|
Issue 78September 2004ContentsnewsThird Neolithic longhouse found in Scotland Decorated shears trimmed Celtic hair featuresPagans Boscombe grave Digging up art Bronze bog hoard Seahenge story Forest fire lettersEthnicity, mysticism, Roman disputes and hedges opinionPeter Drewett bemoans the lack of field skills SpoilheapNeil Mortimer fights stone circle power on Ebay booksPast Poetic: Archaeology in the Poetry of WB Yeats & Seamus Heaney by Christine Finn Antiquaries: the Discovery of the Past in Eighteenth-Century Britain by Rosemary Sweet Urban Growth & the Medieval Church: Gloucester & Worcester by Nigel Baker & Richard Holt Public Archaeology by Nick Merriman Archaeology, Ritual, Religion by Timothy Insoll Charter Quay: the Archaeology of Kingston’s Riverside by Wessex Archaeology Melrose Abbey by Richard Fawcett & Richard Oram Human Evolution Cookbook by Harold L Dibble, Dan Williamson & Brad M Evans CBA updatetv in baLooking back on a season of wars and battles scienceChief archaeological scientist Sebastian Payne's new column my archaeologyPhilip Beale left his job for an archaeological experiment
ISSN 1357-4442 Editor Mike Pitts |
my archaeologyOn local leaveAfter working for the foreign of½ce and establishing the Council for British Archaeology, Beatrice de Cardi pursued a distinguished archaeological career in the United Arab Emirates I was lucky. Archaeology gave me an interest I’ve been able to pursue right up until now. Some people get bored as soon as they retire: I was taking an expedition to Qatar the day after I retired from CBA in 1973. I started life, immediately after University College, as secretary to Sir Mortimer Wheeler, who was then keeper of the London Museum [1936]. I got my field background at Maiden Castle. In the evenings if you’d shown any sort of promise on the excavation, you were allowed to go up to Tessa Wheeler’s bedroom, and she would explain the significance of what had been found. So you got a bit of training as well as just scratching about in a pit. Wheeler was a controversial character. He had a violent temper – if you weren’t quick in thinking. I’m glad to say I remained good friends with him until his death. He did a lot for archaeology: he was the father of scientific excavation. When the museum finally closed on account of the bombing, I was lent to the foreign office as personal assistant to the representative of the war cabinet in China. When I got back I found my museum post was filled, so I got a post as assistant UK trade commissioner in Delhi. Then when partition was in the air in ’47 I opted to work in Pakistan, because I could investigate Indus civilisation in my local leave. I went up to Baluchistan, sparked off by reading an article by professor Stuart Piggott. In the museum in New Delhi, he’d spotted a distinctive type of pottery which came from the region of Quetta. He got in a taxi knowing only the names that were on the museum labels, and the driver was able to locate the sites for him. I thought, well, pottery that sophisticated must have been in demand for use on more than five small sites, I’ll go and see what the distribution is. I received a great deal of help from the Khan of Qalat. I was lent a clapped out jeep and a driver, and away I went. I can't drive, I’m lethal! The Council for British Archaeology was formed in 1944, and I was invited to apply for the post of secretary. The bombing of London had alerted everyone to the need for concerted action to bully the government into allowing time for excavations in historic towns. The office was in the attic of one of those six storey buildings in South Kensington. You didn’t get many members of the public who wanted to crawl up all those flights to the attic. It was impossible to devote any time to work out east, until I got the CBA more or less established in the mid 1950s. I was able to go back to Baluchistan in 1957 by dint of putting two years’ leave together. There was too much tribal unrest to continue working there. So, I decided to hop across the border and work in south-eastern Iran, at Bampur. After the excavations, I went on survey only to be pounced on by the Iranian secret police. I thought, I’ll look at the nearest point to Iran, and chose Ra’s al-Kayma emirate. After the survey there in 1968, I sent a copy of my report to the ruler, and the next thing I knew was I was invited to put forward a programme of research. Like many of the Gulf rulers, he was anxious to establish a museum. It was all a question of identity for the country. I’ve been toing and froing each winter to Ra’s al-Kayma right up until this spring. I got involved in a project to put their accessions on computer. It’s really necessary for archaeologists not to be insular, but to look at the techniques used by other countries. It ought to be appreciated that the person who is not paid a salary for doing archaeological work can make a contribution. It’s something I’ve always held very strongly. Beatrice de Cardi talked to Mike Pitts |
CBA web:British ArchaeologyJan/Feb 2005Mar/Apr 2005 May/Jun 2005 Jul/Aug 2005 Sep/Oct 2005 Nov/Dec 2005 Jan/Feb 2006 Mar/Apr 2006 May/Jun 2006 Jul/Aug 2006 Sep/Oct 2006 Nov/Dec 2006 Jan/Feb 2007 Mar/Apr 2007 May/Jun 2007 Jul/Aug 2007 Sep/Oct 2007 Nov/Dec 2007 Jan/Feb 2008 Mar/Apr 2008 May/Jun 2008 Jul/Aug 2008 Sep/Oct 2008 Nov/Dec 2008 Jan/Feb 2009 Mar/Apr 2009 May/Jun 2009 Jul/Aug 2009 Sep/Oct 2009 Nov/Dec 2009 Jan/Feb 2010 Mar/Apr 2010 May/Jun 2010 Jul/Aug 2010 Sep/Oct 2010 Nov/Dec 2010 Jan/Feb 2011 Mar/Apr 2011 May/Jun 2011 Jul/Aug 2011 Sep/Oct 2011 Nov/Dec 2011 Jan/Feb 2012 Mar/Apr 2012 CBA BriefingFieldwork CBA homepage |
