Castles and Coprolites

Having a great time at UW, and getting loads of microscope work and writing done! The lab I'm working in even has a big red danger button. I haven't tried pressing it yet. Maybe I'll give it a go if my seminar next week goes badly. Big Red Button Here are a few sneak peeks of the types of things I've been finding in the latest lot of samples from Çatalhöyük. The most exciting part of this analysis is going to be the integration of other data sets, especially the microbotanical remains, currently being analysed by archaeobotanist Dr. Ryan at the British Museum. Although we can see the depositional characteristics and micro-context of remains such as microcharcoal and phytoliths in thin section, it can be difficult to identify the types and relative quantities, so it is essential to combine the two approaches to get the most information. Top left: Ootic limestone pebble. Top right: Lithic chip embedded in ash. Bottom left: Large husk...

Denny Hall Day 6 in Seattle and time for a blog update. This is Denny Hall, my new home for the next month, which possibly rivals Kings Manor for one of the prettiest departmental exteriors where I've worked! I appear to have arrived right at the beginning of Spring Break, which is rather handy as it gives me time to recover from jetlag before all the students get back. In addition to a spot of sightseeing and family meet ups over the weekend I met up with Dr Ben Marwick on monday, and was introduced to the microscope I will be working with over the coming month. It's great to be back at the microscope after being in the lab for so many months, and finally having time to analyse all the new micromorphology slides that have been accumulating since last summer. As well as research related activities, I am also giving a series of talks for the departmental lecture series, details here . The UW campus is really beautiful. I was struck again by the way everything in the U...

Fair Star Carr, we weep to see You fade away so soon: As yet the archaeologists, Have not unearthed your boon. Stay, stay Until the field seasons Have run Unto their final year; And having found your secrets, we Will leave you with good cheer. We have five years to study you, Three seasons yet to dig                The dryland and the lake, Find bone points, and antler picks. We’ll try Before the land acidifies, To take Soil samples, pollen cores; So many Mesolithic clues Beside the relict shores.    We started planning the geoarchaeological aspects of the new Star Carr excavations this afternoon. The latest round of research at the site begins this year with Nicky Milner's 5 year ERC project. It looks like it will be quite challenging from a microarchaeology perspective, not least because of the peaty sediments which are notoriously difficult to thin section! But I do like a challenge. My invo...

"It is strange that we are not able to inculate into the minds of many men the necessity of that distinction of Lord Bacon's, that there ought to be Experiments of Light, as well as of Fruit . It is their usual word, what solid good will come from thence? They are indeed to be commended for being so severe enactors of goodness. And it were to be wished, that they would not only excercise this vigour about Experiments but on their own lives and actions: that they would still question with themselves in all that they do: what solid good will come from thence? But they are to know that in so large and so various an Art as this of Experiments, there are many degrees of usefulness : some may serve for real and plain benefit, without much delight: some for teaching, without apparant profit: some for light now and for use hereafter: some only for ornament and curiosity. If they persist in condeming all experiments, except those which bring with them immediate gain and a presen...

On either side the höyük lie Marshland and Cyperaceae, That cloth the wold and meet the sky; And thro’ the mounds a river runs by To the many-levelled höyük; And up and down the people go. Climbing ladders to and fro Round a höyük there below. The höyük of Çatal! Marsh birds sing and sheep/goat shiver, Phragmites reeds go on forever, Marls and clays are gathered hither, Resources flourish, by the river Flowing down to Çatalhöyük. Mudbrick walls and buildings hidden, Overlook a space of midden, Beneath the building floors are hidden The dead of Çatalhöyük. By the edges, backswamp sealed, Lies early midden, now concealed, The cattle graze, perhaps, a field Where wheat and barley grow to yield, Surplus at Çatalhöyük. In the houses, people sweep, They form deposits, Sounding Deep, Yearly plaster coatings keep The walls at Çatalhöyük. On the rooftops people meet And piles of rubbish form the streets; The ash and bones, remains of feasts When trampled down, the tell increased, Preserved a...

It's less than two weeks until my visit to UW in Seattle now! I hear it's a great place for coffee, which I'm looking forward to almost as much as the actual research visit. Coffee is a great friend of mine that I met as a graduate student at Reading, and our relationship has gone from strength to strength ever since. Hopefully next week will be a bit less hectic than the week just passed, to give me some time to recover before a very intensive month of seminars and microscope work in Seattle. I've been travelling all over the place giving lectures including an introduction to Geoarchaeology for the MA Medieval Landscape at Reading, to Lipid chemistry for archaeologists for York's BSc Bioarchaeology, followed by a seminar on Microarchaeology and architectural materials in the Near East this past friday for our newly formed micromorphology research group. I appear to have almost lost my voice, but on the plus side I have convinced non-science students that geoarchae...