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- Issue 61. Mints not Mines: a macroscale investigation of Roman silver
coinage
Abstract: Although silver coins have been investigated through the lens of geological provenance to locate argentiferous ore deposits exploited in their production, we consider that this avenue of research may be a cul-de-sac, especially for studies that rely heavily on deciphering lead and silver isotope signatures that may have been altered by the addition of lead and copper (and their associated impurities) during silver refining and debasement, and by ancient recycling of coinage. Instead, we focus our attention on mints, by analysing the compositions of over 1000 silver coins from the early 1st century BC to AD 100. We propose that lead from the west Mediterranean was used exclusively to refine silver at mints in the West, and that an unknown lead supply (possibly from Macedonia), used in the East by the Late Seleucid ruler Philip I Philadelphus and later Mark Antony, was mixed with western lead. Extensive mixing of lead and/or silver coins is particularly evident under Nero and Vespasian, aligning with historically attested periods of recycling following currency reform. We further propose that coins minted in the kingdom of Mauretania used different lead and silver sources from the majority of coins minted in the western Mediterranean, and that silver coins minted at Tyre are derived from silver refined in the west Mediterranean. Coinage minted at Alexandria is consistent with debasement of recycled Roman denarii, thereby suggesting that denarii were deliberately removed from circulation to mint tetradrachms during the early Imperial Roman period.
- Issue 62. Archaeology and the Natural Environment. EAC symposium
proceedings
Abstract: Human activities affect the natural environment. Rarely, however, do archaeologists and heritage managers take a step further and observe their sites and monuments from the point of view of nature conservation, and to some extent, consider their findings isolated from the natural environment. The perception of the 'naturalness' of a place or landscape varies widely, and there are stark differences in opinion over what might be a supposedly pristine natural environment and a cultivated landscape.
- Issue 61. The Submerged Palaeo-Yare: a review of Pleistocene landscapes
and environments in the southern North Sea
Abstract: The southern North Sea preserves an internationally significant early Middle Palaeolithic finds assemblage that was discovered through aggregate dredging in marine aggregate Licence Area 240 off the coast of Norfolk. Area 240 is part of a regional block of licence areas that have been worked since the 1970s. Significant discoveries from the assemblage in 2007/2008 sparked further investigations. Through geophysical and geoarchaeological assessment the cultural material was found to be associated with a floodplain deposit of the now submerged Palaeo-Yare river system. The Palaeo-Yare catchment extended beyond Area 240 and was present in adjacent aggregate areas, which led to the development of a regional monitoring programme at aggregate wharves to manage and assimilate all new archaeological data. This was supported by a geological review of any new marine geophysical or geotechnical surveys to test hypotheses about context. This process has been ongoing for almost 20 years and here we present a review of all development-led (grey literature) works. The stratigraphic, chronological and landscape context of the important Palaeolithic finds from aggregate licence areas in the southern North Sea are considered in relation to taphonomy and patterns of inhabitation.
- Issue 61. On the Discovery of a Late Acheulean 'Giant' Handaxe from the
Maritime Academy, Frindsbury, Kent
Abstract: This article presents initial results from excavations at Maritime Academy, Frindsbury, which produced several handaxes, two of which can be classed as 'giant handaxes'. Artefacts were recovered from fluvial deposits in the Medway Valley and are thought to date from the Marine Isotope Stage 9 interglacial. This article focuses on the largest of these handaxes and presents metrical data for the artefact and initial comparison with similar artefacts from the British Palaeolithic.
- Issue 61. Feeding Anglo-Saxon England: a bioarchaeological dataset for the
study of early medieval agriculture (Data paper)
Abstract: The FeedSax project combined bioarchaeological data with evidence from settlement archaeology to investigate how, when and why the expansion of arable farming occurred between the 8th-13th centuries in England. It has generated and released a vast, multi-faceted archaeological dataset both to underpin its own published findings and to support further research.
- Issue 61. A Quick Buck: An Early Licensed Whisky Distillery at
Blackmiddens Farm in the Cabrach
Abstract: Blackmiddens Farm distillery, also known as Buck distillery, has recently been the focus of historical research and excavation. At the time of the first season of fieldwork Blackmiddens/Buck was the only farm distillery to have been excavated in the Highlands and Islands. The site represents a short-lived period of distilling in the Scottish Highlands in which whisky-making operated in a legitimate commercial capacity but as a complement to a larger agricultural unit. The excavation of Blackmiddens and historical research into it and the distilleries in the surrounding area have given us an insight into this short but vital transitional phase in the history of whisky-making in the region.
- Issue 61. Stratigraphic Analysis and The Matrix: connecting and reusing
digital records and archives of archaeological investigations
Abstract: Stratigraphic data and relationships form the backbone of all the related archaeological records from each excavated site and, along with the phasing and interpretive information derived through stratigraphic analysis, are essential for chronological modelling, broader synthesis of inter-site phases and periods and, we argue in this paper and elsewhere, stratigraphic data should be a required component in digital archives of the growing body of archaeological information and reports generated through the commercial archaeological sector in the UK and internationally. Not every site has complex stratigraphy, but understanding the nature of the stratigraphy, be that deep or shallow, complex or otherwise, enables researchers to piece together the underlying details of how the excavator(s) arrived at the interpretations they have made about the site. The stratigraphic record, including associated relationships and data, which in the case of complex stratigraphy are usually visualized in the form of a stratigraphic matrix diagram, acts as a primary, if not the primary evidence for how, and in what order, the site was excavated. As such the stratigraphic data can be the key mechanism that enables anyone less familiar with the site, to re-visit and re-use the excavation records; understand what data is most relevant for addressing certain research questions; or grasp the nature of the chronological sequence encountered; and piece together the underlying details of how the excavator(s) arrived at their interpretations. However such records are often only held on paper or as scanned image copies (as PDFs) of matrix diagrams that cannot easily be re-used with all the associated data. This article presents outcomes from The Matrix project (AHRC AH/T002093/1) that address the current problems caused by the lack of standardized approaches to digital archiving of archaeological data using the case study of stratigraphic and phasing data.
- Issue 61. A North-Western Habitat: the Paleoethology and Colonisation of a
European Peninsula (a comprehensive analysis of excavations in Pin Hole
Cave, Creswell Crags)
Abstract: Pin Hole Cave is located within the Creswell Crags limestone gorge in the East Midlands of the United Kingdom. The locality became well known when Quaternary fossil and archaeological remains were discovered within the interior during the 1870s. The cave under went a small excavation in 1875 and then a much larger exploration from 1924 onwards. Despite many publications dealing with the Creswell Caves, Pin Hole Cave has not previously been comprehensively published. This comprehensive publication includes individual descriptions and associated records for over 70,000 finds from the site, reported in the related digital archive, and the cave geomorphic aspects and the details of its excavation and the associated records are described in an attempt to clarify and remove confusion. Access to both sets of data allow a realistic attempt to consider the integrity of the evidence based upon the specific finds and stratigraphic associations. The publication also describes the archaeological and palaeontological finds in their known stratigraphic context. This is used as the basis to consider this unusual and very diverse evidence within a local, regional and European context. The evidence is assessed within the framework of known concepts of modern ecological behaviour to provide a context that might explain such intense activity within this particular Quaternary ecotone.
- Issue 59. Archaeological Excavations on the SCPX Pipeline, Azerbaijan
2013-2018
Abstract: The SCPX pipeline, completed in 2018, follows the line of the earlier BTC and SCP pipelines across Azerbaijan towards Georgia. The project included an archaeological programme that supplemented the discoveries of the earlier two projects. The results were very similar, but were significantly different from the earlier work. The SCPX work was carried out on 48 locations using a team of national and international archaeologists. Chalcolithic material was again found at Poylu, Xocaxan and Aili D'r'. The Kura Araz culture of the early Bronze Age was indicated with burials at Soyuqbulaq and Tovuzçay. The Xocali-G'd'b'y culture of the late Bronze Age early Iron Age is well represented with a cemetery found at Tovuzçay II and the kurgans at Borsunlu Camp. Antique period jar grave cemeteries were found in the Yevlax area at 'mirarx, B'yimsarov, S'm'dabad and Yaldili. Medieval settlement sites were excavated at 'mirarx, Faxrali, L'k and Hacialili. The major discovery of the project was the medieval castle at K'rpiclit'p'. This was a rectangular structure with towers at each corner and evidence of occupation that probably ended with the Mongol invasion. The report is structured as an introduction to the project, with a brief summary of excavations. The detail for each site can be accessed in the report by links to the archive on the ADS website in a similar form to the BTC/SCP project report. The reader can thus access all the information for each site together with detailed analysis of radiocarbon and other analyses of the sites for all the work in that area from the various projects. Taken as a whole, the work on the three projects provides a means to comprehend part of the very broad early history of northwest Azerbaijan.
- Issue 59. Archaeological Research 2014 to 2021: an examination of its
intellectual base, collaborative networks and conceptual language using
science maps
Abstract: A series of six science maps have been created visualising the shape of archaeological research between 2014 and 2021, using metadata from more than 50,000 academic documents. These maps present the intellectual base of the discipline as co-citation networks of sources and of authors, the language of archaeological research as both terms extracted from titles and abstracts and as author keywords, and, lastly, the networks of collaboration created by co-authorship between individuals and institutions. Comparison is made between 2014-2021 and an earlier study examining archaeological research between 2004 and 2013. Archaeology is revealed as a consistently broad and developing subject drawing extensively on methods and approaches from the sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities. It is intrinsically international in practice. Archaeological research is growing at a rate faster than the average for academic research. While there has been progress towards a more diverse community of researchers among those most highly cited, there remain significant issues in the observable diversity between different research areas within the same discipline and sometimes between similar research specialties. Classifications of archaeology by external bodies fail to grasp this diversity of archaeological research. Finally, diversity in terms variants suggests that there is a pressing need for the discipline to take control of its terminology.
- Issue 59. Why Did Cities Evolve in Gharb Al-Andalus' Network analysis as a
potential method for charting city growth
Abstract: The Muslim presence in the Iberian Peninsula has been closely associated with urban centres since the 8th century. Using an approach based on Network Theory, the purpose of this article is to understand and debate the influence that various cities exerted on each other through communication routes during the Islamic presence in the Gharb Al-Andalus – now in modern-day Portugal - and how this influence affected the growth of those cities. This study intends to use statistical analysis based on Network Theory and on its centrality measures in order to build a network of geographical relationships between the cities of the Gharb Al-Andalus. The study of these centrality measures indicates that mutation in the importance of such cities might result from their geographic location, but also by the influence that each city had over the nearest ones. The theory is by measuring the centrality value of a city at a certain moment, it would be possible to indicate the probability that the city would either grow or decline in the subsequent period. This influence on growth was surely due to political, military, religious or commercial contacts but, likewise, by the different ways cities were connected (terrestrial, fluvial and maritime).
- Issue 59. uff, Flint, and Hazelnuts: Final Palaeolithic and Mesolithic
Occupation at Netherhall Road, Maryport, Cumbria
Abstract: Evidence for Final Palaeolithic and Mesolithic occupation at Maryport, Cumbria, was discovered during the excavation of Roman occupation features by CFA Archaeology Ltd. A varied lithic assemblage was recovered including worked flint (55%) and tuff (43%), with the rest consisting of a small amount of chert, chalcedony, and rhyolite. Early occupation, probably dating to the Final Palaeolithic Federmesser-Gruppen, is demonstrated through different technological styles among the lithic assemblage. Three phases of activity were identified from cut features and there was a significant amount of charred hazelnut shell, which gave radiocarbon dates centring around 8200 cal BCE. This site provides the first clear evidence that tuff was exploited directly from sources in the Central Lake District, possibly as early as the Final Palaeolithic. The occupation evidence also demonstrates intensive processing of hazelnuts centring around 8200 cal BCE and lasting for 150–558 years. The dates and occupation span are almost identical to those derived from the Mesolithic structure at Cass ny Hawin 2 on the Isle of Man.
- Issue 59. The High-Status Late Medieval Skull Shaped Relic in Turku
Cathedral, Finland – a study of its origin with oxygen and strontium
isotope analyses
Abstract: The relics and associated reliquaries of Turku Cathedral are among the most significant early Christian artefacts in Finland preserved in situ. Despite their importance, they have not been the focus of scientific enquiry for a number of decades. This study has focused on one skull shaped relic, although the origin and name of its associated saint remains unknown. The relic is the only such example with high-status decoration in the Turku Cathedral collection and is covered with a red silk decorated with yellow yarn. The bones and fabric have been dated from the beginning of the modern era to the 13th century AD, and variance among the radiocarbon (14C) dates acquired from the bones shows the remains incorporate several individuals. In this study, oxygen and strontium isotope compositions were determined from fragmented bones and textiles. The results are the first isotope analysis performed on this collection housed in Turku Cathedral. Analysis indicates an origin from outside Finland, possibly elsewhere in northern Europe or an Alpine region. This helps take us a little closer to understanding the mystery associated with this sacred artefact.
- Issue 59. Linked Data for the Historic Environment
Abstract: This article discusses the outcomes of research undertaken by the Hypermedia Research Group at the University of South Wales in collaboration with the OASIS team at the Archaeology Data Service in the Linked Data for the Historic Environment (LD4HE) project. The new OASIS system allows stakeholders to record information/events accurately and consistently, using established heritage and spatial vocabularies, including those currently available via the Heritage Data platform. The LD4HE project explores one avenue of enhancing the potential re-use of information recorded by OASIS and making connections with other online data collections. LD4HE enables the creation and export of RDF from the new OASIS V system, a major step towards the production of Linked Data. The main outcomes comprise a conceptual mapping between mandatory OASIS fields and the standard CIDOC-CRM ontology, together with a template-based tool to convert records exported from OASIS to a corresponding RDF representation. A set of SPARQL queries demonstrates the outcomes of the data conversion. New specialised vocabularies required by OASIS have been published as linked data on the Heritage Data platform. The methods are described and illustrated with examples. Reflections on the case study and cost/benefit considerations for Linked Data conversion are discussed, together with possible strategies for reducing the costs of producing Linked Data.
- Issue 59. Tweets in the Peak: Twitter Analysis - the impact of Covid-19 on
cultural landscapes
Abstract: The Covid-19 pandemic had an unprecedented impact on society, with restrictions on socialising and movement during the three lockdown periods between March 2020 and March 2021 (Baker et al. 2021; Institute for Government Analysis 2021). Easily accessible locations offering the typical qualities of tourist destinations moved into the focus of day visitors in periods when restriction eased. The Peak District National Park (PDNP), a cultural landscape comprising historical places, natural beauty spots, and 'chocolate box' villages, offered a way of satisfying the urge to escape to the countryside. The impact was also felt in the heritage sector, with a noticeable change in visitor behaviour and the relationship between park residents and day tourists (Jones and McGinlay 2020; Sofaer et al. 2021).
- Issue 59. Still Entombed After All These Years: The continuing twists and
turns of a maze game
Abstract: The Atari 2600 video game Entombed (1982) left open questions in the design and implementation of its efficient maze-generation algorithm that, through serendipity, we are able to address at last. We have analysed almost 500 artefacts that capture the development process leading up to Entombed, artefacts that have not been seen for decades, including a distinct, unreleased Atari 2600 game. This work is interdisciplinary between the fields of archaeology and computer science in the area of archaeogaming; computer science has allowed informed technical analysis of the artefacts, with processes from archaeology used to manage and organise the large number of artefacts, as well as view game development in a human, archaeological context. The deliberate inclusion of a co-author who was a first-hand participant in the game development additionally raises interesting questions about autoethnography, authorship, and objectivity.
- Issue 60. Climate Change and Archaeology. EAC Symposium Porceedings
Abstract: Anthopogenic climate change is already affecting our environment. Climate projections show that in Europe we can expect changes in rainfall, with increased drought and desertification, as well as increases in intensity and frequency of rainfall (sometimes in the same locations); increases in temperature, in winter and summer, increases in both the temperature and frequency of heatwaves;rising sea levels, and groundwater fluctuations; and warmer seas, ocean acidification and changes in oceanic currents. These climate drivers will result in changes in flora and fauna, and changes in ground conditions (both on and below the surface) which will affect archaeological deposits and structures. In addition, human responses to the climate crisis also impact archaeological sites. However, while our archaeological deposits and historic places are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, our knowledge and skills as archaeologists are also relevant to supporting society in adapting to a changing climate and a low carbon future.
- Issue 59. Data Management Policies and Practices of Digital Archaeological
Repositories
Abstract: This article presents the results of a survey of data management policies and practices of digital archaeological repositories in Europe and beyond. The survey was carried out in 2021 under the auspices of the European project ARIADNEplus and the COST Action SEADDA. Its main purpose was to collect and analyse information about current policies that determine access to and reuse of data held by digital archaeological repositories, and to investigate the guidance and support needed to make these repositories and data FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable). These policies comprise the regulations of heritage and research authorities/agencies, councils and other institutions at different levels (European, national/regional, local) as well as the repository rules governing deposition, access to, and reuse of archaeological data. The repositories are operated both by heritage sector institutions and by the research and higher education sector. The survey represents a bottom-up approach by focusing on the actual policies and practices of digital archaeological repositories, which may reflect higher level regulations. A reality check in this regard can enable heritage and research authorities, councils and other institutions to reinforce or put in place regulations that bring current repository policies and practices closer to the ideal of providing FAIR and open access data. The survey results show that there is room for improvement in this regard and some suggestions are made here for future initiatives.
- Issue 59. Radiographic Technique for Archaeological Human Dry Bones: a
scoping review
Abstract: Within archaeological research, radiography has been used with human dry bones to diagnose pathologies, demonstrate trauma and assist age estimation through dentition eruption status. This study concerns the acquisition of radiographs, including technical parameters, imaging workflow and associated quantitative analysis of bone. Collectively, these themes can be grouped under the term radiographic technique. Despite its indispensability, the available guidance literature for appropriate radiographic technique in archaeology appears sparse. The aim of this research was to quantify and characterise current knowledge and recommendations related to radiographic technique. A scoping review was conducted, involving a systematic search of academic literature within the last 20 years. Archaeological academic textbooks and journal articles from any geographical location or time period were included but were limited to studies involving human dry bone and written in the English language. Of 244 potential studies, results identified seventeen journal articles and four academic textbooks with direct recommendations or guidance for radiographic technique. The primary reason for exclusion was the omission of methodological detail. The majority of included texts addressed the identification of pathologies, cortical thickness or detection of Harris lines. While recommendations exist, gaps in the knowledge include dedicated guidelines for specific anatomy and the integration of photography during radiographic imaging.
- Issue 58. Digital Archiving in Archaeology: The State of the Art
Abstract: The advent of ubiquitous computing has created a golden age for archaeological researchers and participating publics, but the price is a digital resource that is now in jeopardy. The archaeological record, in digital form, is at risk not simply from obsolescence and media failure, but the domain is also unable to fully participate in Open Data. Without swift and informed consensus and intervention, archaeology will lose the majority of its research data legacy and capacity to a digital Dark Age. This special issue of Internet Archaeology sets out to establish the level of stewardship of archaeological data across several countries.
- Issue 57. Archaeology and Public Benefit. EAC symposium proceedings
Abstract: The theme of the Symposium was 'Public Benefit from development-led archaeology: moving the debate forward' and the papers here reflect the challenges and opportunities this presents. As outlined in the Valletta Convention (Article 9), the public must be the key beneficiaries of archaeological work and the theoretical concept of public benefit has become well recognised across our profession but there is still some way to go to fully understand and maximise its potential. The concept note for the 21st Symposium asked attendees to reflect upon the challenge of positively shaping the future and embedding the concept of public benefit into our practice; from project inception through design and implementation to dissemination. The papers are a fascinating illustration of how public benefit is viewed across the member states, incorporating honest acknowledgements of some of the entrenched challenges involved with creating a new way of working.
- Issue 56. Digital Heritage and Public Engagement: reflections on the
challenges of co-production
Abstract: In recent years, UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and funding bodies have been increasingly championing the merits of co-production between academic researchers and non-HEIs, including community groups. However, these undertakings are often more complex than we are led to believe and the issues encountered are frequently downplayed in published outputs. In this article we review a selection of recent projects in which digital technologies have been used in heritage-led public engagement, including two of our own related projects at Park Hill flats in Sheffield. Digital technologies are the latest means by which HEIs are seeking to engage with the public, but it is becoming clear that there are significant impediments to undertaking this successfully. These include the short-term nature of the funding, the difficulties of maintaining digital outputs over time, and managing community expectation of what can be achieved in the time, and with the funding, available, alongside variable levels of familiarity with, and interest in, digital platforms by the public. Funding schemes often prioritise new consultation activities, and co-production with communities, over making use of archival community engagement materials. We suggest that academic engagement with the public needs to be sensitive to these issues, and to recognise that valuable digital heritage projects can emerge from diverse approaches to co-production..
- Issue 56. Finnish Maritime Archaeology through its Publications
Abstract: This article analyses Finnish maritime archaeology through a compiled bibliography of 621 scientific and popular works published between 1942–2020. General trends and turning points in the history of the discipline are identified and discussed vis-a-vis temporal and topical foci discerned in the publications. Special attention is drawn to the concentration in Finnish research on shipwrecks from the historical period, and the low international visibility of scientific production is problematised. While large-scale projects have been carried out in Finnish maritime archaeology, knowledge production within the authorised heritage discourse in particular has aimed to fulfil the needs of local and national rather than international audiences. Our compiled bibliography, which is hereby made available to the wider research community, has potential to become a valuable tool for identifying and developing future research areas.
- Issue 56. 'The Technological Sublime': Combining Art and Archaeology in
Documenting Change at the Former RAF Coltishall (Norfolk, UK)
Abstract: Since at least the 1990s, archaeologists and artists have been documenting military installations following the withdrawal of service personnel. They have usually embarked on these recording opportunities separately, experiencing these sites as derelict, lifeless places, with stripped buildings devoid of much of their meaning after their occupants have left. Archaeologists have typically created maps and made photographs. Artists have also taken photographs, but in addition made films and created soundworks. Wherever the medium and the motivation, the assumption is usually made that only those closely familiar with the rhythms and rituals of service life can begin to understand the emptiness of what remains. And being secretive military installations, creating a record during their occupation is never an option. Uniquely, in the months leading to the closure of RAF Coltishall (Norfolk) in 2006, the RAF granted the authors unprecedented access to record the base's drawdown and closure. The project brought artists and archaeologists together to see what could be achieved in unison, while still maintaining some degree of research independence. In undertaking this survey, three related themes emerged: the role of art as heritage practice, new thinking on what constitutes landscape, and the notion of a 'technological sublime'. Following an earlier publication, we now reflect again on those themes. In doing so, we offer this collaboration between art and archaeology (traditionally considered two distinct ways of seeing and recording) as an innovative methodology for documentation, not least after the closure and abandonment of such military and industrial landscapes, where occupational communities had once lived. In this article, the words represent our ideas; the images and films are an example of the result.
- Issue 56. A Lockpick's Guide to dataARC: Designing Infrastructures and
Building Communities to Enable Transdisciplinary Research
Abstract: The North Atlantic Biocultural Organization (NABO) community initiated dataARC to develop digital research infrastructures to support their work on long-term human-ecodynamics in the North Atlantic. These infrastructures were designed to address the challenges of sharing research data, the connections between those data and high-level interpretations, and the interpretations themselves. In parallel, they were also designed to support the reuse of diverse data that underpin transdisciplinary synthesis research and to contextualise materials disseminated widely to the public more firmly in their evidence base. This article outlines the research infrastructure produced by the project and reflects on its design and development. We outline the core motivations for dataARC's work and introduce the tools, platforms and (meta)data products developed. We then undertake a critical review of the project's workflow. This review focuses on our understanding of the needs of stakeholder groups, the principles that guided the design of the infrastructure, and the extent to which these principles are successfully promoted in the current implementation. Drawing on this assessment, we consider how the infrastructure, in whole or in part, might be reused by other transdisciplinary research communities. Finally, we highlight key socio-technical gaps that may emerge as structural barriers to transdisciplinary, engaged, and open research if left unaddressed.
- Issue 56. Living Standards and Material Culture in English Rural
Households 1300-1600. Data Paper
Abstract: The data in the related digital archive was collected to examine the archaeological and historical evidence for material culture in English medieval rural households, with the aim of gaining a fuller picture than what might be attainable by looking only at objects or documents in isolation. The digital archive provides a starting point for anyone wishing to research aspects of medieval rural settlement.
- Issue 56. Iron Age Settlements and Roman Roads: archaeological fieldwork
along the Angelinos trunk water main in north Oxfordshire
Abstract: Excavations along an 18.5km stretch of the Angelinos trunk water main in north Oxfordshire between Tackley and Milton uncovered a panoply of prehistoric to post-medieval remains. Residual sherds of Beaker pottery suggest Chalcolithic/early Bronze Age activity within the vicinity of the development, but most of the excavated features were middle Iron Age in date, comprising linear boundaries and probable enclosures. At least three areas of domestic occupation were recorded, ranging from a single structure to multiple pits associated with various linear features. A double burial, comprising an adult male and a child, dating to the middle Iron Age was also recorded. Roman remains were largely limited to a section dug through Akeman Street, which formed a key arterial route during the Roman period. Other Roman evidence includes a possible midden or manure spread, suggestive of nearby agricultural activity. Medieval and post-medieval features ranged from plough marks to probable quarry pits.
- Issue 56. Engagement, Sustainability and Diversity: examining recent
heritage policy in Norway
Abstract: This article discusses recent Norwegian heritage policy and examines the three key terms of the most recent white paper – participation, sustainability and diversity – in light of the Norwegian government's key societal challenge of democratisation.
- Issue 56. Grave Goods in Early Medieval Europe: regional variability and
decline
Abstract: This article analyses the use of grave goods in burials across early medieval Europe and how that use changed over the course of the 6th to 8th centuries CE with the widespread transition to unfurnished burial. It uses data gathered from published cemetery excavation reports from England, France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. The grave good use in these cemeteries was analysed using GIS methods to visualise regional differences, as well as statistical methods to analyse how grave good use evolved over time in those regions. This analysis revealed clear regional distinctions in grave good use, with England and Alamannia appearing similar, with relatively high levels of grave good use. Meanwhile, parts of Frankia and of Burgundy had considerably lower levels of grave good use. Distributions of individual artefact types tended to match those of overall numbers, but there were a few key exceptions, such as vessels, which followed a quite different pattern, being found in high numbers along the Frankish coast, but in much lower numbers elsewhere. Despite these overall trends, there was still considerable intra-regional and intra-cemetery variation that suggests communities and individuals had the ability to make highly individual choices about the way to bury their dead, along with the ability to subvert local norms. It also revealed that while there was a general decline in the use of grave goods across this period, and everywhere eventually reached the point of almost completely unfurnished burial, this decline occurred at different rates. In particular, there was a zone around the North Sea, including Kent, western Frankia, and the Low Countries, where there was little change in grave good use until it was suddenly abandoned in the early 8th century. Different types of objects declined at different rates across different regions, with few clear trends, suggesting that only personal accessories held a common significance across Europe; the meanings of all other object types were negotiated on a local basis.
- Issue 56. Evidence of Viking trade and 'Danelaw' connections' Inset lead
weights from Norway and the western Viking World
Abstract: This article presents and discusses the use and itineraries of inset lead weights from Norway and the wider Viking world. The weights, which are mostly inset with decorated metalwork, coins and glass are likely to be of 'Insular-Viking' manufacture, which developed in the late 9th and/or early 10th century. While the Norwegian corpus has generally received attention for its 'Irish' style of metalwork and therefore Irish affiliation, this article demonstrates how some of the material may rather have travelled to Norway via England. Here, they were extensively used in Viking milieus and the Irish-style insets were probably carried eastwards from Ireland by some of the historically attested groups who joined the Viking armies in England. The alternative route suggested for the weights which ended up in Norway has several implications, especially for providing potential evidence for integrated contact between the Danelaw area and Norway. The article also investigates fragmented mounts, a material phenomenon found in Viking and Norse contexts on both sides of the North Sea. While these mounts are often regarded as one group, the article identifies different practices in the fragmentation of this material, based on morphological details. It is suggested that 're-fashioned' pieces, i.e. those carefully cut into pieces and reworked into dress ornaments can be separated from 'hack-bronze' – those that appear to have been fragmented in the same manner as hack silver and other metals intended for reuse as scrap or as bullion.
- Issue 56. Sending Laurion Back to the Future: Bronze Age Silver and the
Source of Confusion
Abstract: Silver-bearing lead ores at Laurion in Attica were considered to have been first exploited with the introduction of coinage sometime around the birth of Classical Greece. However, in the late 20th century this chronology was radically revised earlier, to the Bronze Age, largely supported by lead isotope analyses (LIA). Here, we acknowledge that lead and silver metallurgy emerged from the earliest times but we propose that any correlation between these metals in the archaeological record is not a consequence of a geological association between lead and silver in ores such as galena until the middle of the first millennium BCE. We suggest that ancient metallurgists recognised that silver minerals (such as horn silver) dispersed in host rocks could be concentrated in molten lead and that LIA signatures of Bronze Age silver artefacts reflect the use of exogenous lead to extract silver, perhaps applying processes similar to those used to acquire silver in Bronze Age Siphnos. We further propose that lead from Laurion used for silver extraction resulted in the inadvertent transfer of its LIA signature (probably aided by roving silver prospectors) to silver objects and metallurgical debris recovered around the Aegean. New compositional analyses for the Mycenaean shaft-grave silver (c. 1600 BCE) support these conclusions. We believe that reverting to the mid-first millennium BCE for the first exploitation of silver from argentiferous lead ores is consistent with the absence of archaeological evidence for centralised control over Laurion until the Archaic period, the paucity of lead slag associated with silver-processing debris at Bronze Age sites, the scarcity of silver artefacts recovered in post-shaft grave contexts at Mycenae and throughout the Early Iron Age Aegean, the few Attic silver coins with LIA signatures consistent with Laurion until after 500 BCE and a single unambiguous mention of silver in the Linear B texts.
- Issue 56. Listening to Dura Europos: An Experiment in Archaeological Image
Sonification
Abstract: We present an experiment in sonifying archival archaeological imagery to make the act of looking at photography strange and weird. The sounds produced will then arrest us and slow us down, and make apparent to us the different ways that archaeological vision is constructed to particular effect/affect. It makes us alive to what is hidden or elided in the image itself; in slowing down, listening/looking/moving at one, we are moved towards enchantment, and engage in a kind of digital hermeneutics that reveals more than what the lens may have captured.
- Issue 56. The Mobile Phone in Late Medieval Culture
Abstract: This is an historical meditation - an essay on material culture and how humans relate to it. It is written as a science fiction piece, taking the form of a plenary address to a Material Culture conference sometime in the future. Mobile phones are well on their way to becoming universal devices and this playful essay explores ideas concerning the consequences of the mobile phone for humans, our relations with technology and our evolution.
- Issue 56. Re-discovering Archaeological Discoveries. Experiments with
reproducing archaeological survey analysis
Abstract: This article describes an attempt to reproduce the published analysis from three archaeological field-walking surveys by using datasets collected between 1990 and 2005 which are publicly available in digital format. The exact methodologies used to produce the analyses (diagrams, statistical analysis, maps, etc.) are often incomplete, leaving a gap between the dataset and the published report. By using the published descriptions to reconstruct how the outputs were manipulated, I expected to reproduce and corroborate the results. While these experiments highlight some successes, they also point to significant problems in reproducing an analysis at various stages, from reading the data to plotting the results. Consequently, this article proposes some guidance on how to increase the reproducibility of data in order to assist aspirations of refining results or methodology. Without a stronger emphasis on reproducibility, the published datasets may not be sufficient to confirm published results and the scientific process of self-correction is at risk.
- Issue 56. From Archive to GIS: Recovering Spatial Information for Tholos
IV at the Palace of Nestor from the Notebooks of Lord William Taylour
Abstract: This article is a case study in doing new things with old data. In 1953 Lord William Taylour directed the excavation of a monumental vaulted tholos tomb known as 'Tholos IV' at the site of ancient Pylos, Messenia, Greece. The excavation was conducted over two months, during which detailed notes were recorded in three notebooks now kept in the Archives of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. The formal publication of Tholos IV, however, contains only a basic narrative of the excavation, offering neither precise detail on stratigraphy, object find spots, nor even a complete inventory of small finds. The present study goes back to the original notebooks kept by Taylour and combines the data contained in them with a new digital survey of Tholos IV to produce a comprehensive and accurate 3D GIS model for the excavation. Furthermore, the GIS has been produced in such a way that its dataset is compatible with new excavation data currently generated in the ongoing Palace of Nestor Excavations (PONEX) project, bringing together two excavation campaigns conducted under very different circumstances, methodologies, and recording protocols. Discussion follows on how the production of this GIS deepens our understanding not just of the legacy excavation, but also of the site and its wider landscape.
- Issue 56. Hollis Croft, Sheffield, South Yorkshire: Old site and new
connections
Abstract: In 2017, a team from the Wessex Archaeology Sheffield office investigated a site, Hollis Croft (NGR 434990 387580), prior to the construction of a multi-million pound commercial and student housing development. Hollis Croft is one of many Sheffield’s sites where well-preserved industrial archaeology survives beneath the modern buildings. Historic building recording was followed by a watching brief, a scheme of archaeological evaluation trenching and then strip, map and sample excavations, which revealed substantial 18th-/19th-century remains of steel conversion furnaces (both cementation and crucible, constructed by Burgin and Wells and W. Fearnehough Ltd respectively). We also discovered metres of entwined brick-built flues (likely related to later steelmaking methods such as the Siemens-Martin open hearth process or Bessemer process), traces of two pubs (The Cock and The Orange Branch) and a wide range of finds – all indicative of the industrial processes and the everyday lives of the workers. Apart from the discovery of a crozzle layer covering the entire interior of the furnace (not just its base as previously thought), and the detailed impressions of the ferrous bars visible in the surface of the crozzle layer, the remains were very familiar for Sheffield and industrial archaeology. The post-excavation processes were carried out as usual following industry standards. All our findings have been brought together in a final report held in the digital archive and the physical archive (including the finds) was subsequently deposited with Museums Sheffield under SHEFM:2019.13 and Sheffield Archives. This publication is based on that final report, but edited and updated, so there are some minor differences between the documents. But, inspired by a great deal of public interest during the excavations (and Mili's love for comics), a comic book has also been created and is published here alongside what would otherwise be a more traditional offering.
- Issue 56. Technology as Human Social Tradition: 15 Trait-Based Datasets of
Hunter-Gatherer Material Culture (Northwest Siberia, Pacific Northwest
Coast, Northern California). Data Paper
Abstract: How are particular material culture traditions passed from one generation to the next' This digital archive supports 'Technology as Human Social Tradition: Cultural Transmission among Hunter-Gatherers' (Jordan 2015) published by University of California Press. The archive consists of 15 Excel files which were used to conduct in-depth analysis of the factors driving diversity and change in material culture traditions. Each file contains a high-resolution survey of the design features of one material tradition practised by groups living in a geographic region. Three regions are investigated: Northwest Siberia (storage platforms, shrines, skis); Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada (houses, canoes, basketry-matting); Northern California (basketry, houses, ceremonial dress).
- Issue 56. The Army Basing Programme, Stonehenge and the Emergence of the
Sacred Landscape of Wessex
Abstract: Recent excavations for the Army Basing Programme on the periphery of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site have revealed extensive evidence of Early, Middle and Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age activity, including a causewayed enclosure, burials, occupation, pit groups, henges, post alignments and circles. Several of these either incorporate or refer to features of the landscape such as solution hollows, dry valleys, hilltops and rivers, as well as to astronomical phenomena. An appraisal of this evidence alongside other recent programmes of research around Stonehenge suggest an accreting pattern of development of this landscape that begins in the 38th century BC, and which throws new light on the location and meaning of several of the ceremonial earthworks, including Stonehenge itself.
- Issue 56. Creation of Functional Replica Roman and Late Antique Musical
Instruments through 3D Scanning and Printing Technology, and their use in
research and museum education
Abstract: Replica artefacts are a well-established feature of Roman archaeology, particularly as used in experimental archaeology, by re-enactors, and in museum education. 3D scanning offers a new methodology for the accurate production of such artefacts, which can then be used both in scholarly research and in public engagement activities. This article describes methodologies for 3D scanning and 3D printing, together with appropriate craft techniques, in the creation of replica musical instruments from the collection of UCL's Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology in London.
- Issue 55. Data-Informed Tools for Archaeological Reflexivity: Examining
the substance of bone through a meta-analysis of academic texts
Abstract: Our study uses computational archaeology tools to investigate how researchers in our field present interpretations of the past in patterned ways. We do so in order to illuminate assumptions, naturalised categories, and patterned interpretative moves that may direct or impact the ways we interact with our evidence and write about our research. We approach this topic through a meta-analysis, using large-scale textual data from archaeological publications, focusing on the case study of bone. Are there patterned ways that archaeologists write about artefacts like bone that are visible when analysing larger datasets' If so, what underlying ideas shape these shared discursive moves' We present the results of three analyses: textual groundwork, conducted manually by field experts, and two machine-based interactive topic modelling visualisations (pyLDAvis and a hierarchical tree based on a Model of Models). Our results indicate that there are, indeed, patterns in our writing around how artefactual and archaeological materials are discussed, many of which are overt and sensical. However, our analyses also identify patterned discourses that are less obvious, but still part of regularised discourses in written narratives surrounding bone. These include: the use of multiple conceptual positions within, rather than simply between, articles, and a lack of patterned centrality of indigenous ontologies in how our field writes about bone. This pilot approach identifies data-informed, applied tools that will aid reflexive practices in our field. These operate at a scale that impacts future scholarly interactions with both evidence and published interpretations by shifting observation and reflection from an individual or small group exercise to a larger and more systematic process.
- Issue 55. Reproducibility, Replicability, and Revisiting the Insta-Dead
and the Human Remains Trade
Abstract: The trade in human remains on social media happens in an ever-changing field of digital media technologies. We attempt to replicate our earlier study, exploring the differences in what we can observe now in the trade on Instagram versus our first foray in 2016 (published in Huffer and Graham 2017). While the previous study cannot be reproduced, it can be replicated, and we find that the trade is accelerating.
- Issue 55. Using DSLR to 'Scan' Colour Slides: learning from the Digitising
Jemdet Nasr 1988–1989 Project
Abstract: This article presents a cost-effective method for digitising photographic film for archival purposes using a DSLR camera, focussing on the widely used colour reversal Kodachrome film produced by Eastman Kodak between 1935 and 2009. I discuss the digitisation of an archive of 787 Kodachrome slides taken between 1988 and 1989 during the excavation of Jemdet Nasr, an archaeological site located in southern Iraq (Project website). I compare results obtained using a film scanner (Nikon Coolscan IV ED) with two different scanning software solutions (SilverFast and VueScan), a flatbed scanner (HP Scanjet 8300), and two DSLR cameras with macro lens (a Canon EOS KissX3 with 105mm lens and a Canon EOS 80D with 90mm lens). The results demonstrate the cost-effective value of the DSLR method for archives where time and resources are limited, but where digital photography equipment might be readily available, such as an archaeological unit or a university department. The method allows for high quality, fast and economical digitisation of excavation and collection archives that will enhance research. The method also offers superior results in rendering the high dynamic range of photographic film such as Kodachrome.
- Issue 55. Digital Public Archaeology at Must Farm: A Critical Assessment
of Social Media Use for Archaeological Engagement
Abstract: Digital public archaeology is increasingly exploring social networks as platforms for online outreach initiatives. Despite a growing body of literature concerning archaeological engagement on social media, there are few examinations of such applications in practice. This research critically assesses the current discussions surrounding archaeological social media use before exploring commercial digital outreach at Must Farm, Cambridgeshire. Quantitative examinations of the project's Facebook metrics and qualitative comment analyses are employed to assess whether audiences were meaningfully engaged by these online strategies. The research concludes there is substantial value in using social networks to communicate archaeology and provides recommendations for future applications.
- Issue 55. The Matrix: Connecting Time and Space in Archaeological
Stratigraphic Records and Archives
Abstract: The records of archaeological stratigraphic data and the relationships between stratigraphic units are fundamental to understanding the overall cohesiveness of the archaeological archive of an excavation. The information about individual units of excavation identified on sites with complex stratigraphy is most often held in the site database records and stratigraphic matrix diagrams, usually documenting relationships based on the laws of stratigraphic superposition and the Harris matrix conventions (Harris 1979). However, once the matrix diagram has been used to record the information during excavation, there is far less consistency in how those stratigraphic records, and any associated phasing information, are finally deposited in the archives. For that valuable data to be successfully identified and re-used (particularly if the rest of the data is in a database), the stratigraphic and phasing data needs to be in a format that can be interrogated as part of the database. In practice, often only a (paper) copy of the matrix diagrams make the archive. This means that the critical temporal and spatio-temporal relationships upon which the phasing of sites is built, cannot usually be interrogated or (re)used without lengthy and wasteful re-keying of that data into another version of the database. The stratigraphic, sequencing and temporal information held in a matrix is fundamental in further studies of the site records and in working out how the site may relate to other excavated sites of similar or related dates and phases. This article will suggest ways in which the stratigraphic data from excavations and the reasoning processes carried out in subsequent analysis could be better managed, to make matrices (re)useable as part of a more integrated digital archive. This article examines how conceptual reference modelling, particularly using temporal relationships, can be used to explore these issues and how associated technologies could enable semantically-enriched deductions about the spatio-temporal and purely temporal relationships that fundamentally link archaeological data together. It will also consider where further work is needed both to deal with analysis of spatial or temporal records and to enhance Bayesian chronological modelling and associated temporal reasoning, and how this may form the basis for new linkages between archaeological information across space-time.
- Issue 55. The Post-excavation Analysis and Archiving of Outputs from
Complex, Multi-period Landscape Investigations: the example of Heslington
East, York
Abstract: This article discusses the post-excavation analysis and archiving of data generated by fieldwork undertaken at Heslington East near York in the UK. This project, stretching over two decades, involved two commercial companies and a student training and local community element, and recently concluded with a thematic publication (Roskams and Neal 2020). The article has twin objectives. First, on a theoretical level, it reflects on the complex challenges that arise when attempting to combine diverse stratigraphic, spatial and assemblage data from different sources to reach meaningful interpretations of an extensive, multi-period landscape. Second, on a practical level, it aims to act as an introduction to the project's archives to make them accessible to future audiences, something that is essential if we are to enable any re-interpretation of the site.
- Issue 55. A Four Stage Approach to Community Archaeology, illustrated with
cases studies from Dorset, England
Abstract: This article presents an approach to guide the planning, development and evaluation of community archaeology. This will assist practitioners of all forms of community archaeology by providing a pathway to ethical practice that will benefit all. The approach focuses attention on four elements that are integral to community archaeology and which should always be considered: Who (the people involved); Why (their motivation); the Archaeology (in the broadest sense, including research questions and research methods); and How (the specific format the community engagement will take). This framework is applied to three case study community archaeology projects in Dorset, England, in order to demonstrate challenging examples of planned and reflexive community archaeology.
- Issue 55. Experimental Heritage as Practice: Approaching the Past through
the Present at the Intersection of Art and Archaeology
Abstract: This article presents the emerging transdisciplinary practice of Experimental Heritage as performed within an ongoing Irish-Swedish research project involving artists and archaeologists. The project is undertaken simultaneously in western Ireland and south-eastern Sweden. It explores the chosen Irish and Swedish landscapes of Clare and Öland, their similarities and differences, with the aid of combined and integrated artistic and archaeological practices. The starting points for common explorations are: stone and water, movement and time/the multitemporal, and the tangible and intangible aspects of landscape experience. In a transdisciplinary process, we explore new ways of combining art, archaeology and heritage within and between these landscapes.
- Issue 55. A Massive, Late Neolithic Pit Structure associated with
Durrington Walls Henge
Abstract: A series of massive geophysical anomalies, located south of the Durrington Walls henge monument, were identified during fluxgate gradiometer survey undertaken by the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project (SHLP). Initially interpreted as dewponds, these data have been re-evaluated, along with information on similar features revealed by archaeological contractors undertaking survey and excavation to the north of the Durrington Walls henge. Analysis of the available data identified a total of 20 comparable features, which align within a series of arcs adjacent to Durrington Walls. Further geophysical survey, supported by mechanical coring, was undertaken on several geophysical anomalies to assess their nature, and to provide dating and environmental evidence. The results of fieldwork demonstrate that some of these features, at least, were massive, circular pits with a surface diameter of 20m or more and a depth of at least 5m. Struck flint and bone were recovered from primary silts and radiocarbon dating indicates a Late Neolithic date for the lower silts of one pit. The degree of similarity across the 20 features identified suggests that they could have formed part of a circuit of large pits around Durrington Walls, and this may also have incorporated the recently discovered Larkhill causewayed enclosure. The diameter of the circuit of pits exceeds 2km and there is some evidence that an intermittent, inner post alignment may have existed within the circuit of pits. One pit may provide evidence for a recut; suggesting that some of these features could have been maintained through to the Middle Bronze Age. Together, these features represent a unique group of features related to the henge at Durrington Walls, executed at a scale not previously recorded.
- Issue 55. The Burial Space Research Database (Data Paper)
Abstract: The Burial Space Research Database is a new repository for data produced from systematic archaeological surveys of burial spaces, undertaken on a per memorial basis. It enables the many local, community groups conducting research in this field to share their findings and publish results. The structure and form of the database requires groups to use a standardised recording methodology and vocabulary, meaning that datasets from different surveys are interoperable, allowing connections and comparisons to be made within and between local research projects. While burial space research is dominated by data on people and inscriptions, the database is also designed to accommodate archaeological approaches to recording that include detailed descriptions of the material form of monuments. A sophisticated search interface allows users to interrogate the archived datasets using a variety of different criteria, potentially revealing previously unrecognised temporal and spatial trends in the postmedieval history of commemoration. By acting as a central repository for burial space research, including individual people commemorated, the database also has the potential to become a powerful tool for genealogical and family history studies, drawing together disparate records in one place and making them freely available.
- Issue 55. An Approach to the Ethics of Archaeogaming
Abstract: Virtual worlds are human worlds thus ethical places/spaces. Through an authethnography of play, I try to surface and contextualize some of what I see as the ethical issues that archaeogaming presents, which I frame as provocations for further discussion. What defines 'archaeogaming' is our identity as archaeologists, and so the ethics of archaeogaming must be the ethics of archaeology; ethics are not integral to a game but emerge at the intersection of play and design.
- Issue 55. Public Archaeology: sharing best practice. Case studies from
Wales
Abstract: In 2013, Cadw published the 'Cadw Community Archaeology Framework'. This defined community archaeology practice in Wales, and outlined: a range of aims; a definition and context for community archaeology; a background to community archaeology; a vision for community archaeology; and a commitment to working with partners and communities. In 2018, five years after the publication of this document, the authors undertook a survey of the state of public archaeology practice in Wales in response to this document in order to identify best practice case studies, and from these to draw together, and share, consistent themes. Data collection took the form of a series of structured interviews with the Welsh Archaeological Trusts, as well as drawing on the authors' own experiences of public archaeology practice. We also include observations from our own practice at the Bryn Celli Ddu public archaeology landscape project. We aim to produce an inclusive, outward-facing series of research recommendations, designed to build on the Cadw/Welsh Government Framework in order to identify and support best practice, and to facilitate its dissemination.
- Issue 54. Archaeological sites and monuments in the care of the state. EAC
symposium proceedings
Abstract: The 20th EAC Symposium (Europae Archaeologiae Consilium) in Dublin was convened under a concept note that recognised that the State's role in the management of archaeological monuments has many different forms throughout Europe. The different degrees of involvement across Europe are usually a product of an individual state's history (often traced back to the 19th century), yet common to all jurisdictions are shared issues concerning conservation, protection, interpretation, sustainability and accessibility.
- Issue 52. A Typology of Practice: The Archaeological Ceramics from
Mahurjhari
Abstract: This article presents the results of the analysis of the pottery from the recently excavated site at Mahurjhari in central India. In doing so, it also proposes a new way of looking at archaeological ceramics in South Asia.
- Issue 52. Traces in a Lost Landscape: Aboriginal archaeological sites,
Dyarubbin/Nepean River and contiguous areas, NSW, Australia (Data Paper)
Abstract: This dataset consists of Australian Aboriginal archaeological locations of interest in the greater Nepean River area in New South Wales, Australia.
- Issue 52. Developing the ArchAIDE Application: A digital workflow for
identifying, organising and sharing archaeological pottery using automated
image recognition
Abstract: Pottery is of fundamental importance for understanding archaeological contexts, facilitating the understanding of production, trade flows, and social interactions. Pottery characterisation and the classification of ceramics is still a manual process, reliant on analogue catalogues created by specialists, held in archives and libraries. The ArchAIDE project worked to streamline, optimise and economise the mundane aspects of these processes, using the latest automatic image recognition technology, while retaining key decision points necessary to create trusted results. Specifically, ArchAIDE worked to support classification and interpretation work (during both fieldwork and post-excavation analysis) with an innovative app for tablets and smartphones. This article summarises the work of this three-year project, funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement N.693548, with a consortium of partners representing both the academic and industry-led ICT (Information and Communications Technology) domains, and the academic and development-led archaeology domains. The collaborative work of the archaeological and technical partners created a pipeline where potsherds are photographed, their characteristics compared against a trained neural network, and the results returned with suggested matches from a comparative collection with typical pottery types and characteristics. Once the correct type is identified, all relevant information for that type is linked to the new sherd and stored within a database that can be shared online. ArchAIDE integrated a variety of novel and best-practice approaches, both in the creation of the app, and the communication of the project to a range of stakeholders. Contains video, 3D models and links to related digital archive and software repository.
- Issue 53. Environmental Archaeology - Theory and Practice: Looking Back,
Moving Forwards
Abstract: The articles in this issue of Internet Archaeology mostly derive from presentations given at the Theoretical Archaeology Group Conference in Bradford in 2015, to reflect on changes and developments in environmental archaeology since the late 20th century. Contents: Environmental Archaeology, Progress and Challenges by Andy J. Howard, Archaeology has no Relevance by Suzi Richer, Daryl Stump, Robert Marchant, Wildness: Conceptualising the wild in contemporary environmental archaeology by Andrew Hoaen, Commercial Environmental Archaeology: are we back in the dark ages or is environmental archaeology a potential agent of change' by Elizabeth Pearson, Pinned Down in the Trenches' Revisiting environmental archaeology by Terry O'Connor, Beyond Extractive Practice: Bioarchaeology, Geoarchaeology and Human Palaeoecology for the People by Matt Law, Agendas for Archaeobotany in the 21st Century: data, dissemination and new directions by Lisa Lodwick, Semantics of the Sea - Stories and Science along the Celtic Seaboard by Erin Kavanagh and Martin Bates
- Issue 52. Breedon Hill, Leicestershire: new surveys and their implications
Abstract: This article presents the results of a non-intrusive investigation conducted at the scheduled multi-period site at Breedon Hill, Leicestershire. The hilltop is the site of a univallate hillfort believed to date to the Early-Middle Iron Age. From the 7th century AD, a minster church was founded within the hillfort enclosure, which became the site of an Augustinian Priory in the 12th century. Today approximately two-thirds of the hilltop has been irretrievably lost due to quarrying). The investigation, undertaken in spring 2016, combines gradiometer and earth resistance geophysical surveys, alongside digital terrain modelling (processed LIDAR data), to contribute to the understanding of the character and development of the hillfort interior. While previous excavations have sought to understand the development of the hillfort ramparts, little is known about the different phases of occupation at the hilltop, especially within the hillfort interior. The results of the geophysical surveys reveal several phases of roundhouses and post-built structures in the south-eastern part of the hillfort interior. The interpreted results are contextualised in relation to similar regional sites. An interpretation of a possible phase of occupation is made based on the results. This publication and related digital archive has been funded by donations made to the Open Access Archaeology Fund, set up with the specific aim of supporting the publishing and archiving costs of researchers who have no means of institutional support.
- Issue 52. Excavations at Aberdeen's Carmelite Friary, 1980-1994
Abstract: This is a report on two excavations at the Carmelite friary in an area of Aberdeen called the Green. The 1980-1 excavation revealed the south-west corner of the church and the south end of what was probably the west range of the friary. The 1994 excavations uncovered the north-west corner of the church, most of what is probably the west range, a probable east wall of the church, part of the graveyard and traces of the south and/or east range. Finds included 201 burials (one of which had a copper alloy bracelet on the left wrist), window glass and leading, floor and roof tiles as well as a selection of personal items including book fittings, pins and a bone die. The friary was supplied with running water through a lead pipe and copper alloy taps from at least the late 13th century.The excavations in this area have allowed a fuller interpretation of the Carmelite friary and its setting. As a result it has now been possible to 'reconstruct' the friary and put it into its medieval setting in the Green. Aberdeen has one of the best collections of historical documents in Scotland and there are over 300 surviving documents or book entries about the Carmelite friars of Aberdeen which have been used to aid interpretation alongside the archaeological evidence. The Aberdeen Carmelite church remains buried under the car park. A plaque was erected by the developers near the site and the outline of the church has been marked out on the car park which now covers the building.
- Issue 52. What the Machine Saw: some questions on the ethics of computer
vision and machine learning to investigate human remains trafficking
Abstract: This article represents the next step in our ongoing effort to understand the online human remains trade, how, why and where it exists on social media. It expands upon initial research to explore the 'rhetoric' and structure behind the use and manipulation of images and text by this collecting community, topics explored using Google Inception v.3, TensorFlow, etc. (Huffer and Graham 2017; 2018). This current research goes beyond that work to address the ethical and moral dilemmas that can confound the use of new technology to classify and sort thousands of images. The categories used to 'train' the machine are self-determined by the researchers, but to what extent can current image classifying methods be broken to create false positives or false negatives when attempting to classify images taken from social media sales records as either old authentic items or recent forgeries made using remains sourced from unknown locations' What potential do they have to be exploited by dealers or forgers as a way to 'authenticate the market'' Analysing the data obtained when 'scraping' image or text relevant to cultural property trafficking of any kind involves the use of machine learning and neural network analysis, the ethics of which are themselves complicated. Here, we discuss these issues around two case studies; the ongoing repatriation case of Abraham Ulrikab, and an example of what it looks like when the classifier is deliberately broken.
- Issue 52. The social organisation of metalworking in southern England
during the Beaker period and Bronze Age: absence of evidence or evidence
of absence'
Abstract: This article attempts to consider the social dimensions of metalworking during the Beaker period and Bronze Age in southern England. However, any attempt to discuss the social context of metalworking in these periods, i.e. who was working metals and where these activities occurred, is confronted with an extremely low evidence base of excavated archaeological sites where metalworking is known to have taken place. This lack of data and subsequent understanding of metalworking locations stands in stark contrast to the thousands of Beaker and Bronze Age metal artefacts housed in museum archives across Britain. These metal artefacts bear witness to the ability of people in Beaker and Bronze Age societies in Britain, and particularly southern England, to obtain, transform and use metals since the introduction of copper at c.2450 BC. Such metal artefacts have been subject to detailed analytical programmes, which have revealed information on the supply and recycling of metals. Likewise, there have also been significant advances in our understanding of the prehistoric mining of metals across the British Isles, with Beaker and Bronze Age mines identified in locations such as Ross Island (Ireland), the Great Orme (UK) and Alderley Edge (UK). Consequently, there is detailed archaeological knowledge about the two ends of the metalworking spectrum: the obtaining of the metal ores from the ground and the finished artefacts. However, the evidence for who was working metals and where is almost completely lacking. This article discusses the archaeological evidence of the location of metalworking areas in these periods and dissects the reasons why so few have been found within archaeological excavation, with the evidence for early metallurgy likely to be slight and ambiguous, and possibly not identifiable as metalworking remains during excavation. Suggestions are made as to where such metalworking activities could have taken place in the Beaker period and Bronze Age, and what techniques can be applied to discover some of this evidence of metalworking activity, to allow access to the social dimensions of early metalworking and metalworkers.
- Issue 51. Development-led Archaeology in Europe: Meeting the needs of
archaeologists, developers and the public
Abstract: The EAC's Heritage Management Symposium took place in Bulgaria 22-23 March 2018, and it gave EAC members and other archaeological stakeholders the opportunity to explore how European development-led archaeology can meet the needs of archaeologists, developers and the public. This themed issue, edited by Agnes Stefánsdóttir, is a record of some of the presentations and discussions that took place at the symposium.
- Issue 52. The song of air and water: Acoustic experiments with an
Ecuadorian Whistle Bottle (c.900 BC–100 BC)
Abstract: In Ecuador, bottles as containers for liquids appeared in the Late Formative period at the end of the Machalilla culture (1600 BC to 800 BC). Whistle bottles were created and perfected during the Chorrera culture (900 BC to 100 BC), and finally evolved into polyphonic bottles during the Bahía culture (500 BC to 650 AD). During the Chorrera phase, moulded aesthetic elements were developed and incorporated:, such as zoomorphs and anthropomorphs, phytomorphs, architectural forms, whose animated references were related to the acoustics they produced, giving 'onomatopoeic' sounds of nature (e.g. birds, monkeys, frogs). The current research focused on the structural and systematic study of a double ellipsoid ornithomorph bottle with a whistle from the Chorrera-Bahía culture (900 BC to 100 BC), an object that is currently in the National Archaeological Reserve of the Ministry of Culture in the city of Quito, Republic of Ecuador (Ch-B-1-38-69) (Figure 1). Two replicas and the original were investigated in situ by the Universidad Central del Ecuador and it was possible to determine that both blowing into and moving the objects when filled with water produced the sound. We interpret this as a need to 'automate' the sound production, and the acoustics derived from the movement of water is what possibly motivated Crespo (1966) to call them 'magical objects'.
- Issue 52. An Archaeometallurgical Explanation for the Disappearance of
Egyptian and Near Eastern Cobalt-Blue Glass at the end of the Late Bronze
Age
Abstract: A recent compositional study of Egyptian cobalt-blue glass from museum collections in Japan (18th Dynasty) and from the site of Dahshur (18th and 19th-20th Dynasties) concluded that a new source of cobalt was exploited for the later Dahshur glass, thereby suggesting that glass production continued into the Ramesside period (Abe et al. 2012). It is shown in the current article that some of this 18th Dynasty glass and the majority of the 19th-20th Dynasty glass had been recycled, not only supporting the general consensus that glass production virtually disappeared by 1250 BC, but that the cobalt source did not necessarily change. It is further proposed, however, that the generally accepted cobalt source for Egyptian glass was not the alum deposits of Egypt's Western Desert, but derived from cobaltiferous siliceous ores, possibly from central Iran. Re-analysis of the compositions of cobalt-blue glass frit found at Amarna, as well as Egyptian and Mesopotamian glass, suggests that the cobalt colourant was a by-product of silver extraction from these ores and can therefore be considered as a concentrated cobalt glass slag, which travelled in the form of a frit to glass producers who added it to locally derived base glasses and/or their precursors. Experiments conducted on ore containing cobalt-nickel arsenides with native silver demonstrate that not only can silver be extracted and that concentrated cobalt glass can be produced simply by adding a flux, but that some components of the ore partition preferentially into the silver or the glass slag, thereby weakening their associations with the other components in archaeological glass. Treating the cobalt-blue colourant as a slag composed of the gangue of a smelting system provides an explanation for the unique elevated levels of alumina and lower levels of potash found in cobalt-blue glasses, as well as providing an explanation for the cessation of cobalt exploitation at the end of the Late Bronze Age. It is suggested that the exhaustion of native silver and siliceous silver ore deposits during the Bronze Age, with argentiferous lead ores becoming the main source of silver, depleted the amount of cobalt available, thereby reducing the amount of glass produced which, in turn, led to increases in recycling during the New Kingdom period. Comment on this publication using Hypothesis https://hypothes.is
- Issue 47. Maeshowe: The Application of RTI to Norse Runes
Abstract: The Maeshowe digital archive (deposited with the Archaeology Data Service. https://doi.org/10.5284/1050103) comprises the processed outputs and original source images from a series of Highlight-RTIs captured between the 21st–25th July 2016 in the Maeshowe chambered cairn in Stenness, Orkney. Each RTI file, accompanying assembly files, and the source images from which the final .ptm file is derived are stored in a single folder within the archive. The content of each RTI and its location within the cairn is described in the body of this data paper.
- Issue 47. Archaeogaming: a book review by Krijn Boom
Abstract: As a video game enthusiast and archaeologist, the concept of archaeogaming has been on my radar since Andrew Reinhard coined the term back in 2013 (Reinhard 2013). This book is Reinhard's latest and most integral attempt at describing his idea of the many intersections of archaeology and play. This review will roughly follow the structure of the book and discuss contents by chapter, followed by a final assessment.
- Issue 47. Day of Archaeology 2011-2017: Global Community, Public
Engagement, and Digital Practice
Abstract: The Day of Archaeology (http://www.dayofarchaeology.com) was a volunteer-led international archaeological blogging event that ran from 2011 to 2017. The project asked people who define themselves as archaeologists to submit one or more blog posts about their working day on a chosen day in June or July. This article explores the history of the Day of Archaeology project and the practicalities of running a large-scale collaborative blogging project, before examining some of the topics covered in the posts. An assessment of the impact of the project follows. Overall, we hope in this work to answer some of the basic questions regarding this type of collaborative, online, global engagement - what we did, who we reached, what they talked about – and also to provide some insights for any other similar initiatives that may follow us in the future.
- Issue 47. Archaeological and environmental investigation of three
prehistoric field systems in Gwynedd, north-west Wales
Abstract: Prehistoric field systems are, by their nature, extensive and often slight and intangible structures, most easily recognized when they are enclosed by walled, banked or ditched boundaries. The effects of many centuries of subsequent land use mean that many have been destroyed and those that remain complete and unmodified are of great archaeological value. This is the case even in north-west Wales, despite the presence there of many well-preserved examples of prehistoric settlement. These settlements have been the subject of numerous investigations but little is known about the types of agricultural activities that accompanied them. The present study was therefore designed to correct this imbalance by investigation of three examples of early field systems in north-west Wales. The methods used included ground survey, geophysical survey, excavation, palaeoenvironmental analysis and soil micromorphology.
- Issue 47. Recent Investigations at Two Long Barrows and Reflections on
their Context in the Stonehenge World Heritage Site and Environs
Abstract: Recent geophysical surveys and excavations at Druid's Lodge Estate, in fields west of the Diamond Wood in the Stonehenge World Heritage Site (SWHS), have confirmed the existence of the Winterbourne Stoke 71 long barrow and discovered a new long barrow (Winterbourne Stoke 86) a short distance to the south. Survey and excavation show internal features at both barrows and, alongside aerial photography, suggest that both monuments were destroyed during later prehistory. These barrows are part of a cluster around the head of the Wilsford dry valley. We review long barrows in the SWHS and environs to contextualise these discoveries, demonstrating a diversity of internal features, barrow sizes and morphologies. Chronological modelling is used to place the SWHS barrows in their inter-regional timescape and to understand the timings of the first appearance of monument types of the 4th millennium cal BC. Local topography appears to be the key factor in determining the alignment of long barrows, but the eastern ends of barrows appear to be significant. Long barrows are also considered in relation to causewayed enclosures, and movement around the landscape. Long barrows are an important structuring monument in the later Neolithic and Bronze Age landscape, but their importance is mediated by their location relative to Stonehenge, and access to the monument from the south. There is a clear pattern of differential preservation of long barrows away from the vicinity of Stonehenge. Further field research is necessary to achieve a better understanding of long barrows in the SWHS, and it is hoped that this article stimulates interest in these highly significant monuments. This article also provides an interactive map of the SWHS, linking to simplified plans of long barrows in the study area, additional information and references for further reading for each barrow. Appendices are provided containing specialist methodologies and/or data from the geophysical surveys and the Historic England excavation, and primary excavation data from the Historic England excavation is downloadable via the Archaeology Data Service (Historic England 2018).
- Issue 50. Big Data on the Roman Table: new approaches to tablewares in the
Roman world
Edited by Penelope Allison, Martin Pitts and Sarah Colley
Abstract: A rich, internationally-authored themed issue arising from an AHRC funded forum that explored new ways of harnessing and analysing the extensive datasets of tablewares from around the Roman world. A wide range of agenda-changing, consumption-orientated approaches to this rich archaeological record from the early Roman Empire are set out.
- A Medieval Building and its Contents at Island Farm, Ottery St Mary, East
Devon: excavations in 2014
Abstract: Excavations in advance of housing development on land at Island Farm, Ottery St Mary, Devon, examined archaeological remains that included what is interpreted as a medieval longhouse (c. AD 1250–1350) that had been destroyed by fire. The evidence included the charred remains of timbers and deposits of charcoal and other botanical remains. The identifications and spatial arrangements of this material are used to suggest the materials employed in the construction of the building, together with its contents, which included a variety of crops stored in the chamber. Other finds include fragments derived from the repair of copper-alloy vessels, an axe-head, and a Bronze Age palstave. Analysis has provided unusual detail of the types of wood used in the construction of the building, principally oak for the timber framing and alder and willow for the wattle panelling, and of the composition of the stored harvest, which included oats, wheat, rye, barley, broad beans, peas and vetches. The longhouse has similarities with others known from Devon, although the interpretation of partial timber-framing appears to be unique in the archaeological record from the county. The crops identified provide physical evidence of what is recorded in historical documents, but also suggest others, such as the composition of fodder. This report includes primary data on the botanical remains to allow readers to interrogate the information for further (and perhaps different) insights.
- Issue 49. Dare to Choose — Making Choices in Archaeological Heritage
Management. EAC symposium proceedings
Abstract: The archaeological discipline puts serious effort into achieving the greatest possible scientific added-value and supporting the potential values of archaeological heritage for society. However, choices have to be made at different stages and levels of the archaeological heritage management process. Several interests are at play when making these choices: science, society, financial, legal and logistical possibilities, and public support. Choices are based on the weighing up of different factors such as values, interests and practical opportunity. The EAC's 18th Heritage Management Symposium, which took place in the New Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece, 9-11 March 2017, gave EAC members and other archaeological stakeholders a welcome opportunity to explore the variety of approaches in decision-making mechanisms and actions, and consider how they may become embedded in general archaeological policy and practice over the next few years. This themed issue is a record of that symposium.
- Iron Age Settlement in Wales, a themed issue
Abstract: In 2004, the four Welsh archaeological trusts began an assessment of the Iron Age hillforts, promontory forts and defended enclosures and enclosed farmsteads (given the convenient project tag 'Defended Enclosures') of the Principality, grant-aided by Cadw, as part of a continuing programme of threat-related assessments. The overall aim of the programme has been to enhance the four regional Historic Environment Records and recommend to Cadw those sites identified as worthy of statutory protection as Scheduled Monuments. A common methodology was agreed for the Defended Enclosures project, which involved visiting all non-scheduled sites recorded on the Historic Environment Record (where possible) and a selection of scheduled sites. Following completion of the assessment in 2008, it was considered that the accumulated information was of sufficient importance to warrant further analysis, synthesis and publication. Thus Cadw provided grant-aid to the four Welsh archaeological trusts to produce synthetic text and illustrations. However from the outset it was decided that something more than just four regional accounts, corresponding to the four Welsh archaeological trust regions, would be required in order to attract a wide audience. This themed issue in Internet Archaeology is the result.
- Putting the Palaeolithic into Worcestershire's HER: An evidence base for
development management
Abstract: Worcestershire, like the majority of the West Midlands, is not considered a focal point for the study of Palaeolithic archaeological remains, with much of the focus occurring in the east and south-east of England. Despite this, discoveries of Palaeolithic artefactual and palaeoenvironmental remains within the county, and the wider West Midlands, have shown that the area has the potential to be productive and assist in national and international research aims for the period. Palaeolithic research is usually carried out by specialists in Quaternary science and the resulting reports are difficult for non-specialists to access. The result is that Palaeolithic archaeology is often poorly represented within Historic Environment Records and unavailable to Local Planning Authority archaeological advisors in an accessible format. It is challenging in the context of National Planning Policy Framework to justify archaeological interventions as proportionate and reasonable when the archaeology is evidenced in the form of a few artefacts from poorly understood geological contexts. This article describes a Historic England-funded project which aimed to address this issue and ensure evidence of this date can be incorporated within Historic Environment Records in a way that can be interpreted and used by non-specialists, and will be of particular use to those involved in development management.
- 'The Rise of the Machine': the impact of digital tablet recording in the
field at Çatalhöyük
Abstract: New in IA47: This article considers the role of digital recording methods and visualisation tools in the primary recording of archaeology at the Neolithic tell site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey. Operating within and building on Çatalhöyük Research Project's understanding of reflexive methods (Hodder 2000b, 2003; Berggren and Nilson 2014; Berggren et al. 2015) we incorporate elements of science and technology studies (Pickering 1995) in order to create a framework for documenting the complete process of devising, implementing, and assessing digitised and tablet-based workflows. These harness the project's existing SQL database and intra-site GIS, as well as the increasingly user-friendly suite of 3D recording technologies which are now available to archaeologists. The Çatalhöyük Research Project's longstanding engagement with digital methods in archaeology means that such a study is well placed to provide insights into wider disciplinary trends that might be described as a 'Digital Turn'. By offering a review of tablet recording and exploring the effects of its introduction upon the archaeologists' relationship with the archaeological remains, we investigate the applied integration of digital recording technologies and their role in facilitating a deeper reflexivity in the interpretation of the archaeology on the site.
- Themed issue. Digital Co-Production in Archaeology
Abstract: New in IA46: Edited by Chiara Bonacchi and Bodil Petersson, this special issue focuses on digitally-enabled co-production in archaeology, by bringing together papers that were presented at the session Communication as Collaboration: Digital Methods, Experiences and Values, organised at the 21st Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (University of Glasgow, 2015).
- Reviews in Internet Archaeology
Abstract: Two new reviews published in Issue 45. A Review of 'Mid Republican House from Gabii' [digital publication] by Emma Jane O'Riordanand Review of Pocket Guide Megaliths [app] by Barney Harris
- PUBLICAN project
Abstract: Remember the PUBLICAN project' Survey results are out now.
- Issue 45. 'Gratefully dedicated to the subscribers': The archaeological
publishing projects and achievements of Charles Roach Smith
Abstract: Charles Roach Smith (1806-1890) was at the forefront of archaeological scholarship from the 1840s onwards; he played a pivotal role in recording and establishing the importance of British antiquities and archaeology, but is rarely mentioned in general histories of archaeology. This paper provides an overview of his major achievements in archaeological publishing and, through an analysis of more than 2,000 subscriptions to 11 of his volumes on British archaeology, explains how and why he published prolifically in the absence of institutional support, and often in the face of prejudice against his background in 'trade'. It argues that his rigorous and evangelising approach to archaeological publication, and the pivotal role that he played within national and international philanthropic social and intellectual networks, was instrumental in the transformation of the discipline in the second half of the nineteenth century, and underpinned the development of a national collection of British antiquities in the British Museum. His efforts also contributed to wider social and educational transformation during this period, which included greater recognition for women. Through a more inclusive and prosopographical approach it provides unique insights into the enterprising strategies and impressive achievements of those whose contributions to archaeology are insufficiently acknowledged today.
- Issue 45. Excavations in 2014 at Wade Street, Bristol - a documentary and
archaeological analysis
Abstract: A staged programme of historical research and archaeological fieldwork, involving a desk-based assessment in 2000 (Smith and Erskine 2000), an evaluation in 2013 (Mason 2013), and an excavation followed by a watching brief in 2014, the latter two by Avon Archaeology Ltd, was undertaken in order to mitigate the archaeological impact of a proposed residential development on a site of 1,260m² at the corner and on the north-west side of Little Anne Street and Wade Street, St Jude's, Bristol (UK). The site was formerly occupied by residential dwellings, originally established in the very early 18th century as part of a then newly planned development of artisans' houses. In combination, the data from these studies indicate that the Wade Street site has a history of continuous occupation, from c. 1700 until the buildings on it were removed in the years on either side of the Second World War as part of a so-called 'slum clearance' project. A very small assemblage of medieval pottery recovered from the lower contexts of the site during the excavation hints at some level of activity in the vicinity during the medieval period. This publication offers an opportunity to link the results of the fieldwork to an outline study of a sample of the 19th-century census records, to give a picture of the social dynamics of a highly diverse community in the second half of that century, and which presents a surprisingly mixed picture of both long stability, and incessant change in terms of the movement of people into and out of this part of Wade Street.
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