Archæology: From Dig to Lab and Beyond
A while ago I signed up for yet another MOOC on the FutureLearn site, this one is Archæology: From Dig to Lab and Beyond from the University of Reading. It's only a short course, just two weeks and three hours a week. It may be the last MOOC I do through FutureLearn as they've decided to introduce a charge. Previously, it was free to do any of the courses and all course materials would be available indefinitely after you'd finished it. After a while they introduced the option to get a statement of participation or to take a test afterwards which would get you a certificate. These options had a charge. I don't know if many people actually bought the certificates because they weren't recognised qualifications so it did seem pretty pointless. Now they have decided to introduce an 'upgrade fee' which includes the test and certificate as well as having unlimited access to all course materials. Unless you upgrade, course materials are now only available for the length of the course plus two weeks. The fee amount varies between £24 to £69, depending on the course; for this archæology one, it's £39. And that's just a two week course! Considering a lot of people doing the MOOCs are unemployed, retired or unable to work for some other reason, it's a lot of money. It's also very conniving of them to call it 'upgrading' when they're actually taking away something that was previously free. The time limit also makes it quite restrictive if you have health issues or anything that demands a lot of your time. It's all very disappointing as I'd had a lot of fun with some of the courses but it's rather off-putting signing up for any more. Even though this archæology one is so short, as I started it, I'm hoping I'll be able to complete it within the time allowed and that's not a good way to learn. I won't be able to go back after the course has ended and revisit parts of it either so it seems rather a waste of time starting it!
Anyway. Onto the course. It starts off by outlining the initial processes for an excavation. I had the impression that digs were a simple matter and quite common, sort of like 'we've found a thing over there, let's go and dig it up!' It's made very clear that that's actually not the case! They're done to answer very specific questions that can only be answered from an excavation. It's expensive, it's a finite resource and it's a destructive process so it's almost like a last resort really. I never thought of it as being in that way before but I suppose it is destructive! As a result, there's a lot of planning and investigation that needs to be done first, in order to decide if an excavation is necessary. Then there needs to be a Project Design which specifies in great detail where they're going to dig, the size and location of the trenches, etc. That's as well as asking for permission from land-owners, organising all the teams, equipment and everything else!
The University of Reading that is offering the MOOC has its own field school in the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire - in between Stonehenge and Avebury - so the next section focuses on that area and its history. There's a timeline which gives a brief overview starting from the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) in 10,000BCE and going to the Post-Mediæval period (1500-1900). It focused on the Neolithic (4000-2300BCE) in a little more detail as it's a time of great change. People started to live more in settlements, to farm crops and animals, and started to use pottery. There were also lots of henges, stone circles and barrows built during this period which made huge changes to the landscape. The location of the field school is in between two UNESCO World Heritage Sites which have protected status but up until recently, it was never considered an area of interest in its own right. Historic England did aerial mapping and discovered an extensive amount of archaeological data which was previously unknown. This included the Marden henge - the largest henge in the British Isles - the Hatfield Barrow that's within it and the Wilsford henge nearby.
After the history section, it moves on to talking about the dig itself. There's information given about the organisational structure for a dig, the people and their roles. The field school has over 100 people working on the site every day, divided up into different teams so they all need to be managed and coordinated. There's lots of behind-the-scenes type of work involved too, such as transporting people and equipment, making sure everyone is fed and kept well-hydrated, organising the recovery and cleaning of any artefacts which are found, taking soil samples, and also taking care of all the visitors. It goes on to explain all the skills you'd learn in a field school. There's excavation specific techniques, and then skills for the Finds Hut, the Science/Geoarchæology Hut, the Computer Hut, and the Visitors Hut. Everyone spends at least one day working in each of the different areas so it sounds like you get quite a wide variety of experience from the whole thing. Excavation is not all digging!
The last part looks at the artefacts and discoveries that the dig produces. Artefacts are divided into two different types: bulk finds and small finds. Bulk finds are things like pottery, animal bones, glass, nails, etc. They're mainly artefacts that don't require special treatment or preservation, that tend to be quite common and are not site specific. Small finds tend to have different conservation needs, such as metals, and they're mostly of special significance to the site.
A couple of notable findings from the Marden henge are mentioned. There's a flint arrowhead with a strange long sort of barb on one side which seems unlikely to have ever been fired and so its use is unknown. A smaller henge within the main Marden henge was uncovered and it contained the floor of a building. It was made of compacted chalk with a central sunken area that contained a hearth. It's surmised that this was a ceremonial building, mainly used as a sweat lodge (a sort of sauna). The last notable finding was in 2015 at Wilsford henge where the skeleton of a young boy was found. It's estimated that he was about 14-15 years old and there's evidence of a poor diet, a previously broken collarbone and that he did a lot of walking and heavy lifting. He also has chipped and worn front teeth which may be from using them to do a regular task. He was buried with an amber necklace around his neck which rather seems at odds with what looks like a hard life.
So that is the first week of the two done. The second week moves from the dig site to the lab, to find out what happens to all the artefacts once they've been excavated. I think that might be more my area of interest!
Anyway. Onto the course. It starts off by outlining the initial processes for an excavation. I had the impression that digs were a simple matter and quite common, sort of like 'we've found a thing over there, let's go and dig it up!' It's made very clear that that's actually not the case! They're done to answer very specific questions that can only be answered from an excavation. It's expensive, it's a finite resource and it's a destructive process so it's almost like a last resort really. I never thought of it as being in that way before but I suppose it is destructive! As a result, there's a lot of planning and investigation that needs to be done first, in order to decide if an excavation is necessary. Then there needs to be a Project Design which specifies in great detail where they're going to dig, the size and location of the trenches, etc. That's as well as asking for permission from land-owners, organising all the teams, equipment and everything else!
The University of Reading that is offering the MOOC has its own field school in the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire - in between Stonehenge and Avebury - so the next section focuses on that area and its history. There's a timeline which gives a brief overview starting from the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) in 10,000BCE and going to the Post-Mediæval period (1500-1900). It focused on the Neolithic (4000-2300BCE) in a little more detail as it's a time of great change. People started to live more in settlements, to farm crops and animals, and started to use pottery. There were also lots of henges, stone circles and barrows built during this period which made huge changes to the landscape. The location of the field school is in between two UNESCO World Heritage Sites which have protected status but up until recently, it was never considered an area of interest in its own right. Historic England did aerial mapping and discovered an extensive amount of archaeological data which was previously unknown. This included the Marden henge - the largest henge in the British Isles - the Hatfield Barrow that's within it and the Wilsford henge nearby.
After the history section, it moves on to talking about the dig itself. There's information given about the organisational structure for a dig, the people and their roles. The field school has over 100 people working on the site every day, divided up into different teams so they all need to be managed and coordinated. There's lots of behind-the-scenes type of work involved too, such as transporting people and equipment, making sure everyone is fed and kept well-hydrated, organising the recovery and cleaning of any artefacts which are found, taking soil samples, and also taking care of all the visitors. It goes on to explain all the skills you'd learn in a field school. There's excavation specific techniques, and then skills for the Finds Hut, the Science/Geoarchæology Hut, the Computer Hut, and the Visitors Hut. Everyone spends at least one day working in each of the different areas so it sounds like you get quite a wide variety of experience from the whole thing. Excavation is not all digging!
The last part looks at the artefacts and discoveries that the dig produces. Artefacts are divided into two different types: bulk finds and small finds. Bulk finds are things like pottery, animal bones, glass, nails, etc. They're mainly artefacts that don't require special treatment or preservation, that tend to be quite common and are not site specific. Small finds tend to have different conservation needs, such as metals, and they're mostly of special significance to the site.
A couple of notable findings from the Marden henge are mentioned. There's a flint arrowhead with a strange long sort of barb on one side which seems unlikely to have ever been fired and so its use is unknown. A smaller henge within the main Marden henge was uncovered and it contained the floor of a building. It was made of compacted chalk with a central sunken area that contained a hearth. It's surmised that this was a ceremonial building, mainly used as a sweat lodge (a sort of sauna). The last notable finding was in 2015 at Wilsford henge where the skeleton of a young boy was found. It's estimated that he was about 14-15 years old and there's evidence of a poor diet, a previously broken collarbone and that he did a lot of walking and heavy lifting. He also has chipped and worn front teeth which may be from using them to do a regular task. He was buried with an amber necklace around his neck which rather seems at odds with what looks like a hard life.
So that is the first week of the two done. The second week moves from the dig site to the lab, to find out what happens to all the artefacts once they've been excavated. I think that might be more my area of interest!