OUR NEW PRESIDENT • Frances Healey

David Breeze, who was elected President of the Institute at the AGM, was formerly Chief Inspector of AncientMonuments for Scotland. He is an Honorary Professor at theuniversities of Durham, Edinburgh and Newcastle and chair ofthe International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies. Davidprepared the successful bid for World Heritage Site status forthe Antonine Wall and led the team which created theFrontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site, of whichthe Antonine Wall forms a part, together with Hadrian’s Walland the limes in Germany. It is thus the firsttrans-national World Heritage Site,capable of becoming trans-continental, as it expands to encompass the physicalremains of the entire border of theRoman Empire at its greatest extent inthe second century . David retiredfrom the Inspectorate in , afterforty years’ service.

He is author or co-authorof numerous books, bothpopular and academic,and even morenumerous papers. Hisbooks includeHadrian’s Wall; TheNorthern Frontiers ofRoman Britain; Edge ofEmpire, Rome’s ScottishFrontier: The AntonineWall; Roman Officers and Frontiers; the fourteenth edition of J. Collingwood Bruce’s

Royal ArchaeologicalInstitute NewsletterNo April

IN THIS ISSUE

Our New President

Grants and Awards

Research Grant Reports

Dates for your Diary

Cardiff Conference

Summer Meetingon Orkney

Autumn Day Meeting at Greenwich

Miscellany

Caption Competition

Handbook to the Roman Wall; Historic Scotland:People and Places; Roman Scotland: a Guide tothe Visible Remains; A Queen’s Progress (onthe surviving buildings associated with MaryQueen of Scots); and The Stone of Destiny:Artefact and Icon. He has, in other words,always enjoyed and made time for researchand, indeed, is still engaged in tracing hisfamily tree, a project on which he embarkedfifty-five years ago.

David was happy to be interviewed for theNewsletter.

What drew you to Archaeology and, in particular,to the Roman military and frontiers?

I knew from the age of that I wanted tostudy history. I went up to Durham in

to read modern history and was given EricBirley, Professor of Archaeology, as my firsttutor. He introduced me to archaeology andthe rest, as they say, is history.

How different was the Historic Scotland fromwhich you retired in from the predecessorbody which you joined in , and were youresponsible for any of those changes?

In I joined a UK department. This wasbroken up in and since then I haveworked for the Scottish Office, later theScottish Executive. Within that framework,there have been several distinctive changesover the last forty years. When I joined therewas just one piece of legislation that we hadto acknowledge, the AncientMonuments Act. When I retired there werebalancing clauses in a whole range of statuteswhich resulted in considerable discussionsbetween a wide range of state and quasi-statebodies. One signal advantage has been amove to a more integrated approach to themanagement of the countryside and a wideracknowledgement of the role of the historicenvironment within it. At the same time,spending on archaeology in Scotlandincreased enormously through the s,

moving from about £, a year to£,, starting the revolution which hascontinued through the creation ofcommercial archaeology in the s. Theother main change has been in relation tostate-managed properties. The entry chargewas minimal in . This all changedfollowing the Conservative victory in .Pressure started and has increased to raise therevenue which might be made fromencouraging more visitors to theseproperties. Interpretation has improved andguide books changed out of all recognition.At the same time, it would appear that theamount of conservation carried out to theseproperties has decreased, which may createproblems in the future. In many ways, mytask was to steer the Scottish Inspectoratethrough these waters, seeking more money,more staff, better ways of doing our work.

As one who is an Honorary Professor at morethan one university, how do you think the dividesbetween the state, university, commercial andvoluntary sectors in archaeology can be betterbridged?

There have been several attempts byuniversities to bring in outsiders as occasionallecturers, even to teach on some higherdegree courses, but, at least in Scotland,these have not survived. At the same time,now that Inspectors no longer undertakeexcavations or similar work at their ownhands, there is a necessity for them to keeptheir knowledge, experience and skills up-to-date. I suspect that the commercialsector can get too narrowly focused on eachjob and lose sight of the wider picture, whilethe voluntary sector tends to get left out inthe cold. So one way forward might be toimprove the communications between thedifferent parts of the discipline – perhapsthrough focused seminars and discussions –and arrange more secondments between themembers of the different sectors.

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What developments do you hope to see in theRAI over the course of your Presidency?

The main task over the next year is toreview life in the electronic age. The twinfoci of this are to see how we can improvethe flow of information to our members,bearing in mind that not all have internetaccess and that we have a successfulnewsletter and journal, and to present the

best possible face to the outside world so thatwe can gain new members. There is afeeling that the age span of the membershipis getting increasingly weighted one way andwe need to find ways of bringing youngermembers into the Institute. This is notimpossible. If we all sought to recruit onenew member we would be able to achievemore for all of our members.

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AWARDS FOR THEPRESENTATION OF HERITAGERESEARCH • Gill Hey

The RAI is one of the co-sponsors (and co-founders) of the Awards for thePresentation of Heritage Research, alongwith English Heritage, Historic Scotland,Cadw, the Northern Ireland Department ofthe Environment, Heritage and LocalGovernment and the Irish Environment andHeritage Service. We contribute £

towards the prizes, and specifically that ofthe £ Under- Prize; the main award isworth £, and there is a runner’s-upaward of £. These go to the speakerswho demonstrate the most interesting andhigh-quality research, and also give the mostlively and entertaining presentation. Thefinalists for the day are whittled down (by a judge from each of the sponsoringorganisations) from a much longer list ofapplicants who provide a summary of theirproject.

Until recently, the awards have been held aspart of the British Association’s Festival ofScience, but audiences have tended to besmall and the event did not receive thepublicity it merited. This year, for the firsttime, we held the awards at CurrentArchaeology’s Archaeology conferencewhich was at the British Museum from to

February. Your doughty Secretary waspleased to represent you again and isdelighted to report that the new venue was a great success, with a larger and better-informed audience provokinginteresting discussions during question times.The audience is also invited to score thepresentations and their combined decision isgiven equal weight to that of the judges.

This year it was extremely difficult to choosea winner because the presentations wereextremely varied but all good – and this ledto a lively debate amongst the judges. As ithappened, the view of the audience matchedthe majority view of the judges and helpedus to come to a decision – just in time forthe awards ceremony which was held in thefunction room of the Plough in MuseumStreet (excellent refreshments being providedby English Heritage).

The winning presentation was from a non-professional, Chris Yates, representing theSouth West Maritime Archaeological Group,who talked about Bronze Age copper trade:evidence from a maritime environment. Therunner up was Brendon Wilkins talkingabout Recently reported road deaths on the N: BC to AD and the under- awardwent to Chantel Summerfield presenting Thearchaeology of a soldier’s identity in the twentiethcentury, uncovered through a comparison of

GRANTS AND AWARDS

arborglyphs (that’s tree carvings!). But therewere other excellent presentations, andexpect to hear some of them in aforthcoming RAI lecture programme.

BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGICALAWARDS

Aimed at identifying the most impressive,innovative and imaginative archaeologicalendeavours of the past two years, the BritishArchaeological Awards are a showcase for

Dr Rachel Pope: Kidlandee Dean Landcapeproject

Dr Andy Jones: Bronze Age SettlementsBosiliack, Cornwall

Dr Tom Moore: Late Iron Age and EarlyRoman Bagendon, geophysical survey(Bunnel Lewis fund)

Dr Eileen Wilkes: Mount Folly Enclosureproject (Tony Clark fund)

RAI RESEARCH GRANT REPORTS

B C C, K

• Vicki Cummings and Gary Robinson

In June and July two trenches wereexcavated under the direction of staff of theUniversities of Bangor and Central

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the best in British archaeology. The awardsceremony will form the opening event ofthe twentieth Festival of BritishArchaeology, and will be held on July at the British Museum. Entries will bejudged in the following six categories: BestProject, Best Community Project, BestBook, Best Representation of Archaeologyin the Media, Best Discovery and BestInnovation. For further information see theirwebsite http://www.britarch.ac.uk/awards

ROYAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTERESEARCH GRANTS

The Institute awards the following grants annually:

Tony Clark Fund Up to £ for archaeological work and dating

Bunnell Lewis Fund Up to £ towards archaeology of the Roman period in the UK

RAI Award Up to £ towards archaeological work in the UK

Please write to the Administrator @ RAI c/o Society of Antiquaries, BurlingtonHouse, London, for an application form.

Closing date for applications: January . Awards announced in April .

MASTER’S DISSERTATION PRIZE

The RAI Master’s Dissertation Prize is abiennial prize of £ awarded for the bestdissertation by a graduate student at a Britishuniversity. The winner for the years

and is Elena Martelli of University ofReading for her dissertation ‘Clay Saccarii(porters) from Roman Ostia: a study oncommerce, social identity and cult’.

GRANTS AWARDED FORRESEARCH,

Research grants for have been awardedto the following projects

Dr Dawn Hadley: West Halton post-excavation project

Lancashire, at Blasthill, a Clyde-stylechambered tomb in southern Kintyre. Onetrench over the northern part of theforecourt revealed a well-preserved facadewith in situ drystone walling in between thefacade uprights. The forecourt had originallybeen paved, and a series of burnt depositswas found underneath the paving which mayrepresent the clearance of the land surface forcairn construction. A Bronze Age bead wasfound on top of the paving, and the entireforecourt had been infilled with cairnmaterial,effectively blocking access into themonument.

A second trench was opened across the bodyof the cairn incorporating the lateralchamber. This revealed a complexconstruction sequence, whereby the chamberwas originally surrounded by a small circularcairn. This was later incorporated into a longcairn. The cairn itself seems to have beenmade of large ‘core cairn’ stones topped withturf and with smashed quartz scattered onthe top. Roughly half of the chamberdeposits were excavated and a quantity ofearly Neolithic pottery was found in situ,including a whole pot. Tooth enamelfragments were subsequently found in wet

sieving. Outside the chamber more potsherds and a flint knife were found.

L I A E R

B ‒ • Dr Tom Moore

The Late Iron Age complex at Bagendon,Gloucestershire is one of the most underinvestigated ‘oppida’ in Britain. Geophysicalsurvey of the complex was aimed atcontextualising previous small-scaleexcavations which have taken place withinthe complex and revealed a first-century

‘industrial’ area. These excavations arecurrently the focus of a post-excavationproject.

This season, around ha of the Bagendonoppidum complex was surveyed using high-resolution geophysics. This surveyrevealed that a banjo enclosure in the centreof the dyke system was associated with alarge ditched ‘avenue’ which may predatethe earthwork works and suggests thepossibility of an earlier phase to the complex.In addition, occupation areas were identifiedin the valley including possible roundhouses,pits and enclosures which most likely

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Excavation ofthe forecourt atBlasthill

represent continuity of occupation from theareas excavated in the s and s.Together, the surveys illustrate the variationin activities which existed within theBagendon complex. In addition, thereappears to be a distinction between areas ofoccupation (along the valley) and areasreserved for other purposes, presumablystock keeping or arable farming, on thelimestone plateau. The relationship betweenthe enclosures, revealed in these surveys, andother linear features suggests, in particular, apossible emphasis on moving and corrallinganimals at the site. The elements revealed areproviding clearer appreciation of thedevelopment of the Bagendon complex andits possible role in Late Iron Age society.Combined with examination of the earlierexcavations this will provide a betterappreciation of the site’s place in Iron Agesociety and in the changes which took placeimmediately before and after the Romanconquest.

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(L) • Dawn Hadley

Excavations directed by Dr Hadley and Dr Hugh Willmott (University of Sheffield)at West Halton have sought to elucidate thenature of Anglo-Saxon and medievaloccupation on what is now the village green.This occupation was focused on twoBronze-Age barrows; one survives while theother was flattened in the fourteenth centuryto make way for a building. Earlier resistivitysurvey had identified a square-ditchedenclosure north of the barrow complex, andlimited excavation indicated that the ditchwas steep-sided and c.m in depth. In

in the south-east quadrant of this enclosure,a number of early Anglo-Saxon buildingswere excavated, including three post-builtstructures and a sunken-featured building.The base of the latter contained many animalbones, including a whole dog. The inside of

the enclosure was also peppered withhundreds of very small post-holes (c. cm indiameter and typically – cm deep) whosefunction was not immediately apparent,although they respected the locations of thebuildings and, thus, appear to becontemporary. Very few finds were retrievedfrom the enclosure ditch, suggesting that itwas backfilled quickly and was perhaps usedto hold upright posts. This square-ditchedenclosure is of a type that John Blair hasassociated with early Anglo-Saxon paganshrines referred to infrequently in writtensources of the seventh and eighth centuries,although many of the examples known fromelsewhere were either identified onlythrough survey or were excavated long ago.Dating of the enclosure will depend ondetailed analysis of the little potteryrecovered from the ditch, but it offers animportant possibility of verifying John Blair’sargument.

K D L P •Rachel Pope

The KDL Project examines the nature andchronology of Bronze Age settlement andland use in the Cheviot uplands, as a trainingexcavation for the Universities of Durhamand Liverpool, with local volunteers fromthe Northumberland and CoquetdaleArchaeology Groups. The landscape consistsof cairns, house platforms, and field systems,with later palisaded enclosures, cord rig, andcross-ridge dykes. , sqm has beensurveyed using EDM and GPS.

Excavation began on a decayed turf-walledroundhouse, preliminarily dated to the Earlyto Middle Bronze Age by a ‘napkin ring’(cloak fastener) in the house wall. In ,attention turned to the associated fieldsystem, trenches across field boundariesrevealing five separate episodes ofconstruction, with test-pitting across the fieldplots to assess soil formation, and

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geochemical and micromorphologicalsampling to gain an idea of how the plotswere used.

In , excavation of the house platformwas completed. Archaeomagnetic datingsamples were taken from the Phase clay-lined hearth-pit and removal of thePhase floor saw the ground plan of aprimary stake-walled roundhouse revealed,following painstaking excavation withteaspoons. Despite torrential rains – with theteam trapped in Kidland Forest for threedays, after flooding and landslides preventedroad access – work continued, with studentshiking to site tools in hand.

Through the KDL Project we are gaining anunderstanding of later prehistoric use ofupland landscapes: why and how they weresettled, whether occupation was permanentor seasonal, and how this land use changed atthe end of the Bronze Age.

M F E • Dr EileenWilkes

Mount Folly, on the west coast of the SouthHams, consists of three articulated enclosureswithin an extensive field system, identifiedthrough aerial reconnaissance andgeophysical survey. In , six weeks offieldwork were followed by ongoing post-excavation analysis. All elements of theproject are undertaken by volunteersdirected by Dr Wilkes of Bournemouth

University. It is one of the largestcommunity archaeology projects in theregion.

On site, work focused on further excavationof a terraced occupation area within one ofthe enclosures and the extension of thegeophysical survey (magnetic gradiometry)that was very successful. The extent of theknown field system around the enclosureswas expanded into neighbouring fields – theedges have yet to be reached.

Post-excavation work commenced in theautumn. The volunteers produced copies ofall site drawings and work started on theceramic assessment. The group is greatlyhelped by Henrietta Quinnell, a renownedspecialist in prehistoric ceramics, and RogerTaylor who provides petrological advice.Many of the sherds have carbonised residueadhering to their inner surfaces and we planto send eight sherds for AMS dating thiswinter. The results of the ceramic assessmentto date suggest the material at Mount Follyoriginated in southern Britain, France,Germany and Italy during the late Iron Ageand Romano-British periods.

Post-excavation work is continuing and willproceed through the spring prior to furtherfieldwork and survey in . The projectparticipants acknowledge with gratitude thehelp and support of the landowner, Mr J. Tucker, the County Archaeologist andher team, and the Devon ArchaeologicalSociety.

A

G, E Y • PeterHalkon, David Starley and Peter Crew

In the early s, the Granthams ofDriffield discovered a ‘currency bar’ at HillFarm, Gransmoor, during excavation of anembankment cross. Although the late TonyBrewster attempted to publish it along withassociated Iron Age finds, it remained with

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Excavations at Kidlandlee Dean

the Grantham’s heir Peter Makey until itstrue significance was recognised in .Although there is now evidence for aflourishing Iron Age iron industry in theFoulness Valley, this bar remains the onlyexample in the region and one of the fewfrom northern England. Currency bars,generally held to be forms of trade iron,have distinctly regional distributions, withabout examples from Britain alone.

The bar’s find spot bar, east of the valley ofthe River Hull opposite Wetwang Slackwith its iron-rich cart burials, is significant,and a furnace, possibly of Iron Age date, wasdiscovered further downstream at Thearnenear Beverley in .

After examination, the bar was analysed. X-ray fluorescence showed small peaks ofarsenic and phosphorus but not manganese.Metallography showed that the bar had beencrudely welded together and both piecesmay have come from the sameheterogeneous bloom. Overall the alloy usedwas phosphoric iron although the core ofSample contained about .% carbon, justenough to be classified as a steel. Sample contained only about .% carbon,insufficient to allow hardening byquenching. The Gransmoor currency barwas therefore typical; relatively little worked,high in phosphorus, low in carbon iron

alloy, suitable for a range of purposes. Thismay leave open the possibility of localproduction, but by no means confirms it.

Many thanks to Peter Makey for the loan ofthe bar and the interest he has shown.

L A-S

C: E L,K, • Gabor Thomas

The report summarises the second year ofopen-area excavation within the precincts ofthe Anglo-Saxon monastery of Lyminge,reputedly founded ( ) by Æthelburga,daughter of King Æthelberht of Kent. Thisyear’s trench took in a m windowsandwiched between the larger of lastseason’s excavation trenches and thesouthern boundary of the churchyard. Thearea, previously examined by a small-scaleevaluation by the Canterbury ArchaeologicalTrust, is located some m south of theAnglo-Saxon monastic church excavated byCanon Jenkins in the s.

The excavations produced a spectacularlyrich concentration of Middle Saxonoccupation with more limited evidence forSaxo-Norman land-use. A sequence of majorand minor ditched boundaries has providedkey evidence for reconstructing the spatialorganisation of the Middle Saxon settlementand its evolving relationship to the monastic

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The Gransmoor currency bar sampled (Photo: D. Starley)

nucleus to the south. A spectrum of post-built timber buildings were recoveredwith distinctions in size and structural detailsdenoting both domestic and agricultural uses;the former recall the diminutive ‘cells’excavated at such Northumbrian parallels asHartlepool. The occupation was pepperedwith rock-cut pits (over fifty in total) someforming distinct concentrations; thoselocated within domestic compounds clearlyserved as latrines as indicated by dense

accumulations of digested fish bone andmineralised concretions, sampled extensivelyfor environmental and micromorphologicalanalysis. The excavations have enhanced thepicture provided by the already extensiveMiddle Saxon artefact/bioarchaeologicalassemblages: notable finds included a foldingbalance, imported Frankish pottery and manyexamples of the bossed jars distinctive to EastKent, metalworking crucibles and morewindow/vessel glass.

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2010

C – April ‘Wales and theWest during the Bronze Age’ at Cardiff; fordetails, see below

S M – May inBuckinghamshire, led by Mike Farley (detailswith this mailing)

S M – July inPembrokeshire, led by Headley Swain(details with this mailing)

A D M (details to beconfirmed)

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

There are still places available to attend thisnon-residential conference, sponsored by theRAI, Cambrian Archaeological Association,National Museum, Wales and Cadw. Therewill be twelve lectures over two days, withan optional reception and archaeologygallery viewing. Conference fee £ (£

for one day) includes abstracts, tea & coffee.Optional catering package (two lunches andwine reception/gallery viewing) £

(or pro rata). A full speaker listing andconference flier can be viewed atwww.royalarchaeolinst.org. For bookings and further information, pleasecontact Caroline Raison, MeetingsOrganiser, , e-mailadmin@royalarchaeolinst.org or by post toThe Firs, , Main Street, Houghton-on-theHill, Leicestershire, .

WALES AND THE WEST DURING THE BRONZE AGE:CHARACTER, COMPARISON AND CONTACTS, ‒ April at the National Museum, Cardiff

The Summer Meeting was based atStromness, in the south-west corner ofmainland Orkney. From there we visitedsites ranging in date from the Neolithic to

the twentieth century, on the mainland aswell as on the islands of Rousay and Hoy.The Orkney archipelago is on the peripheryof the modern world, but in the past, it has

155TH SUMMER MEETING ON ORKNEY, 4–11 JULY 2009 •Anne Holton-Krayenbuhl

played a more significant role, as we were tolearn in the course of the week. Theinternational importance of the Neolithicsites on Orkney was recognised in

when these gained UNESCO WorldHeritage Site status.

The Meeting started on Saturday, July,members having made their own way up toStromness. Planning the journey had been achallenge in itself. There was a wide varietyof routes and means of transport, allinvolving at least one transfer, and causing aproblem for a few of the air travellers whoseluggage failed to follow them to Kirkwallairport. Many of us met up in the earlyafternoon, in the departure lounge of theScrabster to Stromness ferry. The sea mistthat had formed halfway across the PentlandFirth dispersed as we sailed past the Old Man of Hoy and then it was time to getready to disembark. Caroline Raison pointedout the Stromness Hotel, our base for theweek.

The hotel was a solid-looking grey stonebuilding backing onto a steep slope. Thisexplained the apparently odd internalarrangements, with Reception on the firstfloor and access to the car park on thesecond. The dining-room on the first floorhad French windows that led into the verysteep garden, bordered with fuchsia bushes, a common feature in the local landscape. Afew members lodged at the nearby HarbourView Cottage and at the Ferry Inn, evencloser to the ferry terminal than theStromness Hotel, with associated noise andoccasional roudiness at times of ferry arrivalsor departures. Jonathan Coad, President, andHedley Swain, Meetings Secretary, alreadylooked comfortably settled in as we arrived.At dinner on the Saturday evening Hedleywelcomed us and warned of the dailychallenges ahead. Sunday’s would be to cross over to the Brough of Birsay, a tidalisland, and return before the tide came in

again; he hoped he had read the chartscorrectly.

Sunday was warm and sunny and we startedoff with a walking tour of Stromness. Ourguide explained how the town haddeveloped in a somewhat haphazard way, ashouse plots with individual jetties were laidout along the shore. There appeared to belittle standardisation so that the rearboundaries, now forming one side of thestreet, did not line up, but consisted of aseries of doglegs. Development of land onthe other side had been equally uneven andas a result, this street, roughly parallel to theshore, widened out and narrowed down inconfusing fashion. We were taken alongalleyways running steeply uphill betweenbuildings that almost touched each other ateaves level. The morning ended with a visitto the Stromness Museum where exhibits onthe Hudson Bay Company, Arctic whalingand the Pacific Islands illustrated the far-reaching contacts of Orkney in dayswhen the archipelago was a major transitpoint.

In the afternoon we set off for Birsay andGurness, with V & J Coaches who were toprovide us with comfortable transport for theweek. Kirsty Dingwall of Historic Scotlandwas our guide for the afternoon; HistoricScotland stewards contributed to the guidedtour at both sites, and would do so on othervisits to Historic Scotland sites. Brough ofBirsay looked stunning in the brightsunshine which also brought out the saltysmell of dry seaweed. The distinctionbetween brough and broch was explained tous: the former referring to a naturallydefended site, as at Birsay, the latter to afortified defensive structure, as we were tosee at Gurness. The Brough of Birsay hadbeen a high status site for both Picts andNorsemen and the principal seat of the earlsof Orkney in the eleventh century, if notearlier. The evidence for this consisted of

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Within the Broch of Gurness (MO’B)

earthworks; remains of a twelfth-centurychurch with claustral buildings were the onlystanding structures. We crossed the causewayback to the mainland to look at the ruinedpalace of the sixteenth-century Earl RobertStuart, illegitimate son of King James V ofScotland. Our attention was distracted by thearrival of a yellow minibus advertising on itssides ‘Haggis Adventures: Wild and Sexy’. Itsyoung clientele didn’t spend much time atthe site. Then on to the Broch of Gurnessoverlooking Eynhallow Sound. We walkedthrough the maze of chambers built aroundthe central structure of the broch, the mostcomplete known so far but gradually beinglost to the sea. The problem of coastalerosion would be a recurrent theme duringthe week. In view of the unpromisingweather forecast, Hedley arranged a paddlestop on a nearby beach.

As expected, Monday turned out grey,windy and showery. We visited the

Neolithic monuments included in theUNESCO World Heritage Site, and more.Our first stop was the Neolithic settlement atSkara Brae, on the west coast, and AnnMarwick of Historic Scotland introduced thesite. The tour of the site took us along theroofs of the structures so that we lookeddown into these remarkable remains of stonechambers with stone furniture, centralhearths and linking passages. There was anintriguing exhibition in the Visitor Centreincluding a bucket carved out of a whalevertebra, and a welcome cafeteria. Wecontinued on to the Loch of Stenness,stopping at Unstan cairn on the shore of theloch. The entrance passage leading into thecentral chamber was low and narrow, andCaroline controlled numbers going in andcoming out. From Unstan we could see theRing of Brodgar and associated moundsbrought into clearer focus as the sun brieflyilluminated these sites. The Brodgar car park

provided a fly-infested venue for our picniclunch.

Our guide for the afternoon was JaneDownes of Orkney College. She showed usround the Ring of Brodgar and explainedthe monument within its landscape, notingthat it had much in common withStonehenge, not least the countless theoriesfor its interpretation. Evidence for asettlement was being excavated nearby, thetrench also providing shelter for some sheep.At Stenness, we saw another stone circlewith a smaller diameter but taller stones, thereconstructed Neolithic settlement atBarnhouse, and Maes Howe. This was animposing Neolithic mound with a largecentral chamber, visited by Norsemen in alater age; they had left their mark in theform of runic graffiti. We drove on to theKnowes of Trotty, a group of Bronze Agemounds at the foot of a hill overlooking theLoch of Harray. The site was at somedistance from the road and some of the partyremained on the coach. We walked pastfields of sheep and cattle, and finally reachedthe site. As the sky turned blacker, Janehastily summarised the findings from recent

excavations, and we rushed back to thecoach as it started to rain. We had barelyarrived back at the hotel than it was time fordinner – a breathless end to a day spentvisiting major prehistoric sites.

Tuesday’s challenge was to reach Tingwall intime to catch the ferry to Rousay. The lightdrizzle felt increasingly wet as we waited forthe ferry. We took shelter in the waitingroom, providing us with the opportunity toread the notices informing us of the manylocal activities on the archipelago. The islandof Rousay is roughly conical with a band ofagricultural land along the coast, risingsteeply to several peaks in a moorlandlandscape. The only road around the islandmarks the approximate boundary betweenthe two types of vegetation. Julie Gibson,County Archaeologist for Orkney, met us onthe pier and explained the itinerary: we wereto drive anticlockwise round the island, adistance of some thirteen miles, stopping enroute to look at some of the numerous sites.

Towards midday the sun came out and westopped near Midhowe, on the south-westcorner of the island and on the north shoreof Eynhallow Sound. The path from theroad down to the site was steep and some ofthe party preferred to opt out of thisparticular challenge. The corrugated ironbuilding housing the cairn provided someshelter from the wind as we ate our packedlunches, entertained by a family of sealsfrolicking on the rocky shore. Inside thebuilding, raised platforms provided a goodgeneral view of Midhowe chambered cairn,a structure measuring over m in lengthwith compartments on either side. Julieexplained the construction of the cairnbefore we went on to the nearby broch,making a leap of some years in a fewminutes. The broch stands on a low cliff, itsdefences formerly complemented by twoditches running from broch to sea. We thenwalked towards Westness at a brisk pace –

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Skara Brae (AB)

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ferry timetables being kept in mind – andwere shown sites formerly occupied byNorse settlers. There were two more stopson the way back to the ferry: a site beingexcavated on the beach, and the ‘double-decker’ tomb at Taversoe Tuick.

Kirkwall was the focal point of Wednesday’sexcursion, beginning with the grain earthhouse on a dreary industrial estate in thesuburbs of Kirkwall. This was anunderground structure with a narrow accessthat could only be visited by two people at atime. A gentle drizzle set in as we waited forour turn in the queue. Then on to the majorsites in the town centre where the museum,the cathedral, and the palaces of earl andbishop stand in a group either side of acomparatively busy road. Anne Brundle,Curator of Archaeology, welcomed us to theTankerness House Museum, a sixteenth-century building with displays of artefactsfrom the many important sites on theOrkney archipelago, including some finebone objects of Norse manufacture. We thencrossed the road to St Magnus Cathedral, asmall-scale version of more southerlycathedrals and built of pink stone. EarlRognvald had undertaken to build thecathedral in honour of his uncle, EarlMagnus, if he gained the earldom, andconstruction started in . The rooflessremains of the two palaces stand south of thecathedral. That of the earl had been built inthe seventeenth century for the Stewartfamily, while the bishop’s palace had beenbuilt in the twelfth. All that remained of thelatter was the shell of an oblong range towhich had been added a corner tower in thesixteenth century.

After lunch we had a choice. We couldeither visit Mine Howe some miles south ofKirkwall, or stay in Kirkwall with shoppingopportunities for those who so wished.Those who chose the first option discovereda monument unlike anything seen so far.

Mine Howe is one of a group of moundseither side of a quiet road, the entrancebeing near the top of the mound. Onceagain we queued to get in, but as the partywas smaller, it didn’t take so long. A verticalshaft took us down into the mound, with aladder joining up with stone steps midwaydown. A narrow landing gave access to twohorizontal passages, now closed, but theseseemed to be the only features within themound. When we reached the bottom, therewas nothing special to see, no chamber, andnot even a recess. Initially this was adisappointment but we then wondered if itwas the journey into the earth (some twentyfeet) that might have been the significantelement. Then back to the modern world.The party regrouped in Kirkwall to visit theHighland Park Distillery on the outskirts ofthe town. Whisky production was not inprogress at the time, so our guides describedthe various stages of the process as wewalked through silent and dust-freebuildings. The cellars with variously agedwhisky casks and a general musty whiskysmell was the nearest we got to the actualproduction process, apart from the tasting atthe end of the tour.

Inside Mine Howe (AB)

Thursday included a ferry crossing and wastherefore another particularly challengingday. We were on the road by a.m. Westopped en route at Orphir, the site of oneof the manors of the Norse earls and thesetting for Christmas feasts and other eventsrecounted in the Orkneyinga Saga. All thatremains visible are the ruined apse of around church in the corner of the moderncemetery and nearby earthworks, interpretedas the remains of the Norse drinking-hall ofthe saga. The Norse connection wasunderlined by the bilingual informationboard. We crossed over to Hoy and drove tothe cliffs at Rackwick on the west coast ofthe island through a desolate landscape ofsteep eroded hills covered in heather, withsome peat diggings by the roadside. This wascompensated by the interesting flora and birdlife, examined at closer quarters on the walkup to the Dwarfie Stane, a rare example of aNeolithic rock-cut tomb, in contrast withthe stone-built tombs visited elsewhere. Theinterior of the tomb was small, with a shortentrance and two small side chambers.Graffiti on the sides of the tomb included aline in Persian!

A brief stop at the Lyness Royal NavalCemetery left us pensive. It also providedthe introduction to the main theme of theday: the defence of Britain at and aroundScapa Flow, from Napoleonic times to thetwentieth century, presented by JonathanCoad in his usual clear and well-informedstyle. We stopped for lunch at the LynessVisitor Centre, one of the former baseheadquarters buildings, and saw photographsand exhibits of military material connectedwith the defence of Britain in these northernwaters. In the afternoon we drove south-eastto the nineteenth-century Martello Towerand battery at Hackness past green fields andhabitation, and a solitary Art Deco foyer thatwas all that remained of a former cinema forthe troops. Jonathan explained the origins of

the Martello Tower and its adaptation fromthe fortified structure at Cape Mortella inCorsica, which the British had taken after along siege in . We climbed steepexternal stairs to the first-floor entrance tothe tower. The living quarters were on thefirst floor and we noted that they lay directlyabove the powder magazine in the basement.The associated battery complex looked morecomfortable.

The return crossing was distinctly rough, andspray was flying onto the deck, but the windwas not strong enough to dispel the odoursemanating from the dust-cart travelling backto the mainland on the ferry. When wereturned to the hotel, we found FrankHorlbeck, a member for years, who hadcome over from Kirkwall to join us for theevening. Still a keen photographer, but withless cumbersome equipment nowadays, hetook pictures of the group. We managed toexchange news before the start of a musicalentertainment provided by the WestMainland Strathspey and Reel Society – adozen or so instrumentalists playing Scottishmusic – followed by singing to which theRAI was invited to join, having beenprovided with song sheets.

Friday’s itinerary took us along the northcoast of the mainland and south-east toSouth Ronaldsay. Once again, we drove pastthe World Heritage Site monuments aroundthe Ring of Brodgar that had become afamiliar feature of our journeys across theisland. Caroline Wickham-Jones joined usfor the day; she described how the Orkneyarchipelago had once formed a singlelandmass that seems to have subsided quitesuddenly, with dramatic consequences for itsinhabitants. Cuween Hill was our first stop, achambered tomb set on a hillsideoverlooking the Bay of Firth. The chamber,a reduced version of that at Maes Howewith cells in the side walls, had yielded notonly human remains but also some twenty

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dog skulls possibly representing the tribaltotem.

We drove on to Burray and SouthRonaldsay, islands at the eastern mouth ofScapa Flow. They are now linked to themainland by the three Churchill Barriers,built in World War II, to block the easternaccess to Scapa Flow; their potential forcivilian use as a causeway made it legallypossible to complement the labour forcewith Italian prisoners-of-war, transportedhere in following Allied militarysuccesses in North Africa. These prisoners-of-war also built the Italian Chapel on LambHolm at the south end of the first Barrier.The chapel consists of two Nissen huts setend to end, with a simply decorated façade,but inside, it is a different world of Italianexuberance, the work designed byDomenico Chiocchetti, a church decoratorin civilian life.

We continued southward, stopping at Cairnsto visit an excavation in progress. The sitelay on a steep slope, with remains of a brochoverlain by a sequence of occupationaldeposits. The team of young dynamicarchaeologists seemed unaffected by the coldwind as they trowelled, removed stony spoilor set up drawing frames. This had been an‘extra’ on the programme, so we ate our(last) packed lunch on the coach in order toreach Isbister on schedule. There wecrowded into the Visitor Centre and heardabout the initial discovery of the ‘Tomb ofthe Eagles’, the name of the tomb derivingfrom the sea-eagles’ talons discovered amongthe human remains there. Perhaps this wasanother totem creature, analogous to whathad been observed at Cuween. We had apleasant walk through farmland to theremains of a Bronze Age structure, and thentowards the cliffs at the top of which layIsbister cairn (the ‘Tomb of the Eagles’), ourfinal chambered tomb of the week. Mattingon the ground enabled one to slide into the

tomb without getting muddy. Sealsswimming in a dangerously rough-lookingsea provided a rival attraction. It was also alast chance for the bird-spotters in the group,at the end of a week that had also beenrewarding from the ornithological point ofview – arctic skua, eider duck, puffin andblack guillemot were some of the moreexciting sightings.

We returned to Stromness mid-afternoon,providing some free time before theConference Dinner which concluded withthe presidential address; Jonathan summed upthe highlights of the week and thanked allthose who had contributed to the smoothrunning of the meeting; this includedRichard Haes who had ensured that nobodywas left behind in some isolated spot, byassiduously counting us back on the coachafter each stop. Most of us then retired tothe bar for a final sampling of the localwhisky. The party dispersed on Saturday.Some had already left before breakfast, whilea large contingent departed on the mid-morning ferry. The remainder had anopportunity to visit the Pier Art Galleryopposite the hotel, with its well-displayedcollection of modern art.

In the course of six days we had looked atmonuments spanning a period of some

years, and benefited from the expertknowledge of our various guides. Theremarkable density of sites on Orkney hadenabled us to spend a greater proportion ofour time actually visiting sites rather thansitting on the coach travelling from one siteto the next, and the ferry crossings providedan additional dimension, enabling us toexperience a mode of transport that hadplayed such an important role in the past.The gentle pace of life and unspoiltlandscape provided a refreshing change fromthe bustle and noise of southern Britain towhich many of us were returning.

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The Autumn meeting was spent inGreenwich Park. We met at the statue ofGeneral Wolfe next to the RoyalObservatory and the Greenwich meridian,and although we never strayed far from themeridian, the meeting was wide ranging,covering the early history, Romano-Britishoccupation, Anglo-Saxon burial ground,Royal palaces and park, as well as currentproposals for the London Olympics.Our guides were Pieter van der Merwe ofthe National Maritime Museum, AnthonyQuiney and Hedley Swain.

was the International Year ofAstronomy, and The Royal Observatory wasthe focus of the morning. Greenwich is oneof the four World Heritage Sites in London,inscribed as of universal significance byUNESCO in . Standing on the greatGreenwich fault line, a splendid view of theRoyal Naval Hospital, the Queens House,the river, City and central London isobtained from the vantage point of theterrace next to the Observatory and the

statue of General Wolfe.

Commissioned by Charles II for the firstAstronomer Royal, John Flamsteed, anddesigned by Christopher Wren in –,the Royal Observatory is an unusualbuilding as it was designed as a residence andan observatory. Greenwich was chosen forthe site of the observatory as the highground within the park afforded a clear viewof the sky away from the light and airpollution of London. At this time noaccurate map of the sky existed, and it wasthought that the calculation of longitude hadan astronomical answer. The importance oflongitude to nautical navigation, trade andcommerce cannot be underestimated.Reliance on sea trade, newly establishedtrade routes and the importance of gaining

new markets in America meant thatimprovements to navigation were essentialfor safe and speedy passages. The famousLongitude Act of promised a prize tothe first person to calculate longitude, andmany of the clocks built to attempt this,including John Harrison’s H and his other sea clocks are on view in theObservatory.

The Observatory, now called FlamsteedHouse, has been carefully restored and givesa good impression of the isolated living andworking conditions of Flamsteed and hissuccessors. The main feature of the house isthe large octagon room or Great Star Room,designed to house the large telescopes and‘year-going’ clocks built by ThomasTompion in , used by Flamsteed torecord observations and draw a map of thesky. To do this, a telescope was set up alongthe meridian, the north–south line, theposition of the stars was observed andrecorded and their movement measuredagainst the meridian. A map was drawn byusing these measurements and the clocks tomeasure the rotation of the earth.

It became clear that Wren’s Observatory wasnot aligned exactly with the meridian, butwas slightly to the west due to itsconstruction on the foundations ofGreenwich Castle. A new positionalobservatory was built in the garden, the firstof a series of buildings, now called theMeridian Building, to house new telescopes.The single storey observatory buildings havedistinctive roof shutters which were openedeach night for observations and theyrepresent a unique insight into how theObservatory changed to accommodate newand improved telescopes. Today, this and acomplex of later buildings make up theObservatory.

AUTUMN DAY MEETING AT GREENWICH, SATURDAY 24 OCTOBER 2009 • Kathryn Stubbs

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In ‒, two pavilions were added to theWren building. The new PhysicalObservatory begun in is now ahandsome cruciform building designed byW. J. Neatby in with Doultonterracotta decorations commemoratingnotable astronomers, scientists andinstrument makers. It was built with acentral � diameter dome, to house a ˝refractor. The Altazimuth Pavilion of

was extended in by the addition of alarge distinctive dome, built to house a new refractor, the largest conventionaltelescope in Britain at that time. The mostrecent addition is the Peter HarrisPlanetarium, by Allies and Morrison,completed in .

The Greenwich Time Ball was added to theeastern turret of Flamsteed House in . Itdrops from the top of the mast at pm eachday, a time signal clearly visible from thesurrounding area, and importantly, bynavigators on ships on the river who used itto calibrate the ships chronometer. Theoriginal meridian line and the threesuccessive meridians, of Edmond Halley,James Bradley and George Biddell Airey areall marked; the last was recognised as theUniversal Prime Meridian of the world in. The last meridianal observation wasmade in when the growth of London,smoke and light pollution obscuring the skyprompted the move of the observatory toHerstmonceaux. World time, formerly set atGreenwich is now set internationally and co-ordinated in Paris.

The Royal Observatory has about onemillion visitors every year, and a recentlycompleted £ million redevelopment andexpansion project including exhibitionredesign and reconfiguration of the site, hasaltered visitor routes and enabled greaterpublic access to the buildings and collections.The work was partly supported by HeritageLottery Funding.

The afternoon was spent looking at some ofthe other features of the Park. GreenwichPark appears at first sight to be familiarlandscaped seventeenth-century parkland,but on closer view an earlier and muchaltered landscape is revealed.

Romano-British remains have beenidentified at different times as a villa, atemple or shrine. Excavation has taken placein , /, , / and by TimeTeam with the Museum of London andBirkbeck College in . Evidence ofstructures including walls and surfaces, fluetiles and inscriptions have been recorded andcoins dating to between and

recovered. The site is thought to be aRomano-Celtic temple owing to its locationon high ground close to a river, the highstatus finds and possible plan of the structure.The site is marked by a small area of redtessellated pavement, left exposed afterexcavations in , surrounded by railingsand a small plaque.

A Romano-Celtic temple? (CvonP)

The route of Watling Street from the Kentcoast to London is projected across the park,but its exact route is not known. From thehigher ground of the park, it is easy toimagine the vantage point of Greenwich, theview of Londinium in the distance and theroute of the road crossing the lower andmarshy areas towards the Thames.

An Anglo Saxon barrow cemetery ofapproximately fifty-four mounds andmedieval ridge and furrow are visible in themore open ground in the south of the park.

The royal connections dominate thelandscape since the confiscation of theManor of Greenwich by Henry V from theAbbot of Ghent in . The Park wasenclosed with timber palings by Humphrey,Duke of Gloucester in , who built apalace, Placentia. The palace was altered andenlarged by Henry VIII, who alsointroduced deer into the park. Greenwichwas favoured as it was on the river, had apark for hunting, and was close to the navaldockyards at Woolwich and Deptford.Elizabeth I took shelter under an oak treewhich was standing until fifteen years ago;this and its successor, planted by one of hersuccessors, can be seen.

The Queen’s House, designed by InigoJones in the modern style of an Italian villa,was built for Anne of Denmark by James I,and completed for Queen Henrietta Maria in. Following the restoration, Charles IIplanned a new palace designed by Wren andSir John Vanburgh, and conversion of thepark into formal grounds, with a longnorth–south axis and radiating avenues ofelm trees and sweet chestnuts. The lines ofthe avenues and some of the sweet chestnutscan still be seen. The Queen’s House, withits later additions and colonnades, is nowpart of the National Maritime Museum.William and Mary preferred Hampton Courtfor their residence and the Tudor palace

with new buildings by John Webb andWren became the Royal Naval Hospital.Vanburgh succeeded Wren as Surveyor ofthe Royal Naval Hospital and built his ownhouse, Vanburgh Castle, just outside thePark.

The Royal Naval Hospital and Queen’sHouse with the observatory and the grandaxis are an outstanding formal compositionof buildings and landscape taking advantageof the river prospect and the steep rise ofland from the river. The view from and tothe river is renowned and familiar frompaintings by Canaletto and Turner and thecollection of buildings and landscaperepresent Britain’s maritime importance.

At the south west of the park, a group ofhouses built in and on the edge of the parkwere visited. Firstly, the bathhouse and wallsare all that remain of Montague House, builtin the s and occupied by QueenCaroline. Demolished by George IV, in, after her death, the house is more

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Queen Caroline’s Bath (CvonP)

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renowned now for Caroline’s shockingbehaviour, the ‘tinsel and trumpery’decoration and parties, famed for their‘pandemonium games’, than for architecturalmerit. Macartney House, built at the end ofthe seventeenth century, is well known asone of Sir John Soane’s houses, as it wasenlarged to his design in –. Thehouse was occupied by the family of GeneralJames Wolfe who was an occasional residenthere. The garden is now part of the Park. St Mary’s Lodge was designed by John Nashin –, and is next to a new parkentrance made in . Ranger’s House wasextended in the th century, principally forthe th Earl of Chesterfield.

Proposals to use the Park for the equestrianand pentalathon events of the LondonOlympics are causing concerns and it is to behoped that this can be achievedsympathetically and in keeping with thenationally important buildings, the sensitivelandscape and buried archaeology.

Lunch was taken at The Plume of Feathers,which is situated one second east of themeridian, the line of which is marked out inthe road and on nearby buildings. Thanksare due to Pieter van der Merwe of theNational Maritime Museum, AnthonyQuiney, Hedley Swain and Caroline Raisonfor leading and organising such an interestingday.

Greenwich news

In January it was announced thatGreenwich would be renamed the RoyalBorough of Greenwich, recognising its royalconnections in the year of the DiamondJubilee of our Patron Her Majesty QueenElizabeth II.

Our member Professor Anthony Quiney haspublished A year in the life of Greenwich Park(, Frances Lincoln) which has manypictures of the park throughout the seasons.

‘Free’ Back issues of the ArchaeologicalJournal.

The Institute is giving away back issues ofthe Archaeological Journal, Indexes, SummerMeeting Reports, and selected off-prints andmonographs. Recipients will be expected topay packaging and postage costs. The itemsare available in limited numbers and will bedistributed on a first-come, first-served basis.To see the list of volumes and/or to placeyour order, select the Back Issue OrderForm from the website at

http://www.royalarchaeolinst.org/documents/backissue.doc or contact theAdministrator direct for a faxed or postedcopy of the form.

Gift Aid

Despite previous notices of encouragement,it is still the case that less than a third ofmembers have yet arranged for the Instituteto receive gift aid. Under this scheme, if youare a taxpayer, the government will refundto the Institute, p in the pound of thevalue of your subscription. Members whopay the standard rate of tax and have filled inthe Gift Aid Form have gained for theInstitute a substantial sum. If you would liketo help, please ask the Administrator for aform.

Subscriptions

The current rates are: Ordinary member,£ and Associate or Student, £, withdiscounts when paid by direct debit; Lifemember £ or £ over .

MISCELLANY

The RAI Administrator

We are delighted to announce that SharonGerber-Parfitt has been appointed as ournew Administrator from mid-March, so youwill see her at RAI events from thebeginning of April. Sharon will be workingwith us half-time, as Caroline Raison did.Britt Baillie has regrettably resigned.

The RAI office

The office in London is now manned onlyon the second Wednesday of each monthbetween am and pm; otherwise, thetelephone number for the Administrator is

her address is RAI, c/o Society of Antiquaries, BurlingtonHouse, London, and her email isadmin@royalarchaeolinst.org

Caption competition

Please suggest a caption for this picture takenby Anthony Quiney during the paddlingstop at the Summer Meeting on

Orkney (for meeting report, see above).Send your suggestions to the NewsletterEditor at the address below, as soon aspossible please, so that the winning entrymight be published in the next newsletter.

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ROYAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE NEWSLETTER

Katherine Barclay, Williamsgate, Governor’s Green, Pembroke Road, Portsmouth,Hants. . Email: newsletter@royalarchaeolinst.org

Copy for the next issue must reach the editor by the end of May forpublication in August .

www.royalarchaeolinst.org