Letters: British Archaeology 93, March/April 2007

Old signals - Star letter

Peter Forsyth

The study of a Ford Transit van (Jan/Feb) raises the question; would an excavation of any vehicle beneath the ground in the far distant future, have any more point than the Transit enquiry itself? An archaeologist might just click on to the Haynes manual! This raises a further question, if a vehicle abandoned in a remote place were to perish untouched, what might we expect to find by excavation?

The photograph shows the remains of such a vehicle on Unst, Shetland. These relicts occur in such remote places because of the cost of their removal, and the strict local custom of not interfering with your neighbour's property. I watched this vehicle deteriorate over a number of yearly visits. As would be expected, the ferrous materials corroded rapidly (no place is far from the sea, and the atmosphere is particularly aggressive). The aluminium alloy castings of the engine, gear box, etc, were the next to go, although partially protected by the residual lubricants. The copper and copper alloy components, particularly the cable looms, were much more resistant, and the plastics and glass pieces might last virtually for ever.The exclusion of salt loaded air by the turf already growing over these remains would be expected to retard corrosion.

The island landscape is dotted with long abandoned croft houses. The custom of leaving them and their occupants' possessions, untouched, has much to do with the Crofters Act. A crofter may have built the house in which he lives. He may pass it on to his descendants or a named stranger, but if the line dies out then the title reverts to the laird who owns the land.

Very few croft houses have potential for refurbishment, and the islanders quite naturally want the comforts of modern housing. When the doors and roof timbers have gone, these stonebuilt houses become shelters for sheep who tread down artefacts and enrich the ground with their droppings so that a soil covering rapidly forms.

One poignant experience was to find, just protruding within one of these dwellings, practically the most northerly in the British Isles, what remained of a 1920s/30s homeconstructed three valve wireless set. I recognised it (having made several myself) as one that would have been described in the then popular publication FJ Camm's Practical Wireless.

This set, with its bakelite valve holders mounted on a wooden baseboard, and the tuning and reaction variable condensers not yet totally corroded away, conjured up a picture of life enriched by contact with the outside world at a time when, apart from emigration, most islanders would never have left their native shore. It also highlights the self-sufficiency culture of the time, now sadly gone.

One can speculate on the importance of the weather and shipping forecasts, but also exposure to what must have seemed an alien world. The crofter having strong cultural links with Norway, which is nearer than Scotland, would just as likely have tuned in to Bergen as to Aberdeen!

Archaeologists of the future, if they should want to find undisturbed artefacts with clearly established provenances, will have to visit the more remote places of the world that will have escaped the rubbish collectors and the recycling initiatives of our time.

Peter Forsyth, Farnham.

eBay FLO?

Michael Lewis (Jan/Feb) concludes that each month "36 items of potential treasure are being sold on eBay". He seriously underestimates just how much important, non-treasure material is being channelled through the site. I've just spent a couple of minutes on a rudimentary search for British Celtic coinage: today there are at least 43 being offered for sale; my experience over the past few years suggests that at least 200 British Celtic coins go through the system each month. Every one once had a provenance, and perhaps other useful contextual information, whether or not the seller is willing or able to divulge it. This steady loss of information is just as serious as the more spectacular attempts to sell treasure, but it receives little attention: as (allegedly) single finds these coins are not "treasure". It takes an enormous amount of time and effort to try and follow up each individual item. Perhaps we need an eBay finds liaison officer?

Skill, not strength

Your transcription of the Stonehenge Scala mundi text (Jan/Feb) says that the giants' circle was derecta (a variant of directa, ie set straight, or arranged) by Merlin at Stonehenge, whereas your excellent illustrations show that both manuscripts in fact read deuecta (transported).

Thus your translation is only half right: the Latin says it was "brought", but not "erected" (in any case, neither verb could mean both). So, whereas the Brut version of the story clearly does have Merlin dismantling the monument in Ireland and reassembling it in England, the Scala mundi version could equally well mean that he moved it bodily, without all the bother of self-assembly. After all, the text does say he did it non vi sed arte: not by strength but by skill.

Rural visions

Difficult to disagree with Trevor Rowley's view of recent changes in land use (Nov/Dec). One qualification perhaps. What is he driving at when he writes "in 2004, plans to double rural house building were described by the Campaign to Protect Rural England as 'the most reckless invasion of the rural environment staged by any government in history'"?

Housing for those who have jobs in the countryside, which used to be more densely populated than it is today, is surely a good thing. In digitising East Devon tithe maps recently for the Parishscapes Project (East Devon AONB), a couple of things became evident.

1. In 1840 there were houses that no longer exist today, as well as house plots that were already vacant. This ties in with the census data. Branscombe, for example, lost nearly half its population between 1851 and 1901.

2. The agrarian regime has changed from being predominantly arable in 1840 to predominantly pastoral today; the pastoral economy is of course much less labour intensive.

The migration away from the countryside had little to do with the carrying capacity of the land, but a lot to do with socio-economic change: falling prices, enclosure, pauperisation, etc. Enclosure award maps show how the rural poor were stitched up (Salcombe Hill, for example). Hoskins, in a rare personal aside, describes how his own farming ancestors in Sidmouth were pauperised in the 19th century, the first becoming classed as a labourer in the parish register in 1825:

"His sons and daughters all dispersed. His eldest son, my greatgrandfather, walked to Exeter, some time in 1825, learnt the baking trade, and set up his own business in 1834. This is the history of thousands of farmers and their sons in these years."

So what does all this mean? Rowley rightly states that "Landscape is the product of thousands of past different decisions and actions". The problem is that planning decisions are today so rarely informed by historical/archaeological perspectives.

Parts of our countryside were once much more densely populated than they are today and there is nothing intrinsically bad about creating a denser rural population in the future or returning to more labour intensive land use – horticulture, etc. The idea that there should be no building in the countryside is not necessarily a view held by those who still work there, some of whom have to live in caravans because people who don't work there have bought the houses to achieve dreams of rurality.

Van club

The report on the excavation of a 1991 Ford Transit Van – with a small finds photo of the owners manual (complete with scale rule), is, for me, the final nail in the coffin of serious archaeological investigation. I have now cancelled my membership of the CBA, and no longer consider archaeology as a serious scientific pursuit.

I liked your magazine so much that I just subscribed to it! I loved the piece on the van.

I wanted to say how much I enjoyed the most recent issue of British Archaeology. The features on the transit van excavation and the Bosnian "pyramids" in particular were outstanding. Must be a really hard job producing a magazine that appeals to professional archaeologists and the general public alike, but the mag just goes from strength to strength.

Anglesey Picts

Caitlin Matthews' letter (Jan/Feb) suggests that Mick Aston is wrong to refer to Romano-Pictish settlements on Anglesey.

Welsh history books dealing with the late Roman period/early dark ages refer to the migration of warriors from Manau Gododdin, north of Hadrian's wall, to north and western Wales, from where they expelled the Irish who had settled there, and established new ruling dynasties. Regions of Wales are said to be named after the sons of Cunedda Wledig, leader of this migration, from whom the leading medieval Welsh princes later claimed descent. Cunedda (= Kennedy) has been variously described as North British, Pictish, and even Northern Irish.

Given that Pictish raids are recorded along the length of the east coast of Britain, it is entirely plausible that "Picts" also raided/settled on the west coast. I have read that pottery has been discovered in north Wales which appears to confirm a link to Scotland, and would be interested to know if there is archaeological evidence to support this tradition.

Old smoky

I was interested in the iron age site near Inverness (News, Jan/Feb) where the possibility of having hearths on an upper floor struck a chord. When years ago the BBC filmed a programme about Boudica they used the round house at Butser. They raised a camera man into the upper level and had to quickly bring him back because he was in severe danger of being poisoned by the carbon monoxide. Has any research been done into this, and did early "house builders" have any awareness of the problem?

Ice age

We woz robbed by global warming. Our recently discovered, but centuries-old, pyramid suddenly melted just as we were putting together a WHS application, an appeal for funds and finishing off our book and TV proposals. It was aligned to the cardinal points and incorporated multiples of significant body parts (size 6 feet etc). We are not over the moon or the sun.

There is a strong and desperate need for resourcing, because heritage has lost out in recent years, and a crisis is approaching.
John Whittingdale, Westminster Hall debate on heritage, January 25 2007

Please send your ideas for the magazine: we may not publish them all, but we will read and take notice. Ed

We welcome letters from readers. They may be emailed to Mike Pitts the Editor at editor@britarch.ac.uk or faxed to 01904 671384. They may be edited.

British

Archaeology

The voice of archaeology in Britain and beyond

Issue 93

March/April 2007

Contents

news

features

on the web

letters

CBA news

letters

Old signals - Star letter

eBay FLO?

Skill, not strength

Rural visions

Van club

Anglesey Picts

Old smoky

Ice age

CBA web:

British Archaeology

CBA Briefing

CBA homepage