Castles and Coprolites

Like many archaeologists, and people in general, I am deeply saddened by the ongoing destruction of cultural heritage in Syria, and the plight of the people who have become refugees. Every time there is a new horror story in the news, I've been going back to my photographs from the time I spent in Syria in 2010 . I didn't have time to go and see Palmyra, and it saddens me that I will never get the chance now. What saddens me more is that I have no way of knowing what has happened to the Syrians I met while I was working there. The lovely guy who helped me with my paperwork at the border crossing from Turkey, and made sure I got on the right bus to get to Baniyas. The lovely family I met, who gave me a Syrian pop music CD and a carved cowry shell. The shopkeepers at Al-Hamidiyah Souq who sold me olive soap and beautiful inlaid boxes. The local man who showed me around Margat castle - we couldn't communicate well as he had no English and I have even less Arabic, but we someho...

I'm pleased to announce the publication of the final article on my work at Margat Castle, Syria: Shillito, L-M., Major, B., Almond, M., Anderson, E. and Pluskowski, A. in press. Micromorphological and geochemical investigation of formation processes in the refectory at the Castle of Margat (Qal’at al-Marqab), Syria Journal of Archaeological Science For those without a subscription the final version of the manuscript is also available open access on my academia page here (you'll need to log in). This is the end product of a pilot study I started in 2010. It was initially envisaged to be a test for a larger program of research, looking at differences in activities and resource use between different phases of the castle's occupation, but unfortunately due to the deteriorating situation in Syria, I was never able to return. I still have the lovely gifts I was given by the Syrians I worked and lived with. I wish there was some way of knowing if they are ok. I have posted ...

This month we have some micrographs from floor deposits in the refectory at Margat Castle, Syria . Here we have a fragment of lime, within which is embedded a lovely little foraminifera. Forams are tiny little marine creatures which have calcium carbonate shells, and when they die they form part of the fine sediment which is deposited on the sea floor. This in turn becomes sedimentary rock, and that's the origin of this tiny fragment of limestone. In XPL we can see that the void space inside the foram has a coating of highly birefringent (sparkly) material. These are tiny little calcite crystals. Calcite hypocoatings can result from several processes, but in this case it is likely the result of carbonate rich water percolating through pores in the sediment. Similar coatings can be seen in other voids in this layer. When the water evaporates the carbonate precipitates on the walls of the voids. A bit like the layers of lime-scale that form on taps and kettles if you live somewhe...

These are examples of some of the floor deposits from Margat Castle, Syria (you can see the full thin section in my previous post here ). The upper left shows A. a microscopic fragment of charcoal, B. A rounded basalt pebble and B. a rounded weathered basalt pebble, all embedded within a calcitic fabric, most likely a lime based material. The upper right shows a lower portion of the floor, where the inclusions are angular. The 'bubbly' shape of part A. suggest vesicles from vitrification. Part B is the inner unweathered core of basalt. The lower left image shows A. smaller fragments of weathered vitrified granite that appear to have been crushed up and embedded in the B. lime floor matrix. The lower right image shows A. a fragment of highly weathered bone in B. a 'pure' lime floor that overlays all the pebbly floors. At least, that's what I make of it so far! Might have to enlist the help of a geologist to figure out where the materials are coming from and ex...

It's about time I say a bit about Qal'at al-Marqab, also known as Margat Castle, Syria. It is the castle for which this blog is named, and looking back over my posts it seems I talk much more about the coprolites than the castles. I visited the site as part of a preliminary assessment into the potential of microarchaeology to investigate activities and use of space at medieval castle sites, back in 2009. I had an amazing time in Syria, working with a joint Syrian-Hungarian team led by Dr Balázs Major from the Pázmány Péter Catholic University. I've been working on the pilot samples on and off since then, but today is the first time I've had a real chance to go through the data in detail. As ever, microscopic analysis is providing fascinating insights into the archaeology that would otherwise be missed. One of my favourite samples is the floor section to the right. Probably one of the most difficult samples I've ever collected, I ended up having to hack the thing ou...