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The 2014 Basingstoke Common Survey

Will Heard, who is about to embark on the Archaeological Computing Masters programme at the University of Southampton, has written a blog post summarising his time with us at Basing House this season. Will was working closely with Dom Barker, who headed up the survey of Basingstoke Common. Will is an important member of our team and we are really appreciative of his volunteering to take part in both the 2013 and 2014 seasons. Continue reading →

The 2014 Small Finds go for Conservation

Last week, we dropped off the 2014 season small finds to the Hampshire County Council Museums Service headquarters to be conserved by their excellent team of conservators. The staff at Museums HQ were fantastic, taking time out of their busy morning schedules to show some of the students the conservation laboratories and the archaeology collection stores. Tilly was so inspired by her visit to Museums HQ that she has written a blog post describing the trip. Continue reading →

Postcards from the field: Studying the Neolithic figurines from Koutroulou Magoula, Greece

Clay Neolithic figurines are some of the most enigmatic archaeological objects, which depict in a miniature form humans, animals, other anthropomorphic or zoomorphic beings, and often hybrid or indeterminate entities. Figurines have excited scholarly and public imagination, and have given rise to diverse interpretations. The assemblage from Koutroulou Magoula, a Middle Neolithic site – 5800-5300 BC – in central Greece (excavated under the co-direction of Prof. Continue reading →

Modern Languages represented at 2014 Eurocall conference

Julie Watson and Kate Borthwick are amongst colleagues from Modern Languages attending the 2014 Eurocall conference, taking place from 20-23 August 2014 at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. Julie’s presentation entitled ‘Sizing up the online course: adapting learning design to meet growing participant numbers’ will take place on the second day of the conference. Continue reading →

Portraits of Diggers

As per last year, part way through the season I became fascinated by the physicalness of digging. I’m always struck by the way that excavators manipulate their bodies whilst digging, fitting themselves into tiny gaps, like those internet meme photos of cats in glass bowls. The angles necessary to really get your trowel into the corners of a Tudor drain, and the flicking of the wrist needed to excavate the bottom of a 17th century trench, all results in yoga-like positions. Continue reading →