PRESS RELEASE: Rescue Dig of the Year award for 2016, for Drumclay Crannog Project

Nora Bermingham and Caitríona Moore accept Current Archaeology’s prestigious Rescue Dig of the Year award for 2016, for their work on the Drumclay Crannog

The award for Rescue Dig of the Year (sponsored by Export and General Insurance for the second year running) was accepted by Dr Nora Bermingham and Caitríona Moore who carried out the rare excavation of a crannog (a medieval artificial island) in Co. Fermanagh on behalf of the Department of the Environment and Department for Regional Development in Northern Ireland. The well-preserved remains of timber structures and thousands of artefacts uncovered at this important site, are set to revolutionise our understanding of crannog life.

The prize forms part of the celebrated Current Archaeology Awards given each year by Current Archaeology, the UK’s leading archaeology magazine. TV personality and archaeologist Julian Richards (of Meet the Ancestors fame) announced the winners of the 2016 awards on 26 February, during the Current Archaeology Live! event, held at the University of London’s Senate House, which saw a record number of ticket sales for the conference, and was attended by over 400 people.

Nora Bermingham said:

‘Thank you so much to everyone who voted for us. This was a tiny little rural excavation in Northern Ireland, and we’re thrilled to have won. Doing Drumclay was the experience of a lifetime, and I don’t think it will be matched – it was a real privilege to direct that excavation and see the wonders that came out of it. We had a wonderful crew, and we would also like to thank the Department of the Environment and Department for Regional Development in Northern Ireland.’

John Mitchell said:

We are delighted once again to be sponsoring this prestigious award – and we are very happy that it has been won by the Drumclay Crannog Project.  It is well deserved!

  

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Stonehenge Findings Reveal Prehistoric Gender Equality

In light of a new study of human remains found at Stonehenge in 2008, researchers suggest that prehistoric Woman was able to attain high status, and may even have been considered the equal of men.

14 of the 23 remains exhumed at Stonehenge - which is believed to have been a cemetery for Wiltshire’s antediluvian movers and shakers - belong to women. According to archaeologists such as Mike Pitts (of British Archaeology), the study should be used to revise notions of male-dominated prehistoric societies that are currently prevalent in the media and the arts.  

The project, Pitts prates, puts paid to painters’ preponderant portrayals of a prominent prehistoric patriarchy:

“In almost every depiction of Stonehenge by artists and TV re-enactors we see lots of men, a man in charge, and few or no women

“The archaeology now shows that as far as the burials go, women were as prominent there as men. This contrasts with the earlier burial mounds, where men seem to be more prominent.

Other researchers concur that the findings demonstrate a “surprising degree of gender equality” given artists’ depictions of the site as being ruled by men “with barely a woman in sight”.

Christie Willis of the University College London Institute of Archaeology was tasked with identifying the sex of the remains which, collectively, weighed some 45kg and have since been sent off to the universities of Oxford and Glasgow to be radiocarbon-dated. 

E&G Picks: Exciting New British Museum Exhibition

Iron Age shields
© The Trustees of the British Museum

A new exhibition starts on Britain's most important archaeology finds opens soon at the British Museum.

Silver coins dating to the 3rd century AD
© The Trustees of the British Museum

The display is comprises hundreds of objects including Roman coins, ceramic pots and - perhaps most saliently - a magnificent Frome hoard pot.

The pot itself was swollen with 52,503 coins when it was found in Somerset in 2010, and promises to be the centerpiece of a fine array of archaeological trinkets, which were described in an article by Culture24 a few days ago.

Bronze Age weapons discovered in the River Thames will also make an appearance, as will the first Iron Age coin hoards; all of the objects have been subject to extensive study at the British Museum.

Together, they not only symbolises Britain's rich history, but also the success of her laws: the Treasure Act of 1996 obliged treasure hunters to report their discoveries, and this potentially superb exhibition owes itself to the act.

Roman ceramic money box, with coins and a spoon
© The Trustees of the British Museum

What: Hoards: The Hidden History of Ancient Britain
Where: The British Museum, London
When: December 3 2015 – May 22 2016.

Glastonbury's Monk Marketers

For centuries a mystical atmosphere has swirled around Glastonbury Abbey, which is said to be the resting place of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere.

Since the 12th century, the Abbey has been one of Britain's most sacrosanct destinations for pilgrims and monks; but archaeologists have discovered that it's part in British myth may be more contrived than previously thought. 

In fact, the whole Glastonbury origin myth may have to be rewritten after surveys conducted by Reading University conclusively established that no remains belonging to Arthur or Guinevere are buried on the site. 

This leaves open the possibility that the site's monk custodians were actually medieval Mad Men, who invented the myth in a bid to raise funds after a fire destroyed the site in 1184. 

It goes without saying that their mythopoeic marketing strategy was an overwhelming success, and so firmly entrenched Glastonbury Abbey in British folklore that the site's popularity has endured to the modern day. Cynical monks, however, are no match for science's quest for truth.

The group of archaeologists whose project resulted in the findings say that despite the prospect of "the history of Glastonbury Abbey [being] rewritten", tourist numbers will not dwindle. 

Likewise, site director Janet Bell insists that the report does not "debunk King Arthur's affiliation with the Abbey", and even hints at the possibility of using it as another marketing opportunity. 

Her predecessors would have been proud. 

Export & General's friends at C&N Hollinrake Ltd, consultant archaeologists, are situated in Glastonbury, and devote some of their time to ecclesiastical archaeology. You can visit their website here. 

"Witch Girl" exhumed in Italy

Courtesy to Pontifical Institute of Archaeology

The skeleton of a young girl has been disinterred in San Calocero, Italy, and is believed to have been accused as a witch before she was murdered.

The girl - whom scientists determined was severely malnourished at the time of her death, and between the ages of 14-17 - was buried under stone slabs.

The finding was made by Philippe Pergola of the Pontifical Institute of Archaeology and his team, following a like discovery close to the site two years ago of an original "witch girl" who was also malnourished. Both girls are believed to have been the victims of the same macabre ritual.

The burial of the condemned girls - while they were possibly still alive - may have followed such tribulations as burning and being swung by the elbows. The fact that the recovered body's head was almost touching its breastbone suggests that the girl may have also been thrown into the pit.

Both skeletons are dated between the ninth and fifteenth centuries, when suspicion of witchcraft was a fixture of life in parts of the continent.

'Martian Archaeologist' finds Face Carved in Pyramid

The YouTube channel "Martian Archaeology" has singled out a sphinx's face on a pyramidal rock formation on Mars - calling the photographs produced by NASA conclusive evidence of an ancient civilisation.

The 'Martian Archaeologist's' peculiar avocation involves scouring through NASA photo archives in an attempt to uncover convincing evidence of extraterrestrial life.

The photos in question were taken by the famous rover Curiosity which has hitherto found no evidence of life at all - even on a microscopic level. In recent months, however, evidence collected by Curiosity indicates that water may once have existed on Mars. The US Space Agency even suggested that large oceans may even have existed on the planet's surface.

But Martian Archaeology still isn't satisfied, and says that the NASA photo of the sphinx is part of a larger body of evidence which proves beyond doubt that an ancient civilisation once thrived on Mars.

We remain unconvinced.

Not many people purport to be able to explain the origin of the sphinx-face. Much less the mysterious red circle.

E&G Picks: New Exhibition Unveiled in China

A museum in north China's Hebei Province has unveiled a new exhibition consisting of ancient Buddhist statues and fragments, many of which are over 1,500 years old.

Having documented an excavation in Mes Aynak, Afghanistan of priest-king and buddhist statues (click here), the news from Hebei has made E&G staff particularly excited.

So much so that we've dispatched a member of our team on tour in China - we hope he'll be visiting the Hebei Province museum and report back to us.

For specialist insurance for archaeologists, click here.

Breaking News: Europeans are Descendants of "Fourth Tribe"

Modern Europeans are the genetic descendants of a recently discovered "fourth tribe", researchers have confirmed.

It was thought that Europeans are a mix of three distant populations: hunters; Middle Eastern farmers and easterners who arrived during the Bronze Age.

But Nature Communications has revealed that genetic material retrieved from a skeleton in the Caucasus points towards a fourth population which has contributed to the European gene pool. 

Genomes harvested from burial sites thanks to scientific advances has meant that more data about ancient humans can be collected - altering our conception of our genetic legacy. 

The 10,000 year old Georgian skeleton, from which the data was collected

Of the three tribes previously thought to have been the exclusive ancestors of modern Europeans, the hunter-gatherers were the first to arrive in Europe before the Ice Age.

The migration of Middle Easterners 33,000 years hence shifted the genetic paradigm and introduced agriculture to Europe. 4,000 years later the Yamnaya - a herder people whose genetic contribution is concentrated most voluminously in the modern Norwegian population - entered Europe from the Steppes.

This groundbreaking discovery means researchers are likely to be puzzling over where the "fourth tribe" fits into the genetic story of Europe for quite some time yet.

Sinister Catacombs of Odessa: the Lost Girl

Everybody knows about the Parisian catacombs, but the sprawling lesser-known maze beneath Odessa harbours a notoriety which continues to this day.

Urban exploration is a burgeoning pastime among young people and archaeologists who fancy themselves as Howard Carter types. E&G staff have been known to dabble in it during work hours, counting a Victorian swimming baths in Bristol as one of our favourite haunts.

Catacombs, however, are a different animal entirely. The Odessa tunnels in Ukraine span three levels, cover a staggering distance of 2,500 kilometres and have 1,000 (known) entrances.

So large are the catacombs, in fact, that they haven’t even been fully mapped.

Starting out as an isolated series of limestone mines in the 19^th-century, local smugglers began connecting them in a macabre game of dot-to-dot that would eventually claim lives.

It is very difficult to convey in words just how dauntingly expansive a 2,500 kilometre network of tunnels is, especially when they often lead nowhere or double-back on themselves. Resembling enormous black bronchi (see map at top), the tunnels are arid and stifling; they provide no bearings or signposts for the lost.

Which compounds the tragedy of the case of a 19 year old girl who wandered, perhaps while intoxicated, into one of the entrances after having been to a New Year party in 2005. She was only discovered four months later by urban explorer hobbyists after police, having been informed that the girl was missing, refused to enter the catacombs should they suffer the same fate. One story has it that she was initially with a group of friends when she entered the tunnels and ran ahead to scare them. It was said that they went a different direction, and never saw her again. 

Despite the government having attempted to seal the known entrances in 1980, others are frequently being discovered. Along with explorers, the catacombs have become popular with derring-do teenagers and archaeologists who are intrigued by its history as a hiding place for civilians and officials in WWII.

The body of the lost girl, named Masha, was recovered two years after her disappearance, in 2007. Based on where her body lay it is believed she spent three days wandering the catacombs, trying to find her way out, before perishing of dehydration. Her case serves as a reminder of the dangers the catacombs of Odessa continue to pose to the carefree or ill-prepared. 

For competitive bespoke archaeology insurance click here. 

For competitive bespoke travel insurance click here. 

The Copper-Bottomed Buddhas

What do one of the world's largest untapped copper mines; Buddhist monk-kings; an al-Qaeda training camp and the Chinese have in common?

Not much at all, except for Mes Aynak.

The archaeological site of Mes Aynak in Afghanistan is one of the most promising of its kind in the Middle East. A buried pre-Islamic city of monks shrouded in copper ore, it comprises monastic fortifications, buddha schist statues and human remains dating as far back as 300AD. 

The priest-kings, and the city they ruled, prospered ever since the first ore was smelted and up until the forested environs - on which the process depended for fuel - was gradually cleared. Contrasting the peace which the city used to enjoy, the site is now a bone - or several - of contention for mining companies, archaeologists and militants.

The copper which built the city might just doom its legacy. 12.5 million tonnes of it is buried underground, and in 2007 the China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC) won the rights to mining operations on the site. For Afghanistan, the prospect of new infrastructure and a £780m boost to it's febrile economy proved too alluring, despite the risks to Afghan heritage that the mining operation will pose.

But the Chinese are not mining yet, due to continuing conflict in the region. Islamists are the source of the conflict, and look askance at the idea of pre-Islamic heritage anyway. The Taliban, which still has a stake in the area, have been known to harass archaeologists who are trying to salvage the site's riches before the Chinese move in.

Under the Taliban's aegis, an al-Qaeda base used to be located at Mes Aynak; four of the terrorists who conducted the 9/11 attacks were trained there. Conflict continues. The Chinese were forced to defer the beginning of ore extraction operations after rocket attacks in 2012 and 2013, which scarred a landscape already pockmarked by looters who have robbed it of some of its riches. Alas, it doesn't seem to matter anyway. The National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul have accepted so many artefacts that they no longer have room for them. Thousands of discoveries sit in limbo at storage facilities.

The date for mining continues to be offset, which gives archaeologists time to work on the site and make digital records. They have the time but not the manpower: they rely on volunteer labour and are low on resources. Nobody knows what the future holds for the site, but one thing's for sure: as rockets streak the skies and Chinese machinery looms, archaeology is Mes Aynak's only prospect for preservation. 

The Tale of a Converted Victorian Swimming Baths

As a doctor of Archaeology, Export & General managing director Dr John Mitchell has a niche interest in the modern craze of “urban archaeology”; but the case of the Bristol Community Dance Centre is one building which he’d rather see preserved.

The Bristol Community Dance Centre is a converted Victorian swimming baths and spa-cum-dance studio; a monument to the fortitude of manager Alan Roberts who has run the premises since the 1980s; and a sentinel part of Bristol’s cultural landscape.

Both the studios and their custodian exude charm: Alan Roberts jokes that the ‘ravages of time’ have left their mark on him; but he isn’t intent on some cosmetic renovations of his own; it is the building that is in need of restoration.

The Bristol Community Dance Centre has been running for almost 30 years, during which time it has hosted performances by Disney, Elbow, Frank Bruno and other stars who regard the Studio One dancefloor as one of the best – if not the best – in Britain. The fact it was built over a former swimming pool makes it ideal for dance: the suspending metal springs beneath mitigate the risk of ankle splint injuries and conduce to more seamless dance manoeuvres. Both it, as well as the performance equipment in the studio, were fitted because of Alan’s tireless campaigning. During his stewardship a total of £1.5m in capital has been raised for fittings and renovations; having showed us the before and after photos of the building, it became clear that his contribution to not only salvaging the building from dilapidation – but also utilising it – has been a staggering feat.

Export & General have insured the studios almost since their inception, and we simply aren’t prepared to see its majesty crumble. It isn’t an exaggeration to say the Dance Centre has played a transformative role in Bristol’s community: Alan relates that a young local gangster - who regretted his life decisions and feared for his life to the extent he rarely went out - was taken to see the annual fandango and was so inspired that he joined the dance troupe, went abroad to dance and left his life of crime behind. This sense of purpose – Alan says – is an example of the magic of dance and drama, made more magic when set inside the soaring red brick walls, arching steel buttresses and vaulted ceilings of a listed Victorian baths. The question, then: isn’t the building owed a transformation of its own?

So Alan has spent thousands commissioning an architect to draw mock ups of what a renovated premises would look like. The results are simply stunning.

Plans include a plush new reception, glass veneers throughout the building including a glass balcony encompassing studio one and connecting the building’s 15 levels. The old tank and pump rooms would not only be restored, but given architectural significance: the Victorian bath tank would prop up a glass floor in the café, so you can peer into its fathoms while sipping a latte. A new studio dedicated to flamenco dance would be constructed in the spacious pump room, surrounded by towering steel beams, and would be the only one of its kind in Britain. The charming bathhouse fixtures like the spring valves, which are still connected to the historic 14^th century stream built by a Jewish sect running beneath the building, would be restored.

At Export & General we actively embrace innovation and heritage. While the two concepts may seem like uneasy bedfellows, we see Alan’s plans for the Dance Centre as a symbol of our ethos – and their realisation: its total embodiment.

Which is why we really rather like it, and hope it stays around. 

Click here to see Alan's plans.

Pigs Unearth 12,000 year old Stone Tools

A herd of pig archaeologists have unearthed tools left by hunter-gatherers at Islay around 12,000 years ago.

The stone implements gradually surfaced after years of porcine poking about the shore of the Scottish island, though the official line credits their gamekeeper with the find.

Evidence had previously suggested that the earliest dwelling at Islay dated back 10,500 years, but archaeologists at the site uncovered a level 3,000 years older. This was 'long before any humans should have been in the region' stated one archaeologist, almost as if the incursion of humans on the unspoiled islet had been rude.

As for the pigs, they were originally intended by their gamekeeper to clear bracken on the shore when their intellectual curiosity took over; an archaeologist at the University of Reading - a university in Reading - said that the findings had 'taken our breath away'. Unearthing who 'our' is would require the time and fortitude which only pigs in Islay seem to have, and so you'll have to forgive us for not expanding.

To read more about the discovery click here. For pig related news click here.

Blunt Trauma: Battle of the Beanfield

E&G revisits a literally landmark civil battle

On June 1 1985, Stonehenge was humming with hippies. The ‘Peace Convoy’, comprising 600 tie-dyed travellers, converged on the Wiltshire site for the Stonehenge Free Festival. The festival had been forbidden by the Wiltshire constabulary, using a government-backed High Court injunction, from going ahead; but in a fit of hippie recalcitrance the phalanx of frosted peace-lovers rumbled into town anyway.

Potholes on the Road

Channeling the spirit of Kris Kristofferson’s protagonist in Convoy, the caravan set its bearings for Wiltshire in full knowledge of the police presence it would encounter. It was about seven miles from Stonehenge that the incense of nonconformism was first wafted towards police, who had formed a barricade of 1300 personnel to the South of the site.
    

After trying to endear officers with a misty rendition of John Lennon’s Imagine, the convoy became restless during Hesitation Blues and ended defiantly with Piggies. It became clear that conflict was inevitable.

To acoustic strums of antipathy, the convoy made for the barricade and attempted to breach it. But police were ready. With truncheons, they smashed the windows of convoy vehicles, arresting members of the vanguard, and pursued an offshoot of the convoy to a nearby field where another stand-off ensued.

Joint Blame

To this day debate rages as to what exactly happened, why and whose fault it was.

Disputation surrounds whether members of the convoy used improvised weapons - even petrol bombs - as part of a premeditated and sustained attack on police. Although the use of petrol bombs, if true, does hint at this, The Observer reported that police may have preemptively thrown shields and stones at the convoy to get it to stop.

Although such measures may have been born of desperation or fear, one wonders whether bombarding moving vehicles with objects could realistically have provided any logistical benefit; a fortiori one questions the wisdom of throwing stones at people who were already stoned.

Although publications such as the Guardian maintain that police measures were sanctioned against the travellers without justification, the general conception that both parties were at fault for escalating the conflict - which led to 24 injuries in total, as well as 537 arrests - prevails.

Half-baked Excuses

Perhaps understandably, Wiltshire police have made no official apology. At the time, they stood by their actions as the justifiable result of the court-ordered injunction which forbade the festival from taking place at the hallowed site. However, in 1991 a court ruling determined that £24,000 be paid to 21 travellers in damages – encompassing wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and damage to possessions.

This most historic of British civil battles, which briefly and unbecomingly threw Stonehenge into a new light, typifies the risk of overlap between politics and archaeology. It gave rise to questions of the extent to which the state has authority over our national heritage. Ultimately, the fact that the events of the battle are related today highlights what an important role our national monuments still play in modern life.

New Homo Genus Discovered

The discovery of 15 partial skeletons belonging to an unknown species of hominid has been made in an underground chamber in South Africa.

The finding, the largest of its kind made to date, is thought to provide scientists with the evolutionary link between apes and humans.

It suffices to say that, with a simple visit to E&G headquarters, the link might have been found sooner and with much less effort.

Evidence suggests that the species, which scientists have dubbed naledi, engaged in ritual behaviours; assuming no further discoveries are made, this makes it the most primitive of our precursors that were capable of doing so.

Evidence also suggests naledi were perpetually miserable

Breaking News: Spitfire Crash

E&G has just been apprised of a vintage Spitfire crash in Kent.

It is not yet clear why the fighter plane had to undergo an emergency landing, during which it ditched in a field and the left-wing was torn off. Sky News has reported that eyewitnesses noticed a stuttering noise coming from the engine in flight, and that shortly after the fighter plane’s engine cut out entirely and it started descending.

Thankfully the pilot wasn’t harmed. 

Fascinatingly, we believe this two-seater Spitfire is the same one that was previously owned by the cousin of E&G’s former owner John Plaister. There are only four extant two-seater Spitfire models; one such model was used in a recent BBC series with Ewan and Colin McGregor chronicling the exploits of the RAF during the Battle of Britain.

E&G’s new website, planned for launch in the near future, will feature an HD image of the Spitfire as mascot of E&G Aviation. E&G Aviation is a scion of our insurance services which will be dedicated exclusively to covering British grass airfields and the craft within them, and is planned for a simultaneous launch with the site.

As for our Spitfire, here’s hoping she enjoys a re-launch of her own in the very near future.