British

National Archaeology Week, the CBA's annual flagship event, "a national festival of archaeology" which showcases the best of British archaeology and gives everyone the opportunity to see archaeology in action, was held over a nine-day "week" from July 15–23.

On July 14 minister for culture David Lammy helped to launch the week when he joined a community dig at Bruce Castle in Tottenham, his parliamentary constituency. The minister acknowledged the "huge popular fascination with the past" and welcomed National Archaeology Week as a way of "helping everyone get their hands on history".

Nearly 330 diverse events were held all over the UK, with most taking place in England and Wales. The most popular events this year were often those aimed at families which allowed everyone to have a chance to do some hands-on archaeology. Other events included craft activity days, excavation tours and exhibitions, local walks and talks, and family fun days. Events were organised by museums, university departments, archaeological societies, local councils, museum services and heritage sites.

Among the events on offer were the chance to meet Professor Archie O'Logy at the Underwater Archaeology Centre on the Isle of Wight, join an excavation of a mid-Saxon cemetery in Norfolk, explore the landscape and historic documents of Nostell Priory in Yorkshire and experience medieval mayhem in Salisbury!

The weather was exceptionally good for the week and the widespread publicity at national, regional and local level ensured that most of the events were very well attended. This year the week was also part of the celebrations linked to the History Matters campaign (see www.historymatters.org.uk).

National Archaeology Week is coordinated by the Council for British Archaeology and its Young Archaeologists' Club, with financial support from English Heritage.

Scottish Archaeology Month is held in September, organised by the Council for Scottish Archaeology. Details of this year's events are available at www.scottisharchaeologymonth.org.uk.

Boosting knowledge

With increased funding from the British Academy the CBA has been able to appoint Dan Hull as the new head of information and communications within the CBA's secretariat in York. This post completes the appointment of the new CBA senior management team.

Dan was recently awarded his doctorate from the University of York for research on early Christian monasteries in the Middle East. Before joining the CBA, he was the researcher for the archaeology component of the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) funded StORe project (Source-to-Output Repositories) which seeks to understand current use of archive and publication repositories amongst the UK archaeology community. He has worked for local contract units, undertaking fieldwork, desk-based research and outreach and has taught at the University of York. He also brings links with other relevant organisations, such as the National Association for Gifted and Talented Youth – giving lectures and arranging geophysical surveys for their annual York field school.

Stones Tour sells out!

The CBA weekend event, based in Salisbury on October 6–8, was fully booked – with extra coaches having to be arranged to cater for the numbers. In particular the morning tours within Stonehenge have been very popular – despite the early start at 7.30am (special thanks to English Heritage for allowing additional trips to take place on the Sunday morning). The weekend will also include tours of Avebury and West Kennet as well as the Salisbury Plain Training Area (normally closed to the public), the chance to enjoy the Stonehenge Gallery in Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum and the galleries at the Wiltshire Heritage Museum, the annual de Cardi lecture by Peter Fowler and other presentations by Mike Parker Pearson, Josh Pollard and Julian Richards.

The 2007 weekend event will take place in York in mid September.

Historic farm buildings

Various issues relating to historic farm buildings were discussed and demonstrated at a recent conference at the Bolton Abbey Estate in Yorkshire, organised by the CBA's historic buildings officer Lynne Walker. Representatives of the estate, English Heritage, the Countryside and Community Research Unit and the National Trust spoke about issues including the problems of estate management, the contribution farm buildings make to the quality of the landscape, and how their repair supports local economies and sustains craft skills, as well as the development of "whole plan farms" – a holistic approach that takes into account landscape, nature, conservation and the historic environment, and practical issues such as increasing mechanisation, the needs of the farmer and public access.

Site visits in the afternoon included a visit to Bolton Park Farm to hear from the tenant farmer about diversification, and to see traditional buildings alongside new build, and a visit to the 16th century "Tithe" Barn to discuss the archaeological evidence within the fabric, public involvement with historic buildings and the challenges of finding sympathetic new uses.

The conference was organised by the CBA on behalf of the Historic Farm Buildings Forum with funding from the Countryside Agency.

CBA in London

In recent years the CBA has not had a Regional Group covering London as an entity, but has split responsibility for the capital's archaeology between CBA Mid Anglia (London north of the Thames) and CBA South East (south of the river). With the expanding role of the Greater London authority and the role of the mayor it is timely to review these arrangements and discuss whether the creation of a CBA London group might be more effective in representing the diverse interests of London's archaeological groups. An open meeting will be held at the London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre, Hackney to discuss the options on September 20 from 6–8pm. Adiscussion paper will be available in advance from the CBA secretariat in York.

CBA web:

British Archaeology

February 2001
April 2001
June 2001
August 2001
October 2001
December 2001
February 2002
April 2002
June 2002
August 2002
October 2002
December 2002
March 2003
May 2003
July 2003
September 2003
November 2003
January 2004
March 2004
May 2004
July 2004
September 2004
November 2004
Jan/Feb 2005
Mar/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

CBA Briefing

Fieldwork
CBA Network
Conferences
Courses & lectures
Grants & awards
Noticeboard

British

Archaeology

The voice of archaeology in Britain and beyond

Issue 90

September/October 2006

Contents

news

features

on the web

letters

CBA news