Back in time at Berkeley

We are gearing up for another student-training and research excavation at Berkeley Castle, starting from 18th May. While going through the archive I found some pics back when I did some digging in the churchyard in 2011 (new toilet pipe was going in, so glamorous). Don't forget to catch up with us during this season- facebook - twitter - blog.

They keep us working fast by threatening diggers with machinery (not really, they are all very lovely)

A difficult spot to dig, I can promise you!

Where spelunking and speleology meet

Not really, but I love those words, spelunking and speleology. Rolls off the tongue better than "archaeological site recording at a listed artificial commercial cave site".

I was recently back at the Hell-Fire Caves to make some additional notations to my laser scan data. Thanks to fellow PG Charlie Goudge for bed, board &; survey assistance (and photos!). Her granny joined us half way through for a visit, which was a first. More fieldwork should feature grannies.

The more times I'm in the "Childrens Cave", the creepier it gets

Dig Hatteras

Since late March, I have been helping out on Prof. Mark Horton's excavations on Hatteras Island, North Colony. The site is tied to the lost colony of America, so there is lots of excitement and intrigue. Catch up on the project here: www.facebook.com/dighatteras.

Spot the stupid

There are places on the internet where people have trawled through Google's scanned books and collated the traces of the people who scanned the books. Sometimes, a single purple digit, or a shadowy hand, a curled page or a strange reflection.
Today was the first time  I found a super clanger example. Someone, somewhere was scanning a book and I think they may have been drunk or hungover. Just look at the state of this - they weren't even trying.

I've added some useful sarcastic text to help you spot the gaffs

Play at home or with friends "spot the stupid"

It even happened, less frequently, on text pages

Partial focus on the tip of a digit

Even the fingers look like there is something wrong with them

Angles are just a concept. Sideways is best.

I really do recommend a glance through "The Art of Google" to see some much more spectacular examples: http://theartofgooglebooks.tumblr.com/

You can also scroll through the example I found, learn about Cistercian Architecture, and play "spot the hand": https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hOaaZ8lQ-wAC&lpg=PA11&ots=-Zlk0HoEYw&dq=cistercian%20church&lr&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false

Autodesk is amazing

Just downloaded a host of Autodesk programmes for free via the University's licensing agreements with the company. After only a few minutes, I had my 3D laser scan data of the Hell-Fire Caves in an accessible format. Whoop whoop. Too much excitement. Some of the views even look quite painterly and pretty.
The British Geological Survey (BGS) were kind enough to send me the raw data over the last couple of months (thanks Lee!) (following our fieldwork last year) and it's been an interesting learning curve getting a handle on data that so massive!

A painterly view of the Hell-Fire Caves laser scan data using Autodesk

Patronising Poet

Those eighteenth-century dudes really knew how to make a lady feel special. Paul Whitehead, famed for his associations with the Hell-Fire Clubs was no exception. He cared so much for the fairer sex that he wrote a song, literally addressed to the ladies. *player*

My favourite bits are from the first and last stanzas:

Bright eyes were intended to languish, not stare,
And softness the test of your sex...

But, if Amazon-like, you attack your Gallants,
And put us in fear of our lives,
You may do very well for Sisters and Aunts,
But, believe me, you'll never be Wives, Poor Girls...

Read the full poem here. If you aren't familiar with old type formatting, just imagine most of the "f"s are actually "s".

Look at him, pointing out how to be a "lady"

Christmas stone circles

As one does when back in the home country, I spent Christmas with the family. And what better way to start the festive morning, than with a quick trip to some awesome stone circles at Grange, Co. Limerick.

The locals keep an eye on the site and you pay a small fee at the gate to enter

#stonecircleselfie

Student Rock Art

Did you ever wonder what would happen if you asked your students to express their own narratives in the style of ancient rock art? I did. And there was a point to it.


The exercise allows them to express any story, be it their adventures at the weekend, travel experiences, a fairytale, or a soap opera issue. Whatever they like.

They draw the image(s) and then swap with their peers. The group tries to figure out what the story was about. It can be much more difficult that you might think, and misunderstandings are almost guranteed.

Students quickly see that even within their own broadly culturally homogenous group, interpretation is fraught with difficulties. Which leads them to understand how tricky interpretation of (particularly prehistoric) material can be.

Plus, it's lots of silly fun! The prefect lesson to finish off the term before the holiday break.

Check out the first batch of uploaded images here:

http://studentrockart.tumblr.com/

Stanton Drew fieldtrip

Just a short drive outside of Bristol are the beautiful stone circles of Stanton Drew. I accompanied Prof. Mark Horton and our enthusiastic third years on a fieldtrip that introduced secondary school students from Merchant's Academy to the world of Archaeology.

It was cold and windy, but nothing could dull Mark's excitement as he raced through thousands of years of history in just an hour. Students got hands on with the stones, climbing on top of the monuments and seeing the scale in person was quite impressive. They were amazed to hear how far away the source of the stonework was, and surprised to hear that it was once filled with timber posts. They ventured their own ideas on interpretation, and I must admit we were very impressed with some of their ideas - a bright bunch this lot!

Pof Mark Horton

Merchant's Academy students at Stanton Drew

As the sun set we headed to three stones behind the Druid's Arms pub. One appears to have fallen down over the ages. Mark tried out some experimental archaeology and his idea that the semicircular shape could have acted as a sound projection (video footage, below). Great fun and especially engaging as it was interactive. We also have plans to try and get students from the school to come on site to Berkeley during the summer.

Mark Horton laughing in front of a giant straw Minion... of course

Teaching Archaeology & the Media

This year, my supervisor and I were very excited to receive funding from the University of Bristol to conduct some innovative teaching approaches on concepts around "Archaeology and the Media" including social media. The first two sessions took place over the last couple of weeks and student feedback was very promising.

The aim of teaching was to provide students with competencies, strategies and ethics in how to deal with media channels, journalists, social media, etc. (I wasn't teaching them "how to do a tweet"!).

I've adopted a crowdsourcing activity I saw at a HEA workshop earlier this year and mixed up my lecture delivery style with interactive elements. Students responded to both the break of lecture (*brain relief*) and the chance to discuss and hash out what they just learned in small groups, and then bring it back to the larger group.

It's difficult to prove, unless I tie this in to examinations, but I think this process helps with retention of information. It's well understood that we only retain a small precentage of what we hear and write down, but by bolstering this with discussion and reflection, learning is reinforced immediately. By interacting, students also feel more involved, and participation can enhance enjoyment and enthusiasm for the subject.

In addition to one of the lectures, I was also given blocks of seminar time to further develop ideas grounded on the case study of the Berkeley Castle Excavations social media project. I created a loose frame within which the students were encouraged to work independently and collaboratively, at their own speed, following their own interests, with me placed to provide direction and support as required. Again, this was highly effective and many students commented on how they enjoyed this relaxed environment where any idea was welcomed. The added bonus was that students became even more encouraged to join the social media team this summer (hooray!).

In the coming weeks and months, I will be further developing my approaches and writing up my findings. After the summer excavation period, I will produce a report for the University which will contain a model of my approaches that can be lifted and applied to a wide range of subjects (especially those that conduct fieldwork) - this will be made available freely once internally approved. 

Remembering the Great War

Back in May/June, the University asked me to plan and manage the Colston Research Symposium: "Remembering the Great War: Perspectives from the Local to the Global". We invited the finest speakers from across the land, see below, and the attendees were just as important!

Hosted at Wills Hall on 23 October, the atmosphere was excited and expectant. Check out the social media buzz, along with photos: https://storify.com/tierneae/colston-research-society-2014#publicize

Afterwards, we travelled the Wills Memorial Building, up to the Great Hall to hear from Sir Max Hastings on "Catastrophe 1914". The massive room was packed to near full capacity as hundreds of people sat for the powerful talk.

Dinner at Merchant's Hall, Clifton, Bristol

I was fortunate to then be invited along with speakers and select guests to Merchant's Hall for a very fine dinner. All in all, a very long, busy and rewarding day!

extra archaeology content

If you haven't already, check out my instagram account. I trawled through my archives and found some super archaeology pics from my travels in Sri Lanka, Greece, France, Spain, Mexico, Ireland, the UK, Japan and beyond:
instagram.com/irishashyt
Plenty more to come!

TV debut: PhD research on Hell-Fire Caves

Catch me on the telly 8pm "Underground Britain" Channel 5 (20th November)

http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/c77ydj/underground-britain--series-1---5-central-england

Will be chatting about the history and archaeology of the Hell-Fire Caves of West Wycombe, and a 3D laser scan conducted with the British Geological Society (BGS).

RENKEI Review

Have a read of the blog I wrote for the Cabot Institute, University of Bristol.
It's all about my experiences during the RENKEI Summer School, Japan, focusing on Energy and Sustainability:
http://cabot-institute.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/energy-supply-experiences-of.html

September in Japan

It finally happened - a dream came true - I got to travel to Japan. As one may expect, I was overly excited by this occurrence. I have my sustainability work to thank for the opportunity, as I went to take part in a week long summer school in Tohoku University, part of the RENKEI programme which is a UK-Japan effort. This summer's theme was on Energy Supply within Traditional and Environmentally Conscious Growth Models. I am forever indebted to the University of Bristol for helping make it happen (PVC Nick Lieven for funding provided and Chris Willmore for accepting my application).

Prof. Nakata of Tohoku University presented on Energy and Communities, and acted as our lead academic for the week

While in the city of Sendai during my academic week, I travelled to the local incinerator plant (my first, and super clean), toured the local Toyota factory (very interesting), partook in lots of group work, attended a vast assortment of excellent lectures, and, on the last day, toured tsunami devastated regions to the north.

The best way to explain how incinerators work is, apparently, to use moving light up dinosaurs

We got behind the scenes at the Toyota factory and had talks by leading engineers and directors within the company

The tsunami devastation was contrasted with the scenic beauty that survived

After the week of serious learning, I took off on a roaring tour across Tokyo, Kyoto and Hakone with the fella. Madness ensued. Friends were made. We even invented a new game "Yoshi Soccer"* in a tiny tavern. Used tree-top-skimming glass boxes as transport. Ridiculous boats across volcanic lakes.Endured the Robot Restaurant (so shiny). Geeked out. Cuddle the cat café cats. Were *maid* to feel weird in the Maid Café. Climbed sky trees. Walk under bamboo groves. Witnessed the bling of the Golden Pavillion. Sank into steaming mountain water pools. Dressed in the finest kosode. Drank purple sweet potato milkshakes. Ate lots of things that we didn't understand. Galavanted around castles. Toured Buddhist shrines. Saw open air sculptures. Laughed at swan boats. Museumed. And other things.

Blingtastic. The Golden Pavillion, Kyoto

Bristol Archaeology & Anthropology

I've just created the Bristol Archaeology & Anthropology Facebook page. We have private groups, but they are not really suitable for public consumption - too many shenigans - so now we have a delightful new welcoming page for new researchers, staff and students, full to the brim with recent news stories. I imagine it will evolve in response to how the Bristol gang use it.
But if you don't like the page, you'll never find out!

https://www.facebook.com/bristolarchanth

Everyone likes to be liked....

Good News!

I am very very very lucky to have just been awarded the Read-Tuckwell Scholarship from the University of Bristol. Given that I am self-funding this makes a massive difference for me as I head into the last year of my studies. Hooray!

Department news post: http://bristol.ac.uk/archanth/news/2014/01190814

#PhDFTW

#AWESOME

#HAPPY

#EXCITEMENT

Witches and gnomes in Devon

The fella and I had a bit of holiday time this summer, so we decided to live it up in Devon for two days. Most people might consider the beach (we did, it was lovely), or a relaxing drink in local taverns (did that too). But, we also sought to find the most entertaining offerings of the area. A quick trawl through the internets revealed a plethora of enticing sites: the Barometer Museum (by appointment only, would need to be organised); Big Sheep; and a quarry complex named after one of humankind's finest inventions, Beer.

In the end, I wanted to check out the Museum of Witchcraft, as there could be some links to my study. The PhD radar never sleeps, and I knew I would find it interesting. Off we popped to gobsmackingly-scenic Boscastle. There was a display of Aleister Crowley (PhD tick) and then weird and wonderful collections that I was flabbergasted by. 

Everyone loves a spoon - Uri Geller

I understand that witchcraft appeals to many but incites fear in others - the museum makes a serious effort to warn visitors and to promote respect for the reception and interpretation of witchcraft. I was surprised with the diversity of objects on display, from the esoteric, to the macabre, and there were far more human remains than I envisioned (which poses some ethical questions in itself).

Click below for more photos.

No news is good news

In the invigorating world of research, sometimes there is just very little to report. I've been reading, do you care? Probably not. I could jazz it up - I've been annihilating the appalling work of so-called academics in my quest for intellectual superiority. More interesting, but not completely true. I'm just researching all about the Hell-Fire Club of Sir Francis Dashwood and tumbling through the myths and truths about his life and everything relating to the infamous club he founded (alledgedly, it might have been someone else, but it was probably him, for this club, not the others - see - it's just swings and roundabouts with this lot of 18th century shenanigan-meisters). 

Me in the Hell-Fire Caves along with mannequins showing Dashwood and his friends #totallyprofessional

I have bee enjoying re-reading Francois Rabelais the 16th century satirical French rascal. He is hilarious and rude and crude and perceptive all at the same time. Plus, he is easy to read, unlike so much of what we researchers have to digest. I'm looking at how his imagining of the Abbey of Theleme relates to motifs used by Dashwood in his building programmes at Medmenham and West Wycombe.

Other news?

• I'll be posting my Public Archaeology idea soon here: https://publicarchaeology2015.wordpress.com/. You can get involved in the project by reading the posts and commenting - we want your ideas!
• I'm working on the Academic Assignment Tutor Programme with the University and a local secondary student.
• I saw Steven Seagal and his Blues Band in Clapham recently... you couldn't make it up!
• There were some strange days in Devon that featured the Gnome Reserve, Watermouth Castle and the Museum of Witchcraft - more on that soon.

And, just for fun, another throw back thursday shout out to my by-all-accounts-awesome great-grandfather Cantwell who was the archaeologist in Limerick, Ireland (and raises my awe meter readings with all his publications in the Royal Irish Academy).

Archaeology Swag  Great Granddaddy pipe-smoking on site

Summer Digging at Berkeley (Throw Back Thursday)

Who doesn't love a muddy bottom all the way home?

Landrovers come with their own unique ecosystem, a rare balance of moss, mould, rust and rain puddles on seats!

Take post-excavation sorting outside into the sunshine!

Archaeology has learned so much from the building profession - we too stand around watching one person at work (motivation is integral to productivity)

Part of the Green Apple Scheme-funded temporary exhibition all around Berkeley

Another fantastic exhibition designed by Bristol students at the Jenner Museum (and another at the Castle)