Archaeological excavation : site of Collyhurst Old Hall

Salford Archaeology (SA) was commissioned by the Manchester Communications academy to undertake a community archaeological excavation on Collyhurst playing fields, Collyhurst, Manchester. The purpose of the excavation was to uncover, record and interpret the possibility of remains of Collyhurst Old Hall. This work included mapping and assessing the extent, function, phasing and relative significance of the buried remains. The aim of the works was to raise awareness of and engage the community in the discovery and preservation of their local heritage. The Collyhurst Old Hall study area is located on the corner of Rochdale Road and Collyhurst Street. The history of Collyhurst Old Hall is remarkably sporadic, however, there was a hall recorded on the site from at least 1649 along with several outbuildings, extensive gardens and a watercourse. The Ryder Estate Map of 1830 suggests a later Georgian-style Hall was built over Collyhurst Old Hall. By the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1848 this building had been demolished and by the end of the 19th century the site was occupied by several rows of back to back houses which included Collyhurst Street, Laverack Street and Ryder Street along with St James C of E Primary School on Teignmouth Street. These structures were demolished before 1970 and the site has remained vacant since, serving as playing fields for the Collyhurst Nursery School and Children’s Centre adjacent to the site. The community excavation took place in July 2015 and involved the opening of four evaluation trenches within the south east part of the playing fields at Collyhurst. The trench location was informed by a test pit evaluation which had occurred during March 2015. The trenches revealed the remains of the later phases of occupation of the site, particularly the remains of St James C of E Primary School, and back to back housing of Collyhurst Street, Ryder Street and Laverick Street. The excavation provided an opportunity to compare the physical remains of St James Primary School, Collyhurst St, Laverick St and Ryder St, with the 1966 mapping. Furthermore, the excavation gave a clear indication of the use of this land since the demolition of these features

The public perception of palaeontology in Scotland: "archaeologists dig dinosaurs"

There is very little written about how palaeontology is perceived by the public. Perhaps the reason is that very few professional palaeontologists have concerned themselves with public opinion, so engrossed they are with their own speciality and not realising that someone else out there may be interested in their findings. Dinosaur palaeontologists are, perhaps, the exception due to the public popularity of these great beasts. Dinosaurs have captured the public's imagination since they were first discovered in the 1800s. They have been the subject of numerous films and documentaries but have often erroneously been linked with archaeology. It is not something that palaeontologists worry about too much beyond the amusement of having a member of the public attempt to discuss the Roman fort, or Celtic cross in the vicinity, whilst the palaeontologist looks for fossils hundreds of millions of years old. It may be of more annoyance to archaeologists when they are asked if they have unearthed any dinosaurs lately. Certainly, that seems to be the case as there have been several articles published on the public perception of archaeology, and they all seem to be upset at the number of times they are asked about dinosaurs. I think that the confusion may arise from the fact that archaeologists often dig things up and that palaeontologists do pretty much the same thing. The difference is that archaeologists ignore the fossils, and palaeontologists ignore the artefacts. Well, not quite - archaeologists will inform palaeontologists of any fossils found during an excavation and similarly, palaeontologists will inform archaeologists of any artefacts they find during an excavation

Don’t Talk About Your Fallout Shelter: Civilian Perceptions of Threat and Structural Responses during the Cold War in Regina, Saskatchewan between 1958 and 1963

During the Cold War, the Canadian government initiated a civil defence campaign urging private citizens to construct shelters to protect themselves from the effects of nuclear fallout. Historians have argued that Canadians did not prepare for a nuclear attack and that the fallout shelter campaign failed. Historical estimates on shelter construction are problematic. Like many Cold War facilities and structures, fallout shelters were constructed in secret and concealed. Using archival research, oral histories and data from a survey of private fallout shelters in Regina, Saskatchewan, this article argues that Regina’s citizens did not ignore the campaign and built a range of shelter types

An Open Context for Near Eastern Archaeology

The common use by archaeologists of ubiquitous technologies such as computers and digital cameras means that archaeological research projects now produce huge amounts of diverse, digital documentation. However, while the technology is available to collect this documentation, we still largely lack community-accepted dissemination channels appropriate for such torrents of data. Open Context aims to help fill this gap by providing open access data publication services for archaeology. Open Context has a flexible and generalized technical architecture that can accommodate most archaeological datasets, despite the lack of common recording systems or other documentation standards. It includes a variety of tools to make data dissemination easier and more worthwhile. Authorship is clearly identified through citation tools, including web-based publication systems that enable individuals to upload their own data for review, and collaboration is facilitated through easy download and "tagging" features. Near Eastern archaeologists will benefit from Open Context's flexibility to share a variety of content from diverse projects, no matter how large or small. This article was originally published in Near Eastern Archaeology (ISSN 1094-2076), Volume 70, Number 4, December 2007

Build n burn: using fire as a tool to evoke, educate and entertain

The visceral nature of fire was exploited in the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods in Britain by the burning down of timber buildings and monuments, as well as the cremation of the dead. These big fires would have created memories, perhaps even ‘flashbulb memories’, and this powerful mnemonic aspect of fire was likely of significance to the social and religious lives of individuals, families and communities. This article introduces the Build N Burn concept, where fires are recreated and deployed alongside public talks, performances, experimental archaeology activities and demonstrations by craft specialists to create memorable and informative public events. Three public engagements to date, two on the island of Arran and one in Caithness, both Scotland, are described here. In each case, we constructed replica timber structures inspired by local prehistoric sites, and then burned these down in a free-to-attend public event at dusk, evoking the culmination of a prehistoric festival. Build N Burn has, at its core, the principle of delivering memorable experiences for the public inspired by prehistory, underpinned by research and experiment, using events which draw on cross-sectoral collaboration and working with local communities. This article offers a critical reflection on work to date, and discusses future potential for such activities, utilizing the mnemonic power and transformational potential of fire for public engagement and experimental archaeology

De/construction sites: Romans and the digital playground

The Roman world as attested to archaeologically and as interacted with today has its expression in a great many computational and other media. The place of visualisation within this has been paramount. This paper argues that the process of digitally constructing the Roman world and the exploration of the resultant models are useful methods for interpretation and influential factors in the creation of a popular Roman aesthetic. Furthermore, it suggests ways in which novel computational techniques enable the systematic deconstruction of such models, in turn re-purposing the many extant representations of Roman architecture and material culture

Reuse remix recycle: repurposing archaeological digital data

Preservation of digital data is predicated on the expectation of its reuse, yet that expectation has never been examined within archaeology. While we have extensive digital archives equipped to share data, evidence of reuse seems paradoxically limited. Most archaeological discussions have focused on data management and preservation and on disciplinary practices surrounding archiving and sharing data. This article addresses the reuse side of the data equation through a series of linked questions: What is the evidence for reuse, what constitutes reuse, what are the motivations for reuse, and what makes some data more suitable for reuse than others? It concludes by posing a series of questions aimed at better understanding our digital engagement with archaeological data

Siteless Survey and Intensive Data Collection in an Artifact-rich Environment: Case Studies from the Eastern Corinthia, Greece

Archaeological survey in the eastern Mediterranean has become increasingly intensive over the last 20 years, producing greater and more diverse data for smaller units of space. While complex, siteless data sets have allowed more sophisticated reconstructions of natural and cultural regional histories, the employment of more intensive methods has refocused the scope of Mediterranean surveys from region to ‘micro-region’. Such increasingly myopic approaches have been criticized for their failure to address research questions framed by a large-scale, regional perspective and the analytical categories of ‘settle- ment’ and ‘site’. This paper uses results from a survey in southern Greece to show how artifact-based approaches make valuable contributions to ‘big-picture’ historical and archaeological issues in a Mediter- ranean context