News

Sharing The Past: Archaeology In Bristol

Saturday 18 February 2012 at M Shed, Wapping Wharf, Bristol, 10:00AM - 4:30PM. Bristol Threatened History Society (BTHS) and Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives are hosting a joint symposium to celebrate the opening of M Shed, Bristol's new flagship city history museum. Please join us for a series of presentations that highlight some of the most exciting archaeological discoveries and projects of the past year. Meet community archaeological groups, active in Bristol and beyond and explore historic maps and images on the award winning Know Your Place website. Tickets available from Mike Ponsford, 12 Seymour Road, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 9HR @ £12 each (cheques payable to BTHS)

M SHED

M Shed, the new Museum of Bristol on Princes Wharf, finally opened its doors, to carefully orchestrated jubilation, on 17 June. There are a number of positive things that should be said about M Shed. The museum staff involved must firstly be congratulated on the enormous amount of hard work they have put into populating an empty building with thousands of exhibits in less than six months. A wide range of interesting objects, paintings and documents is on display. While the emphasis is on recent social history, many medieval objects are on show, as well as some key Roman finds from Sea Mills and Brislington and even a tiny amount of prehistoric material (the latter tucked away in comers and easily missed !!). There are some impressive architectural items such as the Spicer's Hall doorway and a newly conserved baroque wall painting from a demolished house in Queen Square. A big plus is that all the exhibits have proper labels, so that one is not forced to resort to unreliable touch-screens for information. So far the new museum appears to be popular with the general public; it is often packed with visitors, particularly at weekends. The serious "Bristologist" must however question how far it fulfils its aim of "telling the story of Bristol". Following current museological fashion the displays are arranged thematically rather than chronologically, under the broad headings of Places, People & Life. As a result the "story" is confused and fragmented; apart from a sequence of maps in the Places gallery one gets little sense of the city's overall development. Many of the display cases seem at first sight to contain an unrelated jumble of objects; small archaeological items such as brooches & coins come out badly in this type of (non) arrangement, being literally overshadowed by larger & showier objects of recent date. In retrospect a straightforward chronological layout, with thematic subdivisions appropriate to each period, would have been more logical, informative and easier to plan. It would seem however that tried & trusted methods of display governed by logic and common sense have little appeal either for the current novelty-obsessed generation of museum managers, or for the distributors of lottery largesse. M Shed is open daily from 10.00AM to 5.00PM (admission free).

OBITUARY - PHILIP RAHTZ 1921-2011

Philip Rahtz, who died on 2 June 2011 aged 90, was one of the leading British field archaeologists of his generation. He had strong local connections; born in Cotham in March 1921 he was baptised in St Matthew's Church (the present BAAS meeting place) and educated at Bristol Grammar School, where his record was undistinguished. During the 1940's he made abortive attempts at careers in accountancy, professional photography ("Studio Rahtz") and teaching, as well as enduring a lengthy spell of wartime service in the RAF, before turning to archaeology. His nascent interest in the subject was fostered by his wartime friendship with another budding archaeologist, Ernest Greenfield.
Between 1953 &, 1955 Rahtz & Greenfield were employed by the then Ministry of Works to excavate prehistoric, Roman & medieval sites threatened by the Chew Valley Lake. Thereafter, until 1963, Rahtz continued working for the MOW on a freelance "consultancy" basis, carrying out rescue excavations on threatened sites up and down the country. Almost entirely self-taught, he nevertheless quickly developed formidable technical expertise, as well as learning how to produce well structured and illustrated reports on his work. Rahtz was rightly proud of his publication record, which was one of the best in the profession.
During his long career Rahtz excavated well over 50 sites, including several abroad. In Bristol alone he worked on St Mary Le Port church, the town wall in Baldwin St., the Iron Age settlements on Kings Weston & Blaise Castle hills and a Roman coin counterfeiting site in Whitchurch. He will however probably be best remembered for his major series of excavations of Early Medieval sites in Somerset - Cadbury/ Congresbury, Glastonbury Tor, the Early Christian cemetery at Cannington and the Anglo-Saxon & medieval palaces at Cheddar.
In 1963, despite his then lack of formal academic qualifications, Rahtz's prowess as an excavator secured him a lecturing post at Birmingham University, whence he was translated in 1978 to a professorship at York. He remained at York until his retirement in 1986, introducing innovative teaching techniques and developing his interest in archaeological theory.
It is no secret that Rahtz enjoyed a "colourful" personal life, which came close to rivalling that of Sir Mortimer Wheeler; he was twice married with six children, fathering a son by his second wife and archaeological collaborator Lorna Watts at the advanced age of 70. His earthy personality was matched by a robust sense of humour, perhaps best represented by his "Invitation to Archaology" (1985), an entertaining introductory text regarded in some quarters as unduly frivolous in tone. Rahtz never lost his conviction that archaeology should be an exciting & enjoyable activity, and was always happy to share his enthusiasm & expertise with local groups. In the 1960's he gave valuable support to the fledgling Bristol Archaeological Research Group, contributing to several early BARG publications; until recently he was still carrying out fieldwork with local societies near his retirement home in North Yorkshire.

NEW C14 DATES FROM DARK AGE NORTH SOMERSET

Somerset in the Ages of Arthur & Alfred (400 - 900AD) is an exciting new project being sponsored by the Somerset Archaeological & Natural History Society. It aims to shed new light on the Early Medieval period in Somerset by obtaining fresh radiocarbon dates from the many cemeteries of the period known from the historic county. Results have so far been obtained from two sites in North Somerset - Winthill near Banwell and St Mary's Primary School, Portbury. At Winthill an extensive Roman settlement marked by upstanding earthworks was subjected to sporadic excavation by local groups in the 1950's &-6&'s. A number of burials were found cut into the Roman levels; while much of the skeletal material has been lost a small quantity has survived in Axbridge Museum. This has now yielded two C14 dates – 430 - 610AD & 660 - 810AD - suggesting a long period of use for the cemetery. At Portbury School a cemetery of 15 burials was excavated by the Avon Archaeological Unit in 2004-5. They included a "mass grave" containing the remains of three young men, two of which bore evidence of sword wounds. Four C14 dates (three of them from the "mass grave") have now been obtained, all falling within the period 530-685AD. The Portbury site offers considerable scope for further research, and it is to be hoped that full publication will become possible soon. (Source - SAHNS News 83 (Spring 2011) 2-4).

COMMUNITY ARCHAEOLOGY UPDATE
(1) THE SEA MILLS PROJECT.