Issue 105

Mar / Apr 2009

Contents

news

Welsh find may be key to mysterious mounds

Sissinghurst Castle has Elizabethan pavilion

Engraved stone found at ancient ritual site in Cheshire

In the press

In Brief & Phase 2

features

THE BIG DIG: Catholme
Henry Chapman on extraordinary prehistoric earthwork remains in Staffordshire

The bad teeth dividend
Karen Hardy reports important new evidence in how poor oral hygiene is key to understanding early diets

Wroxeter (Viroconium)
Roger White on 150 years since the first dig at Roman town

Shopping and Digging - NEW
James Dixon explains an unexpected archaeological story behind the changing faces of our towns

spoilheap

Pension advice from an archaeologist – theory you can trust

requiem

Our fourth annual celebration of antiquity lovers who have died in 2008

on the web

Recommended websites
The new CBA website and Caroline Wickham-Jones goes in search of world heritage sites

letters

your views and responses

Archaeology in Britain

Mike Heyworth takes stock in very difficult times with a special focus on the crisis

ISSN 1357-4442

Editor Mike Pitts

spoilheap

Pension advice from an archaeologist – theory you can trust

In 1694, a Scotsman loaned the British government £1.2m, and founded the Bank of England. This timely event occurred within months of the government losing a similar sum. The Royal Navy had just suffered one of its worst disasters, when 13 ships were destroyed in a storm off Gibraltar. Among them was HMS Sussex, all but two of whose 560 personnel died, including the fleet admiral. No inventory is known, but contemporary archives suggest the Sussex carried a substantial treasure – perhaps 10 tons of gold – most of it destined as war payment to the Duke of Savoy.

In pursuit of this bullion, an American company, Odyssey Marine Exploration, began archive research 15 years ago. In 1998 it moved to the Mediterranean, sonar-scanning some 100,000ha of the sea floor. In 2001, having examined site E-82 with a remotely operated vehicle 821m below the surface, archaeologist Neil Dobson (another Scotsman) claimed success. The Sussex had been found.

The US Discovery Channel is currently screening a series about Odyssey's projects. With the world in financial meltdown, this is a good time to ask the key question: should you invest in Odyssey? Can you simultaneously feel good about sponsoring an archaeological dig and improve your pension?

Many archaeologists are unhappy about the Sussex. A pioneering project became contentious when in 2002 Odyssey bypassed the usual salvage arrangements, and signed an agreement with the UK's Ministry of Defence. This gave Odyssey exclusive rights to the wreck, in return for a substantial cut of the spoils (perhaps chancellor Alistair Darling is even now on the phone to a diver). Odyssey proclaimed this the first such deal, seeing it as a model for the world.

Archaeologists complained that Odyssey – a US-listed public company – was interested in the Sussex – a ship with a cargo valued at up to $4bn – for the money. Funnily enough, this interpretation was shared by investors, who, according to some reports, more than doubled the company's share value on news of the wreck's discovery.

You might think business and heritage are incompatible, but that is how half of British archaeology has been run for nearly 20 years. When someone builds an office block, the goal is profit. To achieve this archaeology must be destroyed, but a system that has transformed our understanding of British history kicks in: the developer pays for excavation, analysis and publication. Odyssey is both – developer and investigator.

Yes, much of its profit (though not all) comes from selling the artefacts, but that too can be interpreted through accepted dry-land practices. Planning consents often lead to sample excavation, with otherwise unrecorded loss. Think of Odyssey's complete record and the publicly-donated artefacts as the windfall sample, and the rest as the loss (and who knows what might eventually enter public collections?). The Portable Antiquities Scheme, internationally recognised for its success, values record over ownership. People find things, show them to archaeologists and take them back home. Institutions have the legal option to buy certain types of find, but if Odyssey's CEO Greg Stemm walked into the British Museum with £2bn of antique coins, he might get a smile, but not, I think, an offer.

Odyssey – I have heard colleagues say – does not employ real archaeologists. If that is the case, it's an issue for us: the archaeological project manager for the Sussex was Gifford, an Institute for Archaeologists registered organisation (work is currently on hold, says Odyssey, "due to interference by various Spanish entities" – a licence to hunt shipwrecks is like planning permission for a holiday home on the Costa del Sol). And if we're throwing accusations around, by my reckoning the Mary Rose was as much of a treasure hunt as the Sussex. The remains of the crew from the former, for example, were delivered to the specialist in a sack, with one provenance – somewhere in the ship.

But back to the pension. The bottom line is has Odyssey really found the Sussex? Rarely does an archaeological theory carry risk, and frankly we can usually say what we like. But not so Odyssey's Neil "call me Indiana Jones" Dobson, who has a rare responsibility. And in an environment where the work would not have occurred if the "developer" did not actually want a particular archaeological outcome, he needs a clear head. HMS Sussex had 80 cannon. The identified wreck has, so far, 18. Sussex was one of 13 British warships lost that night; three Dutch ships also went down. On one night.

Personally, I'd buy Premium Bonds. But then, I'm only an archaeologist.

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