Castles and Coprolites

It’s not an exaggeration to say that 2021 and  2022, have been the most difficult period of my life. In addition to all the general crap from the pandemic, I have lost four people who meant a lot to me. Earlier in 2021, Great Grandma Ann passed away at the age of 99. She was my great grandmother in law, but I’d always felt a connection to her since we first met eight years ago. She was a remarkable women with a fascinating life story, not mine to share here. But I admired her, and found her easy to talk to, which is a rare thing for me. Her passing was sad, but she was ready to go. I just wish we’d been able to travel and see her one last time. In September 2021 my dad died, at the age of 69. He wasn’t ready, and neither were we. My dad’s story was that of a working class lad from the north east. He lived and died where he was born, a life that to many might seem unnoteworthy but the epitome of life of his class and generation, the last years of the shipyards, with many funny stori...

Been working on this for a while, inspired by the baby burial from the Neolithic settle ment of Catalhoyuk last year . I've always felt neutral about working with human remains, and the picture of the tiny skeleton being uncovered by Barbara Betz in 2013 was the first time it's given me a lump in the back of my throat. The scientist in me is all for studying human remains, but I wonder what these people would have felt about their infant being excavated. W e're talking here about a culture that was fascinated with skull removal so who knows! Perhaps these new feelings are a result of being a parent (I almost said recently but it's getting close to 1 ye ar!) - a good example of how our own personal situation influences the way we perceive the past. Beneath the floors are hidden treasures, In secret kept, the bones are sealed Of those now gone who’ll dream forever, They wait their time to be revealed. The days they pass without perception The night...