Archaeology

Ouch!

by QueeneMab @ 2008-07-14 – 06:53:33

Found this article on an ancient sex curse recently found in Amathus (Cyprus).

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080711/tod-cyprus-archaeology-offbeat-7f81b96.html

Roman Relics

by antlady69 ^Pro @ 2008-07-06 – 14:37:25

About a month ago I visited the city of Trier which has a rich Roman history.

The best-known Roman building there is the Porta Nigra, built in the last third of the 2nd century AD.

This gate was part of a ca. 6.5 km long city wall.
Porta Nigra is not its original Roman name, btw. The Romans had used sandstone to build this gate, and as you probably know sandstone attracts soot from the air. The name was formed in the Middle Ages when everyone was using coal to heat their houses.

Roman Trier also had three (!) public baths.

One was uncovered right underneath one of their current market squares, and the city council decided to leave it open for the public but to protect it with a big glass house.

Here you can walk among the ruins (notice the carefully placed tarpaulin at the bottom of this photo, generously left behind by the Romans :)) ), and in one corner watch a very interesting video about another bath, the "Barbara-Therme"

The Barbara-Therme is still being excavated, therefore I couldn't visit it but at least get the above photo
The name also dates back to medieval times, it is named after the St. Barbara suburb. The Barbara-Therme was built in the middle of the 2nd century AD. Nowadays you can only see about 1/4 of its original size, so huge was it. Not only did they have a cold bath (frigidarium), a luke-warm bath (tepidarium) and a hot bath (caldarium), they also had heated swimming pools!! The Romans sure knew how to live, eh?

The third public bath is the Imperial bath ("Kaiser-Therme"). Construction started in 293 AD.

It is one of the largest baths from antiquity and four existing building had to be torn down to make way for it and an adjoining sports ground.

Just outside Trier, the Romans started to mine copper ore but the mine wasn't profitable enough so they turned it into a stone quarry. The shafts nowadays are filled with water

On the second photo you can just make out the Roman numbers IV and V, and the letters "Marci" which experts believe is the name of the quarry owner who delivered the stones for the Porta Nigra at the end of the 2nd century AD.

Also nearby Trier but in a different direction, an original Roman villa was partially re-built.

It's in the middle of a housing area, and you can just walk along the former rooms on your own.

The villa had all the luxury you would expect, from floor heating (see last photo) to tepidarium and caldarium all the way to the loo (of course). The toilet building is visible on the left of the next photo. The building on the right is the modern version of it :>>

It's very interesting, even if you lack the detailed knowledge of an archeology buff (as I do :oops: )

There are a few more photos on my Webshots homepage, if you're interested.

Moral is don't multitask

by QueeneMab @ 2008-07-04 – 08:41:13

:oops:

Was gossiping while writing last post and forgot to proof read.

Thus I published the same picture twice and omitted this one.

Sorry folks.

X

A snapshot of life years ago

by QueeneMab @ 2008-07-04 – 08:36:31

May be captured by a visit to the museum of prehistory in Modern Thira, Santorini.

The majority of the finds come from Akrotiri which is the site measuring around 20 hectares and is considered to be one of the most important prehistoric settlements of the Aegean dating from the Late Neolithic period around 4th millenium B.C. It appears that the settlement developed during from the Early Bronze Age (3rd millenium B.C.)until the Late Bronze Age around 20th-17th centuries B.C. when it become a major and prosperous port in the Aegean with elaborately decorated multistory buildings and even a sophisticated drainage system. The City appears to have been abandoned due to a major in the last quarter of the 17th century B.C. due to a series of earthquakes and a volcanic eruption. Like Pompeii the excellent state of preservation of many of buildings and artefacts is due to the protective covering of volanic material. Unlike Pompeii it appears that the inhabitants may have escaped prior to the volcanic eruption, perhaps the preceding earthquakes served as a timely warning.

Nipple jars featuring the swallow motif

Attractive BBQ ?

Looks like there are 2 shelves one for grilling meat and one for warming bread perhaps.

I like the shape of this dolphin decorated double jar.

A selection of "labelled" jars

Not quite sure what these were for?

But I like them

This perfect little golden Ibex was found intact in a wooden box within a clay larnax and was made by the lost wax method.

X

Have you a Favourite period?

by hemiye1960 @ 2008-06-24 – 21:22:34

I have an eclectic mix.The Chavin,olmec and toltec.Medieval Britain and both world wars.Why did the olmecs make massive stone heads?How come so many castles in Britain are left in ruins.And is the excavating old battle sites showing desrespect?I think everything found adds to our understanding of the how things happened and sometimes the why.

Olivers Mound Dig: Day 11

by GilraenH ^Pro @ 2008-05-31 – 18:51:19

Well, today was the last day and all digging was completed and all that was left was the sad and backbreaking task of backfilling the trenches . Valerie made it to site today and Rod gave a talk on the history of the site and I hope to answer many of the burning questions (ie, Why did they build a castle there? Was it a castle or a manor house? When was it built? Who lived there? etc etc) in my round up post!

The last job - some last minute section drawing in Trench 2

Trench 1 backfilling - 2 hours later, it's done!

Trench 2 backfilling - they've got an extra 3 tonnes to put back in.

Nothing more to say for the moment - a very sad day indeed, but we may be back for a second season - who knows? I'll be doing a round-up post some time next week when I've got all my information. In the meantime - here's some final words from the Olivers Mound Dig, which wouldn't have happened if it were not for many main driving forces: the Shrawley & District Local History Society, and all the effort that Valerie and Rod put in to get it going, the Heritage Lottery Fund for seeing the potential of the site and putting up the cash, Archaeological Investigations for their valuable geophysics and earthwork survey of the site (and the provision of Dale!), AOC Archaeology (Chris) for directing and overseeing the professionalsim of the dig, the Earth Heritage Trust for providing an insight to the geology of the area, the Forestry Commission, who have helped enormously with access and a promise to keep the mound clear and last but not least, it couldn't have happened without a great team of volunteers, a great bunch of people, the hard work and dedication without which this dig would not have been the success that it was. A round of applause I think. So here are a few final photo moments from the last day on site:

Valerie on site inspecting the findings.

Hazel posing for a photo in the HLF T shirt.

Team from Trench 1 - Tina, Terry, me and Hazel

The main team on the last day (Chris taking the photo).
Back: Paul, Dave, Tina, Terry, Rod and Clare
Front: Hazel, me, Rollo and Dale

A final thank you to all those volunteers who came and helped out, from picking up a trowel and a shovel, to washing some finds:

Chris C (AOC)
Dale (Arch Investigations)
Clare (won the prize for best digger of the dig )
Dave (prizewinner for find of the dig with some nice green glazed roof tile)
Vicky
Hazel
Paul
Rod (Treasurer of the Society)
Rollo
Tina
Carol
Clare's Mum
Jenny
Neil
Simon (GPS - Arch Investigations)
And Sam!
Oh, and me. Back to sitting in an office on Monday. Probably best to let my muscles recover for a few days

Bye for now x

The Mound after we have all left. Nothing to see here, move along...

Olivers Mound Dig: Day 10

by GilraenH ^Pro @ 2008-05-30 – 22:11:32

Hello!

Sorry this is a day late, but went to see the man himself last night. Best quote of the film (this isn't a spolier) 'If you want to be a good archaeologist, kid, stay out of the library' or somesuch. Too right. So here is a gratuitous pic of the man himself.

Indy and Mutt come on site to take a look at Trench 1 - 'yep - definetely some early Medieval walls in there.' Yes!

Now. Moving on. Well, this was quite a sad day in that it was the last day of digging, Friday being the 'clear up and backfill' day. In Trench 1, we did a preliminary clean of the trench for the photos, exposing the possible two phases of walling (a tower and a curtain wall?) - Masterman was clearly wall chasing and we are grateful he left them in.

The final Trench 1 photo - possibly two phases of an east/west (left/right) tower wall - is the square area below that a buttress?

The west-facing section of Trench 1

Trench 2 was in much the same position, although the final 1m extra slot was being taken out and a small pebbled surface was exposed in the north side and then a few dressed stones were found.

The pebbled surface to the north of the extension to Trench 2.

The final Trench 2 shot.

The EDM was taken out so that Hazel and I could plot the exact position of the trenches to the Ordnance Survey grid and exact heights above sea level. Simon from Archaeological Investigations had already given us two temporary benchmarks with his GPS last week.

EDM Survey - got to know where your trenches are!

We were also treated today by some lollies courtesy of Clare's Mum, a truly wonderful woman. We enjoyed them throuoghly and was just the thing we needed after some hard graft.

Nommmmmmmm

So, the end of the excavation is nigh. This week has gone so quickly and 'Day 11' will be a complete day of clearing up and getting everything cleared, bagged up, and put in the right place. And Valerie, the president of the Society, is coming to site tomorrow. Valerie and Rod have been the main driving forces behind getting this dig to happen for the Society and it has taken almost 2 years of paperwork, form filling, meetings and launch meetings and even more paperwork to make it happen and all the team are indebted to the pair of them for making this happen, making it such a great experience and getting to the bottom of the Olivers Mound story.

Last daily blog post tomorrow, although I will be doing a round-up after that to answer some of the burning questions (with a little help from my Dad and Rollo!).

See you tomorrow x

Olivers Mound Dig: Day 9

by GilraenH ^Pro @ 2008-05-28 – 20:21:22

Well, here we are at Day 9 and there's only really one day of excavation left really before the backfilling starts on Friday. Quite sad, really - this week has gone extremely fast. However, today was the wettest day (if you don't count the rain off on Monday afternoon). It was also boys versus the girls as Terry was relegated to Trench 2 for the morning whilst us girls finished off in Trench 1.

Progress? All the excavating in Trench 1 has been completed now, and all it needs tomorrow is a final clean, photograph and to finish the plan and section and make sure all our written record is up to date. As for interpretation, I may save that for the end (she procrastinated) although we have certainly got at least 2 (if not 3) walls, which may form the corner of the original tower and adjoining curtain wall. Given our timescale, we have only really had time to re-excavate Masterman's backfill (he certainly left enough finds behind) and exposed the walls that he must have exposed (we have no primary records for what Masterman found) and see how his interpretation of an octagonal corner tower stands up.

Hazel finishing off the final bit of excavation in the north-east side of the trench - we have finally got down to a gravel layer (possibly the natural) in the south-east side (where the finds bag is).

In Trench 2, we have checked the natural is indeed the natural by taking a small sondage in one corner (it is). We have also extended the trench by 1m to the east to see if we can find anything more of note. So far, we have got down to the tile layer that was discovered in Days 4 & 5 and found some glazed roof tile. This may be the find of the dig, although there was a quite remarkable jawbone from Trench 1 as well.

All hail the mighty jawbone.

The boys muck in and start geting through the Trench 2 extension.

Back down to the tile layer, carefully being excavated by Rod and Rollo.

We also had a visit today from Tim Yarnold from the Forestry Commission (on whose land Olivers Mound sits) who have been extremely helpful in arranging access to the site and the clearance of the site for all the surveys and the excavation.

Chris gives Tim Yarnold the lowdown.

Indiana Jones tomorrow night. And the weather tomorrow is - for no rain! Huzzah.

Olivers Mound Dig: Day 8

by GilraenH ^Pro @ 2008-05-27 – 19:57:34

Hi there,

Can't believe there's only 3 days left! Overcast today, but no rain, I think it was all saving itself up for tomorrow . Anyhow - Trench 1 progress. Going down and down to fully excavate what Masterman dug in the 1920s and we seem to have a very complex line of walls that we need to get our heads around if we are to make sense of it all. In the east side of the trench, the end of Masterman's trench seems to be appearing as the apparent 'new' or previously unexcavated subsoil appears to have been cut and backfilled. I have also today taken the rest of the trench (almost) down to the 'new' subsoil and yet another line of stones has appeared (see below). What to make of it all!

Tina and Hazel planning the stone walls in Trench 1

Trench 1 progress - note the 'square' area of stones to the centre of the trench that I have to finish exposing tomorrow. Also, the white patch is not mortar as I first thought, but a white limestone.

Trench 2 found no new archaeology and we have finally got down to the natural gravels. Dale is going to take a small sondage through it just to check, but with 3 days left there may be a scope to extend the trench and see if we find anything else nearby. No finds that appear earlier than early Medieval as yet.

Trench 2 down to the natural. Notice where the tile spread came in in the section.

Weather check: Oh dear. Waterproofs again tomorrow.

Olivers Mound Dig: Day 7

by GilraenH ^Pro @ 2008-05-26 – 18:31:21

Well, it was a wet one today, as I'm sure everyone will agree. A bit damp all day really, but about 3.30pm, the heavens really opened and we weren't going to get much acheived after that. So what progress?

Trench 1 is exposing more and more stones that look like walls. We are probably still digging down through Masterman's redeposited subsoil and rubble backfill, although we are definetely geting in situ walls coming in. More finds - lots more animal bone and a little pottery.

Progress in Trench 1 just before lunch. Still some rubble to take off in the middle, but some definete walls coming in. The east/west wall just to the right of the horizontal (left/right) ranging pole could possibly be a corner as the edge is tooled on both sides - there is also definetely a second course below it too, which you can just see.

Rod and Hazel sorting out some paperwork.

In Trench 2, we are still going down and down into the orange depsit. No more signs of any bits of castle yet!

Progress in Trench 2 - they have definetely gone down much further than the deposits in Trench 1 - you can see in teh section the level of the tile spread exposed at the end of last week.

So, because of the weather, lunch was in the gazebo with the rain lashing down about us. And! We have a trip to see the new Indiana Jones film on Thursday evening in Kidderminster (see trailer below, or follow the link here). I've been taking loads of video of the dig too and have been struggling with getting movie maker to work, so hopefully by the week-end I will have some you tube videos up on their site to have a look at the dig in action.

Let's hope the weather is less damp tomorrow, the BBC weather check says it's going to be between 13 - 19 degrees and there's no raindrops on their cloud, so here's hoping.

In the gazebo - Dave, Rod, Hazel, Rollo, Claire Chris and new recruit Sam in front.

A rather damp walk back...

INDIANA JONES TRAILER to get you in the mood.........