British Archaeology Is published bimonthly Next issue out April 9 2021
Editor Mike Pitts editor@archaeologyuk.org
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Magazine design by Mike Sigrist
Copyright © authors (text and pictures) and the cba (typography and design) 2021. Views expressed may not reflect cba policy and the cba does not necessarily endorse services and goods advertised issn 1357-4442
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Founded in 1944, the Council for British Archaeology promotes archaeology for all. It makes the case for safeguarding our archaeological heritage, and increasing public participation and understanding. It has a growing membership of individuals of all ages and over 600 organisations, and partnerships with Archaeology Scotland, cba Wales/ Cymru and cba English Regional Groups. The cba is an environmental charity registered in England & Wales (287815) and Scotland (sc041971), and a company limited by guarantee (1760254)
On the cover: Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes on the set of The Dig, with National Trust Sutton Hoo staff (from left), Sally Metcalf (volunteer programming), Laura Howarth (archaeology & engagement), Bill Brooks (welcome & service) and Helen Johns (marketing & communications). See page 18 for exclusive inside stories of the film every archaeologist is talking about
From the editor
As we follow lockdown rules, with many of us stuck indoors, we realise that our enjoyment of archaeology is not just about rocks and ruins. It’s also about relationships – with people in the past, and with friends, colleagues and communities in the present. Our memories of excavations are of meeting others, of telling stories and making jokes (and of sharing experiences of bruises and bad weather). We long to visit museums and galleries, not just to see exhibitions but to mix with crowds. To feel part of a society that values human creativity and expression.
Such sentiments permeate this magazine, from the scientific teams cracking problems of dating the past, through The Dig – a film of an iconic excavation that focuses on people, not treasure – to an explicit call to bring living communities into archaeological inquiry. Covid-19’s hegemony will end. Until then, we have the opportunity to spend a disproportionate amount of time with people long gone we never knew. It’s a small mercy, but perhaps for now we can accept a little comfort from antiquity.
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This issue’s contributors include
Charlotte Douglas is a community archaeologist at aoc Archaeology Group, based in Edinburgh. On page 24, with David Strachan, director of the Perth & Kinross Heritage Trust, she introduces a project that has excavated at some striking hillforts around the Tay estuary
Richard Evershed is head of the Organic Geochemistry Unit in the School of Chemistry at the University of Bristol. For more than 20 years he and his colleagues have been striving to achieve the seemingly impossible – to radiocarbon-date pottery. Now they have succeeded, as they explain on page 30
Rachel Pope is an archaeology lecturer and director of fieldwork at the University of Liverpool. When Richard Mason found a lost 1930s archive from a hillfort in Cheshire, some iron objects caught their interest. On page 44 they describe how the fragments revealed a world of massive gateways
Radiocarbon dates Unless otherwise noted, 14c dates in British Archaeology are calibrated at 95% confidence (cal ad or cal bc, expressed as ad or bc), rounded out after Mook (1986). See “Radiocarbon dating” by M Christie et al, WikiJournal of Science (2018), doi: 10.15347/wjs/2018.006
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