Archaeology Day update from Gothenburg University!

So, today I attended the annual Archaeology Day at my old university, the University of Gothenburg. I sadly could only be there for two thirds of the day due to other work appointments, but it was an assorted collection of archaeology that I had to enjoy for the time I was there.

A picture of the humanist section of Gothenburg University

I would say we were at least 100 archaeologists from around western Sweden that had found our way to the big auditorium for Gothenburg Universitys humanity students. We covered neolithic living and farming conditions, results and questions from different excavation sites, medieval clothes, methods that through 3D rendering allows in depth analysis of petroglyphs and new ways to present a historical landscape through mixed reality representations.
Over all a very interesting and fruitful day, I'd say.

The two presentations that grabbed my attention the most, even though all was interesting, was one about (and this is a direct translation) "Trans-medial narratives and interactive digital presentation techniques" and the presentation of the conservation of a leather garment found during the excavation of Nya Lödöse last summer.

The trans-medial narrative presentation was about the new rest stop that is being built by the World Heritage area in Tanum, Sweden, and how the region, museum and Interactive Institute has developed a plan for this rest stop to be a portal or gateway into the World Heritage area for visitors.
It involved a few very cool ideas, there will be an museum of sorts at the rest stop for visitors to view, audio guides to guide visitors 'into the landscape' but also, and this got me really excited, a kind of 'bronze age binocular" where the viewer steps up to what looks like an ordinary view point binocular, but in this binocular is a small smartphone based computer which also shows interesting cultural 'hotspots' in the landscape. If the viewer lingers on one of these spots, an animation of the place's story will start.

They apparently first look at a Oculus Rift kind of solution, but that is very specialized kind of hardware so they worked out a simpler and easier to tend to solution for this based on modern smartphones. It all seems really cool, and I hope it works out great.

This kind of mixed reality could really do wonders for the presentation of sites that are not monumental in their design themselves. It allows to showcase the difference in landscape, sea levels and flora and fauna compared to the landscape today and since they have used no audio nor textual context in the device (except for dates for the hotspots) it hopefully builds over the language problems that could had been there otherwise.
I hope it gets to be free from vandals and others destroying it, but they said they had thought about those kind of ideas and will work to prevent vandalism or sheer weather to make the device dysfunctional, which is nice. I like when people go in prepared for trouble on these kind of things.

I so hope this project turns out good, it is a very good concept and I will surely stop and take a look for myself when I go up there again!

But enough time travel now! Or kind of... The leather garments of Nya Lödöse was a thrilling story when I first heard they had been found, even more now when we have things to tell about them thanks to the hard work of archaeologists and conservationists. For people proficient in Swedes, or who are not above Google Translates translations, I'd recommend the projects own blog updates on the subject; Part 1 and Part 2 can be found on the links!

We are talking about a 16th century leather garment, which was found during the excavations in 2014 of  Nya Lödöse. It was a very interesting excavation over all since one of the areas from this medieval town (the predecessor for Gothenburg) was the old cemetery.
Beside this leather garment they also found a still intact coffin with it's residence, a 30-35 year old male found with no burial gifts nor preserved textiles, a child's grave with a ferule in its grave, and a few grave goods associated with christian pilgrims such as a rosemary, a mandala and a special kind of crucifix.  Otherwise it was a 'ordinary' kind of cemetery for medieval Sweden with few goods buried with the deceased, also the soil and these kind of elements makes preservation conditions here hard for textiles and other kinds of sensitive materials.

For this talk we got a almost step by step explanation on how they had picked up the garment in sitú and through careful in-studio-excavation removed it from the body, and how the only traces of earlier textiles or threads were indentures in the sand and mud on the find itself. I tried to take some photos of the power point during the talk, because they were fascinating, but I'm afraid they turned out so-so in quality.

It seems to be some kind of jacket though, we have the remains of two arms and the back of the garment. From the sketches and interpretations of the people working on the find it fits fairly neatly into late 16th century fashion. It seems to be similar to the jacket Nils Sture wore for his execution in 1567, although not as fancy.

The clothes Svante, Nils and Erik Sture wore to their execution in 1567.

Photo:Anders Damberg  / Geobild

There are no traces of buttons, but plenty for holes for lacing the jacket together and the traces and holes from the stitching tells of at least good craftsmanship. I'm looking forward to hear more about this and possibly see the sketches that they can generate when the rest of the work is done!

I look forward to the next Archaeology Day already, and hope to see even more familiar faces in the years to come!

Visiting Piercebridge Roman Fort and Bridge

The Bathhouse complex at Piercebridge, Co. Durham.
Note: houses and gardens to the West, a church to the North.

On Saturday afternoon, Mrs Soup and I (and Indy the dog) visited the Roman fort, vicus and bridge at Piercebridge, a small village in County Durham.

Reconstruction of bath house and courtyard building.

The fort was investigated by archaeologists from Durham University in the 1970s. They were able to excavate a portion of the South Eastern section of the fort, including the Eastern gate, a bathhouse complex and a courtyard building. The courtyard building comprised of four wings arranged around a central courtyard which was later divided into two.

Running along the Western boundary of the site are a series of houses and gardens (see above) which are seemingly built on top of the majority of the Roman fort. The thought occurred to me that I would love to own one of those houses... the possibility for a Roman excavation in your own garden - haha!

Durham University not only excavated the site but also consolidated much of the stonework with concrete. If I am honest, this concrete hasn't aged well and in places it is clear that it was needlessly slathered on in the name of 'conservation'. Despite this, the over-all state of the site is impressive, not least the defensive ditches which would have run along the exterior of the Eastern wall (see below).

Defensive ditches at Piercebridge Roman fort site.

Reconstruction of vicus at Piercebridge.

Further East, beyond a stone boundary wall is the field where the vicus settlement was located. The settlement sprang up by a river crossing on Dere Street (the main road between York and Hadrian's Wall) around AD100. The settlement expanded around AD210 when the timber bridge was replaced by another further down stream. The population grew and more buildings spread around the crossing when the fort, whose remains were excavated, was built around AD260.

Sadly, there is little evidence of the vicus above ground today and as we emerged beyond the stone wall an icy rain began to drive in, we didn't investigate the field further. Instead we continued around towards the River Tees and across to the south side of the river. A little along from the fort are the remains of a Roman bridge.

It has been around 1,800 years since the Romans built their bridge(s) and in that time, the river has shifted its course to the North. Despite this it is still possible to see the shallows in line with where the Romans decided to build.

The shallows (where the water is rippling over stones) are in line with the Roman bridge.

The movement of the flow of the river was a fortunate development for archaeologists who benefited from the slow burial and subsequent discovery of the lower portions of stone piers and abutments during gravel quarrying operations in 1972.

Stone piers and abutments on the South side of the River Tees.

Reconstruction of the bridge with wooden beams and planks supported by stone abutments.

These were built using large stones with iron cramps and cement, the largest of these (to the South) still stands to two courses and is is very good condition.

The Southern-most abutment.

I was particularly impressed to see the striations upon the blocks which were disturbed by flood water in the years after the bridge collapsed.

It was obvious that the stone had been worked to key in well with cement and on some of the stones, it was possible to see where the iron cramps would have gained their purchase upon the blocks.


As I walked the river, I recalled there having been a field trip to this site when I was at Durham University - however I missed out due to illness (and having an essay due). Despite the weather, it was a pleasure to finally make it to Piercebridge and take a look around. I really enjoyed seeing the relationship between the fort, the river and the bridge and observing the way the modern village of Piercebridge has developed around the ruins.