Issue 83

July/August

Contents

news

Welsh cauldron finds offer rare insights

Broch builders house-proud, not warlike

Reindeer hunter preceded Canary fans

Rock art find in rare context

New light on Prittlewell "prince" grave

In Brief

features

From Universal Bond to Public Free-For-All
100 years at stonehenge: They may not have built it, but Druids ruled the last century

When Rome invaded: Gerald Grainge considers the Channel crossing

Freedom Fighter - or Tale for Romans?
The real Boudica: Richard Hingley looks for the native terrorist leader

Finding the Way
In Hadrian's footsteps: English Heritage report on the threat to the Roman wall

on the web

Recommended websites

letters

Views and Rsponses

CBA news

Headlines from the CBA office.

ISSN 1357-4442

Editor Mike Pitts

Issue 83 July/August 2005

on the web

Out of print but in the net

Caroline Wickham-Jones considers the growing world of e-research.

The Internet is limited only by depth and ease of searching. Many search engines list the most visited sites first. This is helpful for topics like places to visit on holiday, but the results can be obscure when more detailed content is required. Google has a solution.

Google Scholar (scholar.google.com) searches publications and displays titles listed by relevance and the number of times others have cited them. From this the full papers or references can be reached, finally linking across to others citing them. A maze of useful work comes up.

This system depends on online texts, unlikely to supplant traditional books and journals, but very accessible. Some academics are pushing e-publication. The Keystroke Strategy would see universities encouraging researchers to store online information about their publications including, ideally, a copy of the paper itself. Academics rarely receive royalties, so authors can only gain, but how do the publishers feel? Some, such as Reed Elsevier, already allow it, though many have still to come to terms with it (see the sherpa Open Access pages, www.sherpa.ac.uk).

The Keystroke Strategy has been pioneered by Stevan Harnad of Southampton University where self archiving now operates (www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad). When first recommended to the government in 2004 it received little support, but it is worth serious consideration as a service to the public, not just academics. Free software, a discussion of self archiving and guidelines are at www.eprints.org.

Google are working with five main libraries in Britain and the US to scan books for online access, entire texts if out of copyright or excerpts if not. Project Gutenberg, with a catalogue of over 15,000 e-books, has the same goal (www.gutenberg.org). E-readers seem less common, though they do exist (www.mushroom-ebooks.com), and texts can be read on laptops. Devices are tending to multi-function, so that book / phone / camera / diary / teamaking machines will no-doubt soon be commonplace, though copyright and technological issues make it difficult to transfer from one reader to another. Check out the nifty bajr presentation (www.bajr.org/pageflip/TestBook/amisfieldBook.html) for a different approach, though print size is rather small for easy reading.

Out of print papers are available through societies (eg the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, www.socantscot.org), journals (eg Antiquity, www.antiquity.ac.uk), and the Archaeology Data Service (ADS), which stores CBA research reports (ads.ahds.ac.uk). Individual website material increases; the British and Irish Archaeological Bibliography (www.biab.ac.uk) allows references to be followed.

Maps and images are also important. Map-based searches include canmap (www.rcahms.gov.uk) and the ADS map search (ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue). The Ordnance Survey's get-a-map system is useful (www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/getamap). Google maps (maps.google.com) have recently added high resolution satellite images, sometimes with driving instructions. There is limited access to these services, but hopefully this will improve soon. Other sites offer UK satellite images: the Met Office is fun (www.meto.gov.uk) and you will not be surprised to learn that Google Image (images.google.com) is increasing its picture stock.

Sites to search for the archaeologist on holiday

• New Zealand Archaeology - www.nzarchaeology.org
  • Check out their cultural tourism pages. The alternative archaeology page is a great idea and the teacher resources are excellent. I want to go there!
• Aberdeenshire Archaeology Service - www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/web/archaeology.nsf/html/57ERBF
  • A lesser known corner of Britain, interesting information, useful links
• The Archaeology of Menorca - www.menorcaweb.net/arqueologia
  • Irritating music and rough English disguise a fascinating site with lots of useful links
• Orkneyjar - www.orkneyjar.com
  • I am told Swedes have two must-see destinations: Orkney and Easter Island. Here is all you need, and more, for one of those
• Stone Pages - www.stonepages.com
  • Information, pictures, easily navigated, good links, a bookshop – all you need to plan your megalithic trip except the weather charts

Getting close to Roman Britain

Katie Streten describes the ambitious website that accompanies the Time Team Big Roman Dig.

From June 26 to July 16, Time Team and the British public will be conducting what we think is the most ambitious exploration of Roman Britain ever – not just one fort, villa or even a city, but a whole country. The Big Roman Dig plans to excavate or examine sites ranging from the first century bc to the fifth century ad (late iron age to early Saxon) in locations throughout the UK covering all aspects of the Roman occupation.

Channel 4 will broadcast seven programmes (July 2–9) from the Roman villa at Dinnington, Somerset, where there will be a three-week training and community excavation. There will be nine other, smaller excavations, and a wide range of further activities.

The Big Roman Dig aims to be as inclusive as possible. Key to this is the website, www.channel4.com/bigromandig, an important part of the project and a major operation in its own right.

A team of seven – three editors, a project manager, two programmers and a designer – started work in January. Thanks to lessons learnt two years ago on the first Time Team Big Dig, the new website is rich in functionalities.

Public suggestions for excavations and activities had to be made formally through the website, and people were encouraged to visit it at the end of this map, pictures and so on.

As events get underway organisers can upload images and information about what is going on via our webenabled database. Meanwhile correspondents from the main dig sites are uploading blogs and sending in reports.

Even if you are not involved with the Big Roman Dig in the field, you can participate online. Interactive mapping offers an efficient way in. Every affiliated activity appears on a map of Britain, created with multimap technology. The map also incorporates existing information drawn from the Ordnance Survey map of Roman Britain. If you log on you can see the Big Roman Dig sites in context and understand how they relate to the roads, temples and villas of the Roman occupation.

Streamed videos from our interactive TV coverage (eg interviews with diggers and a look behind the scenes in the control room) and highlights from the shows will also be in view. Aselection of Roman finds will be chosen by the Time Team regulars and other archaeologists. The public will be able to vote for their favourite items (online only), and the result will be announced live on TV at the end of the week.

Meanwhile, you can register on the website to receive news udpates by email. There is a photography competition, with a web page from which to submit entries.

Editorial content on the site includes a top 30 Roman sites. Flash interactives provide a visual insight into Roman religion (the game Ye Gods, "god's top trumps", explains Roman gods), society and architecture. Articles reveal how the occupation began and ended, and consider Roman towns, roads, countryside, administration and the infamous Roman military, with illustrations by Time Team regular Victor Ambrose.

Our aim is to engage everyone from viewers to online users, and to provide a wider context for the broadcasts giving a real impression of life in Roman Britain.

Katie Streten is the Big Roman Dig website's managing editor

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