives: Celtiberian (once spoken in the Iberian Peninsula), Gallaecian (North-West Spain and North Portugal) and two other languages which are vaguely attested to in the Portugal area.

• Brythonic, including the living languages Breton, Cornish, and Welsh and the extinct languages Cumbric and Pictish.

• Goidelic, including the living languages Irish, Manx, and Scottish Gaelic.

   
   And these are only the languages for which there is good evidence! There are many other Celtic languages which have probably been lost over the past 2,000 years and who knows how many more local dialects!?

   Once again, this points to a language family rather than a single coherent language. I speak Welsh (Cymraeg) but I don't have a clue about Irish Gaelic. There are some intriguing similarities but more often than not I have no clue how to pronounce it (let alone speak Irish fluently). This is similar to modern languages. Italian and French are connected but not the same. Even English has some connections with French (due to historical connections/ conflicts) but they are distinct languages and natives cannot easily converse.

   These sub-groups of Proto-Celtic point to different languages, or at least strong dialects being spoken across Europe. Certainly there appears to be a distinction between Gaulish and Brythonic, Britain and the Continent. Indeed the language which bound Europe together through trade and common interests is likely to have been... Greek! Greek traders were in Britain in the Bronze Age! And Greek wine, followed by Roman exports were making there way across the continent, all the way to Britain.

4) Time:

   When people talk or think about Celtic culture, they often forget about the dimension of time! They will happily mix objects from the Hallstatt Cultures (C8th-6th BC) with La Tene and others in Britain (C5th - 1st BC), not to mention Pictish art which developed up until AD 900! They observe similar art styles and lump them together, forgetting that they can be separated by many hundreds of miles and up to two thousand years!

   Ofcourse there are similarities and in this way they are part of a Celtic cultural tradition but they are neither Geo-Politically the same nor contemporaneous. 

5) Arbitrary Distinctions:

   I have long been fascinated by the way in which people who take an interest in the Iron Age of Europe are often eager to connect Celtic cultures together as a homogeneous mass identity. This is particularly interesting when compared to distinctions made by those very same folk.

   An excellent example of this tendency is with regards to the Saxons and Vikings! For large periods of time, these groups are arguably indistinguishable. They have a similar Germanic artistic and linguistic heritage, they behaved the same for much of history and if you'd described a Viking (raiding, pillaging from the sea etc) to people in East Anglia during the Roman period they would have identified Saxon raiders!

   People who mould 'The Celts' together would never say that Saxons and Vikings were the same even though the closer one looks the harder it is to distinguish them. They became more distinct over time... and this is the point... They are a little closer to our own times.

   I rather suspect that the conceptual pens into which popular ideas of the past force ancient peoples are largely formed by how much we can 'identify' with their distinctions - by how close they are to us in history. For some reason it is acceptable to talk of 'The Celts' yet to mix the Saxon and Viking cultures together is a bizarre notion for many... Why? Because it’s what our cultural idea of the past dictates!

   So it's not a case of who to believe but rather how to understand the evidence. I do not pretend to know for certain but that’s the whole point. When we think of the Iron Age peoples of Europe we’re relying upon relatively scant evidence. There is much beautiful artwork, yes but accounts of these peoples are filtered via Roman and Greek writers. Even the names of ‘Celtic’ leaders we have such as ‘Togidubnus’ sound suspiciously like a Roman trying to wrap their tongue around a foreign name.

   While there is undeniably a Celtic cultural block, I do not believe that there has ever been such thing as ‘A’ Celt. Rather Iron Age Europe held a whole series of peoples who shared as many distinguishing ideas and attitudes as they did similarities.

   As proud as I am to speak a Celtic language and to come from a ‘modern Celtic’ country, I try to be aware that 2,000 – 3,000 years have passed since the Celtic art traditions and cultural similarities were formed. It would be naïve to assume that this span of time and space has resulted in a simple story.

   But I like a complicated story far more than a picture book!

   (Having said that, I also love a good graphic novel ;p)

   Hopefully this has gone some way to answering your question? If you have any follow up Q’s please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Thanks,

Marc.

How to Proceed?

One of my favourite poets once wrote:

"One day red life will drain from these fingers,

Pale flesh will retreat from pale bone,

My soul incumbent for this moment in time,

Release with life’s end will come.

Soon enough, too soon, not so soon as some.

I look well therefore to this moment,

Live each day without regret!

Those times I may feel were stagnant,

I do not magnify their unfortunate effect.

Therefore, do not dwell upon the past,

Do not foster regret!

For those who fear tomorrow,

Are surely yesterday’s pet!"

T. Crawley 1896.

Now, as morbid as this poem may read, I like it. Not because I am an Archaeologist who revels in the fact that I will one day become archaeology but because it reminds me to live with vigour - Or at least attempt to.

This poem also reminds me of a simple truth... All things come to an end.

It is with this in mind that I need to start thinking about Archaeosoup's future. Someday, maybe tomorrow, things will break!

As remarkable as it may seem, I film, compile, voice-over and edit all of Archaeosoup's films on my iPhone 4. This has only been made possible because of an excellent little app called 'Splice' (with occasional use of the phone's 'iMovie'). Whilst I am pleased with the results and would highly recommend the Splice app, I am aware that this cannot continue.

Whether through the inevitable decline of the hardware - one day my phone will break -, or a change to the software - Splice could be pulled from the app store -, I know that this is not a long-term situation.

What's more, not only do I want to continue to produce high quality and (though I do say so my self) entertaining content, I want to improve! I would like to be able to produce films in 720p HD, rather than iPhone's 480p. I long to be able to edit on my laptop, not my phone - to see the volume levels rather than having to guess at their intensity on a slider. I desire to break free from the confines of filming with a phone in a studio to filming on-location, maybe with a tripod and an external mic...

But mostly, I want Archaeosoup to continue to develop without an enforced hiatus when my phone, four year old computer or both break(s) down.

This is where I am slightly stuck.

Archaeosoup, though increasingly popular, is still only starting out as a company and my turn-over is not even impressive enough to flip a mattress!

I would very much appreciate your thoughts, ideas and suggestions as to how to proceed!

How could I go about raising funds?

Do you happen to know of a particularly good/ value-for-money camera model which I should aim to get?

Why computers are the best for editing film?

What about editing suites? Which are good, which should I avoid?

If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please feel free to comment below or email me at: archaeosoup@gmail.com

Does Archaeology Make You a Better Person?

Recently, I responded to a very interesting Question of Doom, 'Does Archaeology Make You a Better Person?'

Initially, the subject of the email struck me as a slightly odd question... 'Better than whom?' Indeed Mrs. Soup, coming from a Classical Historian's perspective, took slight offence... 'Better than a Classicist?'

However, this first response was rendered mute as I read the rest of the email. The question was asked in the context of the notion of 'walking a mile in the shoes of another' and how that 'can make you a better person'.

The more I considered this QoD, the more I realised that Archaeology does, or at least has the potential to have an effect upon how one sees the world. More than this, it became clear that in many ways Archaeology has a very real effect upon how I live my life!

Other ways of life/ Tolerance:

Anthropology and Archaeology exposes us to other ways of life.

Whether through the study of other modern human cultures or through the study and reconstruction of historical and prehistorical cultures, Anthropology and Archaeology have the potential to challenge us.

I still remember the first time I heard about the notion of ‘exposure’ platforms close to Neolithic Monuments where human remains could be exposed to the elements and animals to be ritually cleaned to the bones. This was shocking… There was no other word for it. I was a young man and nothing like that had ever occurred to me. Burial, cremation, even mummification but an exposure platform!? This was bizarre to me, or rather my culture! But it was most certainly a fascinating notion.

Through such exposures (no pun intended), I believe I have become far more open to the simple fact that ‘other people live in other ways’ and in turn I have become a more tolerant person than I might have been without those experiences.

Awareness of Legacy:

Archaeologists are probably more aware than most of the legacy of things.

The smallest of facts can completely change how a site/ artefact/ person is viewed in Archaeology and frequently these facts (which are often preserved with extreme bias) will come to define those finds.

In this instance, I think of ‘The Shaman’ and kiln at Dolni Vestonice. Here, a rather curious covered clay kiln with around 2,000 figurines was found. The figures had either been deliberately smashed or engineered to explode in the heat of the fire. This might have been linked with shamanistic rituals… But may not have. Who knows what evidence has NOT been preserved?


If a few broken figurines and an oven can invoke the impression of magical machinations, who knows what details from our lives/ our time will be preserved and what they will say about who, what and how we were? This is another way in which Archaeology can effect one’s life.

The Context of Time:

An Archaeologist is more likely to be aware of the context of time for everyday life.


The depth of time studied by Archaeologists is fairly difficult to imagine, however it does put a different perspective on words like 'modern', 'different', 'forever', 'olden days', 'original' and 'native' etc.


For example, it often makes me chuckle when I think of those who complain about immigration into Britain. Some extreme folk have even gone so far as to claim that they are the 'Aboriginals' of these islands, being overrun by others. Disregarding the ultimate fact that even Aboriginals had to 'move in' to Australia - Britain, arguably has NO natives!


If one looks far enough back in time, much of the land which became the British Isles was uninhabitable. The famous remains discovered at Cheddar Gorge show people living more-or-less at the limit of human endurance. These people had potentially been forced into cannibalism when the reindeer populations crashed. Any further North, it seems that for a time the environment was inhospitable.


And before that... It's fairly clear that Homo Sapiens are the definition of a migratory species, populating the world from 'other places'.


Archaeology offers a time perspective on life which is hard to gain in other professions.

Environmental Issues/ Recycling:

The study of Humanity's past is also the study of our environment through time.


Archaeologists must investigate whole environments, worlds, which in some cases no longer exist, in an attempt to better understand past societies. This not only makes Archaeology a compelling and varied subject to study but also provides insight into the fact that our world is constantly changing.


Global warming! This, next to war and economics has come to the define the age in which we live. It is the spectre which causes debate, concern, denial and even fear more readily than most. However, an Archaeologist knows that the situation, for better or worse, is far from simple.


Some of the earliest lessons we learn are about the climatic and geological eras which have informed our environment. We learn that the world is in constant shift, that there are warming and cooling periods and that therefore there will always be species who are losing their environments...


However we also understand that our particular warming period is an odd one. We have put back the next ice age by around 1,500 years because of the myriad of activities which we have adopted which change the world - heating it up. We also learn that such activities are not new! It is possible to see the effect of the Roman empire upon the world's atmosphere in ice cores which record the moment that lead smelting expanded to unprecedented levels. We learn that we do effect the environment in which we live and that we may well fall victim to such action.


Despite this Archaeologists are also privy to the fact that we have survived through extraordinary climatic shifts. The people of Palaeolithic Europe, in particular the Gravettian people were incredibly well adapted to the harsh environmental conditions in which they lived. A combination of knowledge, technology, recycling, patience and guile preserved people through times which we cannot readily imagine. It has been stated that living in the far north is a bizarre thing for, essentially, a tropical ape to attempt. However we have managed it because of the buffer we have created between the environment and ourselves... Culture... Technology.


Archaeologists have reason to care for the environment, to understand that we effect the world in ways which can be hard to accept. However they are also equipped with the knowledge that change happens and that human beings have the potential to survive through almost anything... This balance between stewardship and stoicism is a way of life which can be born of Archaeology.

Critique, free thinking and abstract thought:

If nothing else, the exposure to other people, places, times and environments which the study of Archaeology affords us allows Archaeologists to bring those experiences to bear upon modern life.


Archaeologists are acutely aware that things have not always been 'like this' and that therefore they don't have to stay 'like this'.


A pertinent point of criticism is the economic system to which we all (apparently) submit ourselves. This is not the place to go into a detailed rant about the bizarre phenomenon that is modern money. However it is clear from the past that there are other ways of trading... Not least to trade with value, rather than debt!

The practice of undermining the value of currency is an old one. It began with the desire to make more coins by adding base metals to, say, a silver penny in order to make the silver go a little further. Eventually, an enterprising soul in Italy decided that it was ok to simply 'promise' gold with a piece of paper and based upon this promise the real value of what was available could not only be hidden but also multiplied in a very short time when debts were repaid... So that eventually we no longer traded in value ie I will give you this for that, rather we traded (and continue to trade) in debt... the promise to eventually fulfil the value of the coin/ note in your wallet.


Whilst it may be pie-in-the-sky to call for a re-imagining of the entire economic system, Archaeologists and Anthropologists are aware of any number of economic alternatives. Some based upon gift giving, others based upon the perceived value of certain plentiful or rare objects... The Aztecs valued feathers over gold! However, almost none of these alternatives call for the levels of debt, or indeed perpetual growth, which modern economics relies upon. As Kenneth E Boulding said: "Anyone who believes in indefinite growth in anything physical, on a physically finite planet, is either mad or an economist."


While Archaeologists may not be able to offer 'the answer', they can most certainly ask 'the question' or imagine 'the other' which puts modern assuptions under a keen spotlight. This may be a skill more readily developed amongst Prehistorians, but the ability to think in an abstract fashion about evidence presented is invaluable to any Archaeologist and arguably society itself!

So... There you have it. Some thoughts (in addition to the video) on how Archaeology has the potential to make our lives better, if not make those who are open to such concepts 'better people'.


I certainly feel that I benefit from being an Archaeologist.


But don't let it go to your head, fellow Archaeologists! For example, I am incredibly clumsy (arguably because I am day dreaming about the past), I couldn't run a marathon and I have not got the answer to world peace... Better... Not perfect!

I'm off for a cuppa :)

Pub Dig: A Quick Review...

Two things have occurred in the days since Mrs Soup returned from Hospital and embarked upon her recovery:

1) I have become Convalescence Facilitator Extraordinaire!

2) We have been indulging in a hole host of recorded television programmes via our Tele-Box.

In particular we have been watching loads of Time Team and a new series called 'Pub Dig', or rather (to give it its full title) 'Rory McGrath's Pub Dig'. Initially we did not really take to it, however I am happy to report that this series has grown upon the folks here at Archaeosoup Towers!

Paul Blinkhorn (left), Rory McGrath (right)

The premise is simple: Rory, a hairy comedian and television personality who self-confessedly knows little about history and even less about archaeology has teamed up with 'biker archaeologist' and pottery supremo Paul Blinkhorn to traverse the country in search of historical pubs, ale houses and taverns. Such a sentence alone is enough to prick the ears of many an archaeologist, but Pub Dig doesn't stop there! As its name implies not only do they visit these wonderful establishments, they dig in the environs (sometimes the beer garden itself) to investigate the history of Britain through a pair of well established beer goggles.

So far, we have watched three episodes of Pub Dig and with each our appreciation of this new format is growing.

In the first episode they arrived in Chatham, the ancient Royal Naval hub to investigate the grounds of the Command House. The excavation was fairly successful, though they did make a huge leap from the artefacts recovered to a fully reconstructed warehouse and port in-let of the time of Henry VIII.

The second episode saw the team journey to Ye Olde Smugglers Inn, Alfriston, East Sussex where they were on the trail of smugglers and contraband substances ranging from gin to tea (both of which Mrs Soup appreciates and doubtless were she alive in the early C19th would either have been involved in criminal activity or availing herself of their services in order to procure them). This episode was fascinating. The team did not push the evidence too far, nor did they attempt to re-write the history of the area. Rather, they responded to the enthusiasm of the Inn's owner and helped to establish a story of more than 10,000 years of human occupation on the site. This was great news for the County archaeologist who was impressed with the work and was happy to share a pint with the team.

It is worth mentioning that in each episode the relationship between Pub Dig, the archaeological authorities and the community is clearly important. The team is eager that their work has a modest legacy for the understanding of the area and the viewer is brought into the world of the archaeologist. Rather than being beaten over the head with due diligence and self-aggrandising process, we are casually assured (and confident) that the team have proceeded professionally... and we are offered a pint at the end of the day.

Unfortunately we missed the third episode due to a technical fault with our Tele-Box (though we plan to catch it online as soon as we can).

The fourth episode of the season was filmed in Banbury (Yay, that place of the infamous cross). This episode was the most interesting so far and the reason we felt compelled to review the series. We were told from the outset that the Medieval town had been 'vaporised' by the English Civil War and that there had been no significant Medieval archaeology discovered in the area. With this in mind the excavation proceeded and was quickly halted at the 'Unicorn' pub by a errant water pipe. The team decided instead to concentrate on 'Ye Olde Reine Deer' towards the centre of the Civil War battle field. We would hate to spoil this episode by giving away the ending, save to say that some superb archaeological and buildings investigation led to the Medieval period in Banbury being re-instated.

Dispersed throughout each of the episodes are insights into the lifestyles of people in the period which is being investigated. These insights are brought to us via Rory in an entertaining and humorous way, though always with good reason. For example in Banbury they brought in some Civil War re-enactors to establish how accurate a musket might have been across the battle field (possibly effecting the function of the building in question). At no time does one feel patronised by the presenters, rather Rory is an interested and enthusiastic amateur who is guided through conceptual mine-fields by a reassuring, relaxed and informative Paul Blinkhorn. The viewer feels they are learning with Rory and that no one is brandishing their expertise with too much force or sobriety!

It is also refreshing to see a more constructive relationship between the 'time limit' on site and the work of the archaeologists. One gets the impression that there is not a frenzy of activity on the 'last day' in order to achieve a pre-defined conclusion. Rather we are shown when a trench comes to a dead-end without dramatic reference to the impending 'X day limit'.

'You must be Zen grasshopper' Paul Blinkhorn.


So far, here at Archaeosoup Towers we are much impressed with the realistic tone, goals and beer-lust featured in Pub Dig. We look forward to more Pub Digs as the series unfolds.

Cash for Access & Archaeology: Why Does it Matter?

Over the weekend, former Conservative Party fund raiser Peter Cruddas was forced to resign following a sting operation by the Sunday Times. He was recorded stating that for £250,000, it is possible to gain 'Premier League' access to the Prime Minister, to dine with him in his residence and to have policy suggestions fed to the Conservative Policy Planning Committee.

Why does this matter?

Well, in the coming days, the Government is set to announce the new Planning Policy framework. This is a crucial piece of legislation affecting the way Archaeologists work. Since 1990, a framework of Planning Policy Guidance has existed in the UK. It was produced by the UK Government to advise local planning authorities in England and Wales on the treatment of archaeology within the planning process. This followed a controversial development in the heart of London which threatened to destroy the well preserved remains of Shakespeare's famous Rose Theatre, it was a crucial form of intervention which set out a legal process through which the goals of the developer and the requirements of the archaeologist could be balanced and met.

In recent years, a review of this legislation has been in the pipeline, started under the previous Government, it sought to re-assess the effectiveness of the PPG and modify the legislation where necessary. Archaeologists have been anxiously awaiting the results of this review as it will have a direct effect upon how much archaeology survives and the thresholds by which the importance of a potential site is gauged.

The weekend's revelations have thrown this legislation into, at best, a tumultuous position as it has been alleged that the Prime Minister's ear (and thus possible policy change) has been for sale! This is particularly alarming when one considers that the two largest donors to the Coservative Party since May 2010 have certainly had a vested interest in the outcome of the new Planning Policy legislation:

• Mark J C Bamford and JCB Research- Suppliers of Construction Equipment: £1.5 million.

• David Rowland- Property and Finance: £1.2 million.

(Figures from the Sunday Times 25-03-2012, Includes donations to the No2AV Campaign).

At best, this throws the outcome of the Planning Policy review into a questionable light and at worst it implies that the results of the review may have been a drawn conclusion from the beginning. This comes in the context of various high profile Tory Ministers and Council leaders hinting that Planning Policy needs to be relaxed to make life easier for developers.

At Archaeosoup Towers, we support the Mortimer Campaign's call for the Policy to be withdrawn pending a full review of how it has been drafted. Click here to join Mortimer's Facebook Page, here to visit their website and here to read their Press Release on this important issue.

Archaeosoup.

As Promised, Archaeosoup's Film List...

Hurrah, I have finally found a reason to kick-off the Archaeosoup Blog!

If you follow Archaeosoup on YouTube, you may have seen the ‘Questions of Doom’ in which I attempted to answer the question ‘Which films are most historically accurate?’

To see that Video click here.

Well, ofcourse, such a question leads to an entirely subjective response and I decided to trawl through Archaeosoup Tower’s collection of 450ish DVDs and as I did, it occurred to me that it is possible for a ‘Historical’ film to succeed (or fail) on many different levels.

So, in the video I promised that I would make available the lists of films I had made under various criteria of success/ failure and these are they:

Films/ Makers I respect:

Ridley Scott: Gladiator (2000), Kingdom of Heaven (2005)… Less so, Robin Hood (2010).

Peter Weir: Master and Commander (2003), The Way Back (2010)

Both Scott and Weir have a talent for marrying historical research (give or take a dead king in Kingdom of Heaven) with a good story. I appreciate the way they approach the past as a ‘lived in’ past, rather than a distant and alien land.

Last Samurai (2003) This and other films offer a glimpse at a time and place which one might, otherwise, never examine.

It is also worth while mentioning films which actually feature footage from the period in question. The one which springs to mind is The Sands of Iwo Jima (1949). This film featured footage shot by marines on the island during combat! I guess you cannot really get more authentic than that!

Films which make you ‘feel’ like people might have in the past:

300 (2006)

A puffed up super-human, proud vision of Greek identity which may even have impressed Herodotus!

Knight’s Tale (2001)

An insight into the way people may have felt about sporting events and dances in the Medieval period. Excitement translated through music. Also… A remarkable vision of Chaucer ;p

Beowulf (2007)

Proud, epic and bombastic in a similar way to ‘300’, good despite the stone-built castle!

Beowulf & Grendel (2005)

A fascinating Scandinavian take on the epic poem. Different focus to the more ‘Hollywood’ version of 2007.

Pathfinder (2007)

What led the monks of Britain to cry out in fear of ‘the fury of the Northmen’? This over-the-top film gives you an insight into how it may have felt to be attacked by Norse Raiders.

Exposure to Grim History:

Black Death (2010)

Not only does it star Sean Bean, but it also has an unrelenting sense of dirge and drudge. We are exposed to the horrors of plague, religious discrimination, sexism, torture, perceptions of witch-craft and it just doesn’t stop! I may only watch this film a couple of times because it is so very grim, but it’s great for it.

Centurion (2010)

This film is based upon the myth of the Roman Legion which left York for ‘North of the Wall’ never to be seen again. Though it has been shown to be a myth, this story is no less gripping as it explores guerrilla war, frontier life, political intrigue, betrayal and issues of occupation in a far flung reach of the Empire.

Terrible ‘History’ in films:

AVP (Alien Vs Predator) (2004)

A mediocre film in which it is claimed that ‘an original culture’ is responsible for pyramids and ziggurats around the world… Not to mention the bizarre Rubik’s Cube nature of the starring monument!

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (2010)

Made by the producers of Pirates of the Caribbean, this film is fun at times. However, as for Historical accuracy, it is terrible.

Troy (2004)

This film is better as the ‘Director’s Cut’ and could have been superb! The Director is a huge fan of Homer’s epic and aimed to do it justice. Unfortunately, it falls short (quite literally in terms of the depicted length of the war) but it also has a ham-fisted ‘dramatic’ sounds track and… Iron weapons being used in an age of Bronze. Watchable but flawed.

Alexander (2004)

Much like Troy, this film could have been wonderful. They had the help of an Oxford academic (in return for being allowed to ride in a Cavalry charge) but this film about Alexander ‘The Great’ was anything but! A stodgy story and questionable design choices were compounded by the decision to make Alexander and his ‘crew’ sound like dodgy Irish Tar-Mac salesmen! Even Mrs Soup (proudly Northern Irish and a Classicist) was horrified by the choice. Yes the actors were, for the most part, Irish but seriously… Just look at Michael Fassbender to see an Irish actor who knows when NOT to ham-it-up!

My Cheesey Favourites:

Most of these films are not historically accurate but I love them all the same. Either for the way they invoke the past/ folk stories and literature, how the make me feel or just because they’re good clean fun!

Conan the Barbarian (1982) (The 1984 Destroyer and the 2011 version don’t exist ;p)

Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001 – 2003)

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Dragonheart (1996)

First Knight (1995)

From Hell (2001)

Highlander (1986) (Sequels don’t count)

Life of Brian (1979)

National Treasure (2004)

Zulu (1964)

Outlander (2008)

Stargate (1994)

Timeline (2003)

So there you have it! These are the films which I plucked from the Archaeosoup Towers DVD collection and the reasons why I like, question or find myself having to tolerate them…

This also marks the end of the first post in the Archaeosoup Blog. I may even start to Blog from here on in… We shall see!

Time for a cup of tea…