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Issue 66August 2002ContentsnewsNative village that dabbled in Roman culture Roman mosaic found inches below ploughsoil Egyptian seal and a ‘cave of jewels’ at Scottish mansion The 7,700-year-old woman who ate like a wolf Rare Iron Age temple excavated near Cambridge featuresWhen Burial Begins Chemical Revolution Great Sites lettersThe West Midlands in prehistory and the closure of railways issuesGeorge Lambrick on the importance of museum collections Peter EllisbooksThe Welsh Border by Trevor Rowley Digging up the Past by John Collis The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek by Barry Cunliffe CBA updatefavourite findsVal Turner on a Pictish stone that spooked a gravedigger
ISSN 1357-4442 Editor Simon Denison |
CBA updateCampaigns and reports from the CBAArchaeology hearings in ParliamentsThe CBA has been involved in two sessions of oral evidence given to the All-Party Parliamentary Archaeology Group, one general, the other specifically about education (writes Don Henson). In the general session, we raised the necessity for statutory status and better resourcing for historic environment records, the need to bridge professional, academic and amateur divisions in archaeology, and the problems of 'class consent' allowing the ploughing of scheduled monuments. In the educational session, we discussed the need for funding for more education officers within archaeological units and museums, and called for graduates in archaeology to be allowed onto teacher training courses. At present, most courses only accept degrees in National Curriculum subjects. We urged that proposed reforms to planning (see elsewhere this page) should make public education a condition of planning consent. We also stressed the need to broaden the range of history at 14+, which now focuses on the modern period. On a separate, but related topic, the CBA has supported an initiative to amend the Local Government Bill before the Scottish Parliament to put Sites and Monuments Records on a statutory footing in Scotland. Stonehenge: new access proposalsAn improved, more coherent and flexible set of access proposals for Stonehenge has been developed by the National Trust and English Heritage. From the visitor centre, visitors will be able to walk, bicycle or take buses to King Barrow ridge, from where they can walk to the Stones - or, if they are less mobile, take buggies running along the lines of the former A303 and A344 roads. Buses from the visitor centre will also drop visitors off at other points in the landscape, such as Larkhill. Coach parties will be taken to a separate site at Fargo, from where they will be able to walk to the Stones. The CBA has been consulted about the proposals and welcomed the new approach, which integrates the visitor centre with the Stonehenge landscape better than before. But we expressed some concerns, particularly about the proposal to build a transit link along the length of King Barrow ridge, suggesting that more use be made of existing roads. We also noted that proposals for interpretation were much less developed than for access, and urged that they be brought up to speed. See www.britarch.ac.uk/stonehenge (GL) Taking partThe CBA has set up a working party on public participation in archaeology. This is prompted by the belief that although there is great public enthusiasm for archaeology, it is not reaching its full potential. The working party will gather information on the current level and range of public participation across Britain, and identify good examples of techniques used to enable people to take part, which could be promoted more widely. The group has held its first meeting and is now beginning the fact-finding stage of its work. (GL) Listed buildingsThe threatened removal of the CBA's role as a statutory consultee for listed buildings has been lifted (BA, June). This followed a meeting between the Government and the national amenity societies, at which we strongly put the case for retaining our role (writes Lynne Walker). Lord Falconer said the role of the consultees would continue. 'I consider the work these societies do, often performed by volunteers, to be invaluable,' he said. This is good news for the 100 or so voluntary historic buildings correspondents and the 11 county societies working on the CBA's behalf, whose help is essential to meet the heavy caseload. Between May and mid-June this year, we were notified of 637 listed building cases. Reform of planning regulationsThe CBA is one of a number of national bodies advising on the drafting of new planning guidance to cover the whole historic environment in England (writes George Lambrick). This will combine the principles, criteria and guidance set out in PPG15 (Government planning guidance on historic buildings) and PPG16 (on archaeology), to provide guidance that is clearer and more succinct. We have urged that some of the basic principles of the PPGs should be strengthened, to take more account of the desirability of early consultation, informed conservation, sustainability and conservation-led design. We wish to see stronger guidance on issues such as the settings of buildings and monuments, and the social and educational benefits to be derived from conservation and investigation of the historic environment. There is also a need for better integration with contaminated-ground and building regulations. Agriculture and the environmentFollowing a flurry of consultations about the future of farming (BA, June), the CBA has made further submissions on the effects on farming of European regulations. We have now been invited by DEFRA to serve on a working party of farming groups, environmental state agencies and a few Non-Government Organisations to develop ideas for the future of agri-environment schemes. Readers can still add their voice to the Wildlife and Countryside Link postcard campaign supporting sustainable farming (details from the CBA website at www.britarch.ac.uk/conserve/susagricamp, or from Alex Hunt at the CBA office). We also commented on the first year of DEFRA's existence, drawing attention to the need to strengthen coverage of the historic environment within DEFRA itself and the Environment Agency, in order to fulfil their statutory obligations under agriculture and environment legislation. (GL) Young Archaeologists' Club turns 30The ever-youthful Young Archaeologists' Club (YAC) celebrated its 30th birthday at the British Museum at the beginning of July, in a joint meeting with the Young Friends of the British Museum (writes Alison Bodley). Over 50 children from all over Britain - including the far-flung Isle of Lewis branch of the club - enjoyed a wide range of activities. Guests included Time Team veterans Tony Robinson and Phil Harding who judged the 'kings and queens' fancy dress competition, with a top prize of five free tickets for a sleep-over with the mummies in the BM's Egyptian gallery. 'Over the last 20 years we have been really successful persuading people of how important the natural environment is, but we haven't yet won that battle as far as the historical environment goes,' Mr Robinson said. 'These young people are going to be the guerrillas who ensure that our great-great-grandchildren have a historical environment to appreciate.' Martin Linton MP received a Certificate of YAC Membership on behalf of Arts and Heritage Minister, Baroness Blackstone. 'Once you see that children get an enormous boost from archaeology, you realise it is an important educational tool,' he said. 'When history becomes something you take out of the ground, it really comes alive.' CBA booksCBA books hit the headlines in May, with extensive coverage of the two-volume Catterick report (Cataractonium: Roman Catterick and its hinterland, Pete Wilson; RR 128/129, £32 each). Journalists picked up on the 'first' eunuch burial found in the north of England, and the book's reminder about the fragility of archaeology and the conditions of rescue archaeology in the 1950s and 60s, when Catterick's 10ft Roman walls were demolished to make way for the A1 Bypass. In our summer list, finds specialists will be pleased to see a comprehensive new work on early post-medieval vessel glass in England by Hugh Willmott (RR 132, £30) and a study by Duncan Brown of pottery in medieval Southampton (RR 133, £28). A new book in the popular 'Craft, Industry and Everyday Life' series, Finds from Medieval York, by Patrick Ottaway and Nicola Rogers (AY17/15, £39), presents some 6,000 objects excavated from four major sites in the heart of York. Book orders, please, to YPS Ltd (tel 01904 431213, fax 01904 430868). |
CBA web:British ArchaeologyFebruary 2000 CBA BriefingFieldwork CBA homepage |
