Francis Pryor at ArchFest – They Were Farmers Like Me…

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Archaeology, Stonehenge

Francis Pryor’s talk at ArchFest, ‘Stonehenge: The Story of a Sacred Landscape’ was a surprise, and all the more interesting for that of course.

He began by saying that we would never fully understand the ancient monuments that surround us (particularly in Wiltshire it seems!) but he suggested that we don’t anyway fully understand our own sacred monuments. In saying this, he gestured towards our own magnificent Salisbury Cathedral. That got me thinking.  And he hadn’t even mentioned Stonehenge as yet!

I have included here a piece from his own blog which tells us a little about his background and begins to explain his own theory about Stonehenge and places like it.

I’ve been an archaeologist for over forty years and have excavated several major sites, mostly in the Fens of eastern England. I’ve also tried to bring archaeology to a wider audience, with a number of books, radio and television programmes, of which Time Team is the best known. When not writing or digging, I’m also a sheep farmer and keen gardener. But like most people, I get bees in my bonnet – obsessions, call them what you like. Most of my worries are about the general disregard for the achievements of people in the past and the failure of politicians, both local and national, to learn the lessons of history.

Francis shared most of this with us in his talk. He explained that because the people who built and used Stonehenge were farmers, like himself, he tried to see the monument through their eyes. A view surely not unlike his own. It is a mistake, he said, to see the great henges as places that were each the creation of some megalomaniac figure. Rather they are the product of people, not unlike himself, as a farmer, and not unlike any of us, really. Just as we have our churches, graves, and memorials, so they wanted to record, celebrate and remember, loved ones.

The great megaliths are almost certainly he suggested, as we would suspect, representing Gods or great figures from within their society, and the smaller bluestones almost certainly representing local people. He also suggested that the numerous carvings of axes on some of the uprights are each representing a person.

It is important to remember that Stonehenge was built, added to, abandoned and re-used over centuries, anyway and so there would be subtle changes all the time in how it was used.

I kept remembering his opening remarks about Salisbury Cathedral.  He is quite right, that in thousands of years’ time, no one will be able to precisely imagine, measure or record the feeling that the building gives us as we, Christians or not, walk into the Close. No one will be able to measure the awe we feel, its importance in our lives, the feeling it gives us for our own history. The magic.

Stonehenge was, and had, all of that for the peoples of the times in which it was the centre of their lives. And to a degree that magic lives on, even though we are no longer sure why it was built in the first place.

Does Size Matter?

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Archaeology, English Heritage, Museum, Stonehenge, Wiltshire

It does when it comes to henges, apparently.  At another of the museum’s excellent talks last week, Dr Jim Leary spoke about his work over the last few years at Marden, in the Vale of Pewsey, and about the amazing discoveries there, with Reading University and Historic England (formerly English Heritage). Marden is described as Europe’s largest Neolithic henge, enclosing over 15.7 hectares, and an even larger one is probably waiting to be excavated at nearby Cat’s Brain (yes, really!), both beating Avebury for size.

Marden Henge, Vale of Pewsey

The Vale of Pewsey lies between Stonehenge and Avebury but is not part of the World Heritage Site. Nevertheless, it is as full of archaeological ‘goodies’ as anywhere else in Wiltshire.  Perhaps even more so.  Dr Leary explained that the relative lack of interest in the area is because, unlike the higher ground where Stonehenge and Avebury stand, the Vale has been ploughed continuously for thousands of years and any remains are less obvious.

As with Avebury , the ditch around the henge at Marden is on the inside, with a bank outside of that.  The assumption is that this was to protect the people/audience/congregation from what was inside.  Whatever that was! Like Avebury, and, indeed, Durrington, there is evidence of Neolithic buildings on the site before the banks and ditches were built.  In this case, there is a rectangular building with a chalk floor where the archaeologists are even investigating the layer of dirt and dust which had accumulated on the floor when it was in everyday use. A PhD student is doing a thesis on what this dirt can tell us!  There is evidence of burning in the area, the same signs of  ceremonial feasting as at Durrington, and a midden.

The artifactual finds are of astonishing beauty (exquisite arrowheads) and possibly unique (pottery with a white ‘slip’ made from crushed bone, possibly human).

Thanks to Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and English Heritage for this photo. Wilts Museum has an on-going display of information and artifacts from this excavation

Inside the henge was a large conical mound known as the Hatfield Barrow (now levelled) and an inner henge. Hatfield barrow stood tall in the eighteenth century when it was mapped but was later ploughed out.  It was likely to have been similar to Silbury.  This had Dr Leary on a mission.  How many other mounds in the area, in the country even, might have been built in Neolithic times?  More on this next week.

The smaller henge has been excavated and shows evidence of huge holes which must have held timber, or possibly stone, at some early time, now completely gone.  There is evidence of similar such holes at Stonehenge, marked in the carpark there.

What a time to be in archaeology. Scientific advances will allow that PhD student to do her research on a layer of dirt just a few millimetres thick. DNA and isotope analysis allow us to pinpoint dates and origins to a very exact degree. Dr Leary said that things were changing so fast he was never able to recycle his lectures to students anymore!

The excavations continue this year, having begun in 2015.  After that will come the analysis of what has been found and the publications.  If we want to visit the Marden site we are more than welcome.  The team are there every day this summer except Fridays and the students of Reading University conduct guided tour for visitors. Go in the coming weeks or miss the chance! Click here for further details.

WITCHES AND ALCHEMISTS, SNAKES AND SWALLOWS by Volunteer Alan Crooks

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Archaeology, Stonehenge, volunteer, Volunteers, Wessex, Wiltshire

To my shame, this was my first visit to Avebury since 1983, when I attended a Royal Society of Chemistry Mid-Southern Counties Local Section Summer Excursion to Avebury, Silbury Hill, and the West Kennet Long Barrow.  I attended the SALOG visit as part of a self-imposed mission to visit all the sites depicted in the current exhibition, ‘British Art: Ancient Landscapes’. To this end, following a week’s holiday in Seaton last week, I made a detour to visit the Cerne Abbas Giant (and the village of Cerne Abbas itself) on my way home. Then, following the SALOG visit to Avebury, being such a lovely day, and following lunch at the on-site café, I embarked on the two mile walk along a bridleway to visit West Kennet Long Barrow, taking in Silbury Hill en route. At West Kennet Long Barrow, I was entranced to watch a swallow feeding her brood of chicks which were on a ledge in one of the burial chambers.

At Avebury, it was a delight to have the opportunity to chat with fellow volunteers from the other organisations involved. (I had a fruitful conversation about witches and alchemists, concerning some research I’m doing on a matter unrelated to Ancient Landscapes).

I was interested to hear from our Guide about the two types of stone, ‘pillar’ stones and ‘diamond’ stones, which represent male and female, and these face each other in the Avenue as sexual pairs.

The Guide for my party told us that the heaviest stone weighs an estimated 100 tons. On its outfacing side, she pointed out the head and neck of a ‘dragon’ – a result of natural erosion. (One of my fellow Volunteers pointed out that this is the same stone on which, in the exhibition, the artist has shown the face of William Morris, and indicated that this is to the left hand side of the dragon).

To me, the ‘dragon’ looked more like a snake, and this led me to put two and two together to perhaps make five, in wondering whether this is what inspired William Stukeley to depict Avebury as a serpent whose head rested at the Sanctuary on Overton Hill and whose body was formed by West Kennet and Beckhampton.

Avenues:

This was a very interesting, enjoyable and worthwhile visit. Many thanks to all concerned with its conception and organisation.

Alan Crooks (Engagement Volunteer)

Looking Forward to Returning… by Rachel Herring

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Archaeology, Museum, Schools, Stonehenge

Rachel Herring

 

This half-term, I had the opportunity to volunteer at two of the museum’s two-hour ‘Glow Wall’ sessions, as part of my Year Twelve work experience placement. The Glow Wall is a relatively recent addition to the range of interactive holiday activities at the museum, and I very much enjoyed working with some of the regular volunteers, not to mention the many families who were visiting. It was very entertaining to see the children (and adults!) getting creative with the patterns and shapes they could make with their torches, and I also had fun trying out the Glow Wall myself…

As a Year Twelve student studying, History, German, English Literature and Philosophy at South Wilts Grammar school in Salisbury, I was asked to organise a five-day work placement, which I will complete in the summer holidays. I chose to apply to the museum primarily because of my interest in history and heritage (which I hope to study as a joint honours course with German at University), but also because I saw it as an opportunity to engage with and contribute to a part of my local community.

I am grateful to the museum staff and volunteers for allowing me to spend my placement with them, and I look forward to working in new areas of the museum in July.

Thank you  Rachel.  We look forward to seeing you again later in the year.

The Art of Stonehenge

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Archaeology, Museum, Stonehenge, Wessex, Wiltshire

A new exhibition opens on Saturday 20 May: The Art of Stonehenge.  This is designed to complement the major exhibition, British Art, Ancient Landscapes, and allows the museum to display its probably unique collection of paintings on the subject.

The exhibitions continue to be supported by talks and other activities.  You may be interested in Ancient Landscapes Through the Lens, a guided photographic walk to Breamore with David Walker and Peter  Norton on Tuesday 23 May (see earlier blog). There is a further such adventure on Tuesday 20 June, this time a photographic walk to Fyfield, again with David and Peter. There are are limited places on these walks so booking is essential.

See also Rock Art: Prehistoric Art in the Prehistoric Landscape, a talk by Professor Richard Bradley scheduled for Thursday 25 May at 6.30pm (booking advised £10).

Don’t forget ArchFest17 (The Salisbury Museum Festival of Archaeology 21 to 23 July): full details, and tickets now available on-line here.

British Art: Ancient Landscapes (April 8 2017 – September 3 2017)

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Archaeology, Museum, News, Salisbury, Stonehenge, Visitors, Volunteers

A first visit to this exhibition is a delightful surprise. Apart from anything else, there is such variety – Stonehenge on everything from photographs to phone cards! And for those of us of a certain age, those wonderful Shell posters of yesteryear…..

A favourite? Perhaps John Constable’s tiny, exquisite, pencil sketch but it will take a few visits to make a final decision.

As I write, there are considerable numbers of visitors in the galleries and great Volunteers looking after them.

There are a number of talks and events associated with this exhibition. Notice ‘Ancient Landscapes Through the Lens: A guided photographers walk to Breamore’ led by David Walker and Peter Norton on 23 May 10am – noon. For details, click here.

 Photo courtesy of David Walker

 

 

Going out and About with Salisbury Museum

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Archaeology, Chalke Valley History Festival, Children's activities, Heritage Lottery Fund, Salisbury Museum, Stonehenge, Volunteering

Throughout the year Salisbury Museum and a number of volunteers have been busy promoting the museum and publicising the new Wessex gallery at various community events, along with the museum’s own activities programme. I have been talking to a couple of volunteers who have been helping out at various events over the summer, and with Salisbury Museum’s new Volunteer Coordinator Bridget Telfer.

“Salisbury Museum has had a stall at seven different community events across Wiltshire over the summer to help publicise the museum and the new archaeology galleries. These events have been a brilliant way to meet lots of new people and engage them in what the Museum is doing – at most of the events we have had a ‘Guess the mystery object quiz’ which has proved popular with all age ranges (featuring such objects as a Roman roof tile and Roman strigil for scraping oil off the skin) as well as a ‘make and take’ activity for children.”

‘Guess the mystery object quiz’ table

“On 29th and 30th June we had a stall at the Chalke Valley History Festival where on the Sunday we displayed the Scout Car and visitors got a chance to sit in it for a small fee!” – Bridget Telfer, Volunteer Coordinator.

Salisbury Museum stall at the Chalke Valley History Festival

Children taking part in craft activities at the Salisbury Museum stall at the Chalke Valley History Festival.

Director Adrian Green showing a young girl objects from the museum’s collection

As part of the Chalke Valley History Festival Salisbury Museum Director Adrian Green also took part in a discussion of the findings from the ‘Digging for History’ archaeological dig that took place in the Chalke Valley two weeks before the festival. The dig took the form of a series of test pits on the site of a deserted medieval village between the villages of Alvediston and Berwick St John, and was undertaken by a group of leading archaeologists and volunteers from the Chalke Valley. At the festival Adrian and the principle archaeologists discussed the findings, revealing some of the rich history of the Chalke Valley’s past.

You may also have seen the museum’s stall in Salisbury city centre over the summer. The stall proved very successful for getting information to parents about the various family activities that the museum runs during the school holidays and throughout the year for those below school age.

“I spent most of my time accosting mums with young children saying ‘do you know about our under-five Fridays?’, ‘do you know about our children’s activities?’, and just handing out the information to them…[we] got a really good response from most of them. A lot of them didn’t necessarily know [that the museum had regular family activities].” – Mary Crane, Volunteer.

The museum has hosted a wide range of events over the summer holidays for children and families, involving arts and crafts, storytelling, role play and much more! On Wednesday 31st July the museum had two eccentric Victorian antiquarians in the museum on a quest to unravel the mysteries of Stonehenge. Volunteers Emma Mellor and Mary Crane helped out at the event and have been telling me a bit more about it and what they did:

Victorian Ladies from the ‘Wessex Wednesday: Secrets of the Stones’ Event

“There were these two Victorian ladies who turned up and they were basically talking about the archaeology of Stonehenge, but one of them was pretending to be totally ignorant and coming forward with all the outmoded theories that used to be propagated about Stonehenge; the other one was trying to correct her. They did a short talk, just the two of them, almost in conversation, and the one who was wrong was talking to the audience the whole time. It was actually quite funny… At one stage we also had a group with learning disabilities in, and some of them could really see the funny side to it, which was great.”– Mary Crane, Volunteer.

“Depending on who the audience was they had different activities, like measuring with the plumb-bob; [I also helped the smaller children] with colouring; and I did a bit of object handling. [There was also] a memory game where they threw a cover over a selection of archaeologists tools, and then took one away.” – Emma Mellor.

Mary Crane has also been helping out with the museum’s monthly ‘Under 5’s Fridays’ activities, which are craft based sessions for under-fives and their parents or carers.

“They made a big treasure chest and [the children and parents] made precious objects to put in it. So they were using cut up straws to make necklaces and bracelets, and they were using aluminium foil to make little goblets…There was some rather nice tubes to make telescopes. It was just a craft morning really. But of course what comes out of it is all the chat around what they’re doing…It’s a way of getting people into the museum, and feeling at home in the museum as much as anything really.” – Mary Crane, Volunteer.

The ‘Under-5’s Fridays’ run throughout the year and offer parents, grandparents or carers looking after young children an opportunity to chat with other mums and dads and do fun activities with their little ones. To find out more about the various activities and events on offer go to the ‘What’s On’ page at the Salisbury Museum website – http://www.salisburymuseum.org.uk/whats-on.

A Little Bit of Background

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Anglo-Saxons, DCMS, English Heritage, Garfield Weston Foundation, Heritage Lottery Fund, Linbury Trust, Old Sarum, Pitt Rivers Wessex Collection, Salisbury Museum, Stonehenge, Stonehenge Visitor Centre, Stonehenge World Heritage Site, Wessex, Wiltshire Heritage Museum, Wolfson Fund

In this post I thought I should give a little bit of background into the redevelopment of the archaeology galleries and how it fits into the future of the museum. In a previous post I mentioned that the new Wessex Gallery is the first part of a major redevelopment that will eventually see Salisbury Museum transformed. Salisbury Museum will be gradually updating all of their galleries and improving accessibility, over the next ten to fifteen years.

The redevelopment of the museum as a whole has been in the planning for several years and the archaeology galleries (with their designated collections of outstanding national importance) were quickly identified as a key area for updating.  In 2008, when the process began, it was common knowledge among museum staff and the board of trustees that the archaeology galleries were out of date in terms of academic information and appearance.

Display case from the Pitt Rivers Gallery

Remains and pot from a beaker burial displayed in the old Pitt Rivers Gallery.

Early Man Gallery in the mid-80s

Both The Early Man Gallery and The Pitt Rivers Gallery had been designed in the 1970s by Robin Wade and Pat Read. Although innovative at the time of construction, the galleries had become oppressive, confusing, and inaccessible to many visitors. The colours in the galleries were dark, and the materials were looking worn. They were perceived as a space reserved for academic intrigue and enquiry, rather than a place of interest and enjoyment for all types of audiences – which the new archaeology gallery aims to be!

In contrast, The Stonehenge Gallery that was designed in 2001 took a less academic approach. The target audience of the gallery was families, and displays included a number of interactives that had become worn, outdated or broken.

Display in Stonehenge Gallery

‘The Changing Faces of Stonehenge’ in the Stonehenge Gallery

The differences in approach between the three galleries were confusing to visitors. People frequently missed viewing parts of the museum’s collections because displays were either thought too academic or too family orientated.

The new Wessex Gallery (which replaces these three previous galleries) is due to open late Spring 2014 and will become a space of discovery and investigation for all visitors, both young and old. Visitors will discover Anglo-Saxons, Romans, the beaker people and those who lived during the creation of Stonehenge as they are taken back through time, starting with William the Conqueror at Old Sarum and ending in the deep prehistory of Wessex.

Salisbury Museum has been working in partnership with English Heritage and Wiltshire Heritage Museum to develop an integrated approach to the interpretation of Stonehenge. Whether visiting the new Stonehenge Visitor Centre, Wiltshire Heritage Museum in Devizes, or Salisbury Museum, visitors will discover a different aspect of Stonehenge.

The creation of the new archaeology gallery was made possible by a grant of nearly £1.8 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The total cost for the new gallery will be £2.4 million. The remaining funds have been raised through grants and donations from trusts and foundations, including major grants from English Heritage, the Linbury Trust, DCMS/Wolfson Fund, and the Garfield Weston Foundation – a complete list of funders can be found on the museum’s website: (http://www.salisburymuseum.org.uk/about-us/archaeology-wessex-gallery).

Keep an eye on the website for news of further museum developments!