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current archaeology number 71 In this issue . . . A Neolithic causewayed camp, Roman mosaics in danger, and Medieval post-mills form the highlights of this issue. Firstly, in the Diary we will tell you how to pronounce Boudica, look at the Year of the Vikings, the Prehistoric Society, a Re-organisation of the DoE, and some New Faces in Ireland. Briar Hill looks like challenging Windmill Hill as the type-site of the Neolithic causewayed camp. The very extensive excavations, and the numerous radiocarbon dates have revealed its very early start, its long causewayed camp phase, and then an equally long 'non-causewayed-camp' phase. Once a Roman mosaic has been discovered, we would like to think it is 'safe'. However in Mosaics in Danger, Peter Johnson reveals a horror story of the numerous dangers facing excavated mosaics. In Books, we offer some quickie notices. We start off with all those books on the Vikings, tarrying a little over the The Viking Age in Denmark and Viking Age Sculpture, then passing more rapidly over The Viking World, and The Northern World, and a number of others. We then look at British Prehistory, The Bronze Age in Europe, Iron Age Farm, The Arras Culture, Central Northamptonshire, Roads and Tracks, and Medieval England, as well as some shorter notices. We then have the second part of Alasdair Whittle's survey of Two Neolithics? Here he argues first that Beakers are not an ethnic phenomenon and he then goes on to propose a two-fold division of the Neolithic. For our Opinion column we look at tree-ring dating, and John Fletcher of the Oxford laboratory asks Does Dendrochronology Work? In the heart of the new town of Milton Keynes, a medieval Post Mill has been excavated, at Great Linford. A recent radiocarbon date has suggested that this was one of the earliest known, and so Robert Zeepvat describes the excavations and looks at the history of post-mills to see how far this claim can be justified. We have a hefty batch of Letters, with a gruesome interpretation of the Dunstable Roman cemetery, a stirring defence of the Ancient Monuments Board from the former Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments, Extra-mural archaeology in London, a boo from Abingdon, a hurrah from Dunstable, and finally, shhhhh! a letter from the ends of the world exposes one of our misprints. We then have some Quotations, and finally, since this is the end of the volume, there is the Index to the past 12 issues. Cover photo: The Mars mosaic from Fullerton was discovered in 1872 and re-laid in Fullerton Manor. This has now been converted into flats, and a wall built across the mosaic. Turn the picture upside down to see the naked Mars (or is it a Virtus?) in his full splendour. Photo: David Baker 355 Diary 358 Briar Hill by Helen Bamford 364 Mosaics in Danger by Peter Johnson 368 Books 371 Two Neolithics? by Alasdair Whittle 374 Opinion: Does Dendrochronology Work? by John Fletcher 375 Post Mills by Robert Zeepvat 378 Letters 381 Quotations 382 Index
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current archaeology Diary No. 71 Vol. VI No. 12 Published April 1980 Edited by Andrew & Wendy Selkirk, 9 Nassington Road, London NW3 2TX, Tel. 01-435 7517 Printed in Great Britain by David Green Printers Ltd 10.4.80(11.78.7) CURRENT ARCHAEOLOGY IS PUBLISHED SIX TIMES A YEAR FOR A SUBSCRIPTION OF £4 (S10) A YEAR SUBSCRIPTIONS SHOULD BE SENT TO: CURRENT ARCHAEOLOGY 9 NASSINGTON ROAD LONDON NW3 2TX Back Numbers 70p each (1-5 out of print) Binders to hold 12 issues £3.50. (out of stock) Boudica, pronounced Bow-deekah J UST as we had all got used to the idea that Boudicca, whom we all once knew as Boadicea, should really be Boudica, it now seems that we have been mispronouncing her as well. In the latest issue of Britannia, Professor Kenneth Jackson, our leading authority on the language and history of early Britain, con­ firms that philologically Boudica with a single 'c' is correct, and he then goes on to argue that the popular pronunciation 'Boodikka' is also wrong. The correct pronuncia­ tion is 'Bowdeekah', where the bow is pronounced as in 'bow and arrow', the stressed syllable is the dee, with long vowel, the final a also being long. "The reason for this is as follows. If Boudicca, with short i and double c was right, its late Welsh descendant would have had to be Buddech. But in fact the early Welsh adjective meaning 'victorious' and the personal name meaning 'Victoria' are respectively budic and Budic (in modern Welsh buddug and Buddug). These mean that the British form of the name, in her own time, must have been Boudica, pronounced as above as 'Bowdeekah'.'' Incidentally, he adds, our old friend Caratacus, who appears in the manuscripts as Caractacus, which has been changed on philological grounds to Caratacus, should really be pronounced 'Caratahcus', with the stress on the tah, not Carattacus, with the stress on the ratt. The Year of the Vikings THE publicists tell us that 1980 is to be the year of the Vikings, and to judge by the success of the publicity it has begun very well indeed. At the British Museum the Viking Exhibition opened on February 14th and is already draw­ ing big crowds, but the trouble with such publicity is that it may create expectations which it is difficult to live up to. Certainly the exhibition is extremely big: it not only takes up the usual exhibition rooms but also the whole of the Medieval Galleries and even spills over and occupies half of the Romano-British Gallery. Indeed the smart comment to make about the Viking Exhibition is to ask whether anyone has seen the Sutton Hoo Exhibition in Stockholm, for if the Vikings have come to London, the Anglo-Saxons, in the form of Sutton Hoo, have gone to Sweden, to form what should be an equally magnificent exhibition. But those who feared that the Viking Exhibition was going to mark the British Museum's final surrender to the embraces of Madame Tussaud can be reassured or disappointed as the case may be. This is in fact a very traditional exhibition, with the exhibits conventionally displayed, with distinctly ordinary labels. The real problem lies in the absence of any distinct theme. Here again the publicists landed them at an early stage with the 'traders not raiders' tag, but it is a little difficult to overlook the raiding side of the Vikings activities, and in any case, David Wilson, the Director of the British Museum, and instigator of the Exhibition, does not really believe it 355

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current archaeology

Diary

No. 71 Vol. VI No. 12 Published April 1980

Edited by Andrew & Wendy Selkirk, 9 Nassington Road, London NW3 2TX, Tel. 01-435 7517

Printed in Great Britain by David Green Printers Ltd

10.4.80(11.78.7)

CURRENT ARCHAEOLOGY IS PUBLISHED SIX TIMES A YEAR FOR A SUBSCRIPTION OF £4 (S10) A YEAR

SUBSCRIPTIONS SHOULD BE SENT TO: CURRENT ARCHAEOLOGY 9 NASSINGTON ROAD LONDON NW3 2TX

Back Numbers 70p each (1-5 out of print) Binders to hold 12 issues £3.50. (out of stock)

Boudica, pronounced Bow-deekah

J UST as we had all got used to the idea that Boudicca, whom we all once knew as Boadicea, should really be Boudica, it now seems that we have been mispronouncing her as well. In the latest issue of Britannia, Professor Kenneth Jackson, our leading authority on the language and history of early Britain, con­ firms that philologically Boudica with a single 'c' is correct, and he then goes on to argue that the popular pronunciation 'Boodikka' is also wrong. The correct pronuncia­ tion is 'Bowdeekah', where the bow is pronounced as in 'bow and arrow', the stressed syllable is the dee, with long vowel, the final a also being long.

"The reason for this is as follows. If Boudicca, with short i and double c was right, its late Welsh descendant would have had to be Buddech. But in fact the early Welsh adjective meaning 'victorious' and the personal name meaning 'Victoria' are respectively budic and Budic (in modern Welsh buddug and Buddug). These mean that the British form of the name, in her own time, must have been Boudica, pronounced as above as 'Bowdeekah'.''

Incidentally, he adds, our old friend Caratacus, who appears in the manuscripts as Caractacus, which has been changed on philological grounds to Caratacus, should really be pronounced 'Caratahcus', with the stress on the tah, not Carattacus, with the stress on the ratt.

The Year of the Vikings THE publicists tell us that 1980 is to be the year of the Vikings, and to judge by the success of the publicity it has begun very well indeed. At the British Museum the Viking Exhibition opened on February 14th and is already draw­ ing big crowds, but the trouble with such publicity is that it may create expectations which it is difficult to live up to. Certainly the exhibition is extremely big: it not only takes up the usual exhibition rooms but also the whole of the Medieval Galleries and even spills over and occupies half of the Romano-British Gallery. Indeed the smart comment to make about the Viking Exhibition is to ask whether anyone has seen the Sutton Hoo Exhibition in Stockholm, for if the Vikings have come to London, the Anglo-Saxons, in the form of Sutton Hoo, have gone to Sweden, to form what should be an equally magnificent exhibition.

But those who feared that the Viking Exhibition was going to mark the British Museum's final surrender to the embraces of Madame Tussaud can be reassured or disappointed as the case may be. This is in fact a very traditional exhibition, with the exhibits conventionally displayed, with distinctly ordinary labels. The real problem lies in the absence of any distinct theme. Here again the publicists landed them at an early stage with the 'traders not raiders' tag, but it is a little difficult to overlook the raiding side of the Vikings activities, and in any case, David Wilson, the Director of the British Museum, and instigator of the Exhibition, does not really believe it

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