2016 at Archaeosoup Towers...

Well it's that time of the year again. Christmas and New Year's Eve have come and gone and I am preparing to look back on 2015 in this year's Annual Round Up video.

We had a lovely Christmas at Archaeosoup Towers.

As always I'll be reflecting, along with the Archaeosoup team, on the past year for Archaeosoup but also for the world of archaeology.

Obviously, I don't want to spoil the content of that video here but there is a thread of thought which has come to the fore in the past couple of days, particularly in conversation with Mrs Soup. She has reminded me that among notions of planning, preparedness, action and intent there has to be fun!

Archaeosoup's endeavours have always been at their best when they are driven by moments of inspiration, genuine interest and fun! This is something which had slightly slipped out of the 'soup for me in 2015.

2015 unfolded in exciting and unexpected ways, throughout the year I found myself increasingly busy in both planned and entirely unexpected ways. In the times when I could actually sit down and plan potential projects, I would try to think about what 'people want' from, in particular, Archaeosoup videos, a menu of-sorts... As you can imagine, this is a somewhat oxymoronic train of thought because people clearly want more 'soup and the 'soup is at its best when warm and prepared by an enthusiastic chef - haha! No Menu, just the best and freshest Soup of the day!

So, there you have it - If last year's goal was a 'year of action', this year's goal will be a 'year of fun' (along with action and more frequent blog posts - haha).

So here's to 2016 and whatever it may bring!!!

Archaeology - Standing in the Way of Progress?

Earlier today I came across a short news article about the destruction of two temples in the Walled City area of Old Jaipur to make way for the Metro system corridor proposed from Chandpole to Badi Chaupar. The temple sites were apparently centuries old and the destruction has been the focus of protests by local citizens. Already, people on Social Media are decrying this as a hideous act, destruction of cultural heritage and cynical expansionism in the modern world.

Image: Dainik Bhaskar

Idols and statues have been removed from the sites and the demolition work has been subject to a decision by the High Court, deciding in favour of the plans to create the Metro corridor which will see the destruction of 13 temples. Only 6 priests have agreed to the action.

Initially, upon reading the article from the Times of India, I was outraged! 'How could they?'

However, very quickly, thoughts drifted a little closer to home - the Metro and train network in Newcastle upon Tyne...

Newcastle is, surprisingly enough, named after a Castle and Keep started as a wooden motte and bailey around AD 1080 and built in stone between 1172 and 1250. This eponymous castle is an impressive structure and the first time I saw it, it made a strong impression on me.

It was not the architecture of this fortress which surprised me though, rather the proximity of the railway to the castle struck me as bizarre! 'How on earth did anyone get permission to do that?' I wondered. The main rail line between Edinburgh and London not only runs past the Castle Keep but smashes its way through the bailey of the castle, splitting the keep from the Black Gate, the bailey!

After enquiring with friends I was even more aghast to learn that the Newcastle Central Station not only lies over a section of Hadrian's Wall but is, in part, constructed from masonry lifted from what is now a UNESCO monument!

 

Newcastle Central Station: Green Newcastle Keep and Bailey: Red

Why was this allowed to happen? 'Because of the needs and priorities of society at the time!' came the response. The Victorians of Newcastle were enterprising, forward thinking and embracing a world of enterprise which not only connected them with the world via the River Tyne but which demanded decent and reliable access north and south to the capitals of England and Scotland.

The challenge was then issued: 'Can you imagine Britain, economically, politically, geographically, if this hadn't been allowed to happen?' Of-course, I could not imagine it - haha! For years, I depended on this section of rail network to get to University in Durham. It was (and is) the only reason I even first went to Newcastle - because the train could take me!

Mock-Gothic archway, built as a C19th rail-solution to the
'choking' effect of Medieval town walls - Conwy, North Wales.

At their inception, these changes were riding the crest of a technological and societal wave - Towns and cities across the UK faced huge and exciting challenges when considering how they would handle the clashing interests of the old world and the new.

Towns such as York, Conwy and Chester negotiated these challenges in interesting and variously inventive or sensitive ways. Newcastle (whether because the people were forward-looking or because it was the 'unimportant' North East of England) changed rather more dramatically with dramatic, destructive (as well as creative) consequences. It was just a matter of time and place...

Hopefully, the link in my rambling is clear: It occurs to me that maybe this is that time/ place for the Metro network of Jaipur? Naturally, senseless and reckless destruction should always be opposed but should archaeologically or religiously significant sites stand in the way of infrastructure which will benefit people now and well into the future? Or perhaps, having trod that path already, other parts of the world should learn from our 'solutions', the successes and the mistakes?

This is one of the most important questions facing people who love history and who work with archaeology. The issues are complex and the answers are not straightforward but so long as we are wrestling with these questions, we can be sure that our perspective will not become stuffy and antiquated - We won't need to be brushed aside to make way for the 'new'!

- Mr Soup.

Tidy Office, Tidy Mind!

Hello, my name is Mr Soup and it has been many days since my last confess... er... Blog post - haha.

It has been a very busy time here at Archaeosoup Towers. However, the strange thing about being busy at Archaeosoup is the nature of the busy-ness. At times like this, there's always something to do!

In the past couple of months, I have been commissioned to produce
Mayan and Tudor Medicine workshops.

In the past six weeks, I have been working on various projects, delivering workshops, filming and editing videos, meeting with potential and current clients, talking to possible future colleagues and trying to fit in life around it all.

Now, I am not complaining - far from it! For the most part I love the different types of work which we do at Archaeosoup. It does, however, have a slight draw-back... clutter.

Last week, things came to a head when I found myself tripping over the sum total of detritus from the various 'pots' I currently have had on the boil. I was particularly annoyed when I caught my ankle in a hangman's noose and spilled a lovingly prepared cup of tea all over a stack of books (most of which survived unscathed). I sat on the chair a looked at the tangled mess of workshop materials, filming equipment, papers and artefacts and I sighed... Something had to change!

In recent days I have become a little bit addicted to the YouTube channel 'Tested', notably starring Adam Savage (as seen on Mythbusters). This remarkable showcase of geekery, machine workshop space and warehouse is one of my definitions of heaven. After my experience with the hangman's noose, it occurred to me - 'What would Adam do?' The answer is be smart about the space!

So... Mrs Soup and I spent Saturday afternoon sorting through the office. It sounds like common sense in hindsight, but we soon realized that much of the equipment and 'stuff' which we had unthinkingly moved straight in, didn't really need to be in here. The green screen, for example, is rarely used in videos and more often than not sees service 'on the road'... Couldn't it be stored elsewhere? The small stack of cables and wires for electrical equipment from around the house - Why was it in here? And what on earth did we need two old 'point and shoot' cameras for at all? In fact where did those old things come from!? So... What have I learned?

Untidy and cluttered office = untidy and cluttered mind!

Tidy and sorted office = a much more tidy and relaxed mind!

Anyway, here is the shiny new, sorted, office. Every thing has a place, every drawer has a function and every book is up on the shelves.

Also - I can see the floor... The floor!

We even found a use for one of three perspex cubes which neighbors gave us (possibly) for use in the garden. It now holds tripods, light fixtures and cameras - This makes me happy.

Anyway, this has been one of those 'check in'/ stream of consciousness blog posts, but it's a blog post none-the-less!

My next post will be about doing a workshop or something - Promise ;p

- Mr Soup.

Epiacum Molehill Survey

Last Thursday I headed over to Cumbria to take part in a molehill survey with the group
Altogether Archaeology. They focus largely on the archaeology of the North Pennines,
which usually means about an hour's travelling for me (if not more) in order to reach a
majority of the sites.

An aerial view of Epiacum. Note how prominent the “lumps and bumps” are!

The molehill survey allowed us to investigate a highly important, but not very well known Roman fort, named Epiacum. Epiacum is situated at Whitley Castle, approximately 2km north of Alston. The Maiden Way runs past the fort, and it is thought that this road was constructed due to lead and silver mining in the North Pennines.

Epiacum is a scheduled ancient monument, so it is illegal to do any sort of excavation or disturbance without consent. However, the moles have been incredibly helpful. Throughout the year, they frequently bring up artefacts and evidence of what life was like on the fort.

It is then the job of the archaeologists and volunteers to systematically investigate the molehills.
A grid is plotted using canes, with each square measuring approximately 10x10 metres. Measuring out the grids is the hardest part, due to the earthworks where the buildings once stood. Everyone is then split into groups. This depends on numbers, so we were split into small groups of 3. The molehills are then sieved and any finds are placed into a small bag with the site details and appropriate grid reference written on. These finds are then plotted onto a large-scale plan of the site.

Thankfully, the weather was glorious; the sun shone all day and the heat was pretty intense for being up in the hills in March! Unfortunately, I didn't take any photographs of my finds (I was too busy concentrating to even think about it at the time), but the artefacts I unearthed included various sherds of pottery (mostly samian ware) and some nails. These artefacts came from the barracks, the principia (or headquarters building), the road outside the fort leading to the north gate, and from the ditches next to the north gate. Other volunteers investigated more of the barracks, the principia, and the bath house. Although the moles have been very active recently, we didn't find as much as we would have like.

The view across the fort and the valley (taken during coffee break!)

Taking part in a molehill survey for the first time was really fun, and I would love to do it again. Sadly, this was the final year of the project at Epiacum, but who knows, it may start up again. On Wednesday, I will be heading back over to Cumbria to take part in the excavation of Long Meg and Her Daughters. I'll try and take more photographs, and I'll definitely be blogging the experience!

Bethany

PLEASE NOTE: If you visit Whitley Castle, please do not pick up any objects or disturb the ground; it is strictly illegal to do so. Should you find anything lying on the ground surface at any of the ancient monuments in the North Pennines, please report them to the AONB's Historic Environment Officer as soon as possible.

Pseudoarchaeology, banana bread & wine!

Yesterday evening, I gave a lecture to Newcastle University Archaeology Society. I turned up (just about) on time and was warmly welcomed with a handshake, the offer of wine and... Some home-made banana bread! If there's one thing which will put me immediately at ease, it's banana bread haha.

The lecture seemed to go rather well. I was there to talk about 'The importance of being earnest' as in 'demanding serious attention' from the world in the face of various pseudo and 'alternative' archaeological narratives.

We touched on the various ways we can all slip into being a pseudoarchaeologist - Ranging from lacking the confidence to say 'I don't know' and making up a response to a direct question, to needing something to be true, to even state collusion in perpetuating fraud... I'm looking at you 'Pyramids in Bosnia' - Haha!

We also examined recent events in Mosul as a kind of pseudoarchaeological narrative - insisting that history and the world should be edited in line with one's agenda is never good!

The talk seemed to be well received :)

Afterwards, a few of us went to a pub around the corner for a follow up gab. We touched on everything from gender norms re-enforced by children's toys to the merits of Cornish identity and even what we can learn from the porn industry about the Bronze  to Iron technological transition... That's a subject for a future post me-thinks.

The evening was a pleasure, thanks for having me Newcastle!

- Mr Soup.

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.