House and Garden

[endlessrarities]

It was an exciting day on the acquisitions front.  Two things arrived - in a manner of speaking.

The first was a book I ordered a few weeks back from a secondhand book shop.  The catalogue came through about three weeks ago, and I was on tenterhooks because I couldn't afford it until I got paid, and then I had to wait until I came back from holiday.  So when I phoned to order it, it was with bated breath, because...  In all seriousness, I have been waiting twenty years to get hold of this book.

It's called Equus: The Horse in the Roman World, and it's written by Ann Hyland, who if I remember right is an archaeologist or historian and a horse-rider who's carried out exhaustive research into horse-riding, horse-breeding etc. in the Roman World, even down to recreating Roman techniques of horsemanship on her own (extremely p****d-off, because let's face it, the Romans weren't really into humane horse management techniques...) Arab steed.

I read snatches of this book, which came out in the early 90s, in the local university bookshop and couldn't ever find the cash to buy it.  Squire was ailing at the time, and I was spending a small fortune on drugs for him, and my book-buying budget tending to focus on Bronze Age metalwork because, let's face it, that's what I was studying, and once again it was a race to get hold of as many out-of-print secondhand books as possible before the prices got hiked. 

So it slipped through the net...

I have now purchased this book, which got to delivered to...  The office.  Which I will not be visiting for another fortnight, because I'm still stationed at the ordnance factory...   Aarrgh!!  (You would think that after waiting twenty odd years, I'd be happy to wait another couple of weeks...)

It's not even as if I'm going to start reading it any time soon.  The 'To Read' list is diminishing, but it's still an imposing stack.  My current reading matter is Curiosities of British Archaeology, a 1961 volume by Ronald Jessup.  This was a book that I stumbled across in a secondhand bookshop and thought, Must Have: I'd stumbled across Jessup's august volume The Archaeology of Kent (yes, it does exactly what it says on the box...) previously, so I was interested to see just what Jessup classed as an archaeological curiosity.

It has not been disappointing.  I read the following excerpt out to my colleagues to entertain them one lunch hour (Jessup had himself quoted it from Archaeological Excavation, by J. P. Droop (1915, Cambridge Uni Press):

' By way of epilogue I may perhaps venture a short word on the question much discussed in certain quarters, whether in the work of excavation it is a good thing to have cooperation between men and women.  I have no intention of discussing whether or no women poess the qualities best suited for such work: opinions, I believe, vary on the point, but I have never seen a trained lady excavator at work, so that my view if expressed would be valueless.  Of a mixed dig, however, I have seen something, and it is an experiment I would be reluctant to try again.  I would grant if need be that women are admirably suited for the work, yet I would uphold that they should undertake it by themselves.

My reasons are twofold...  In the first place there are the proprieties... not only of those that rule in England or America, but those of the lands where it is proposed to dig...  the work on an excavator on the dig and off lays on those who share in it a bond of closer daily intercourse than is conceivable...  between men and women, except in chance cases, I do not believe that such close and unavoidable companionship can ever be other than a source of irritation; at any rate I believe that however it may affect women, the ordinary male at least cannot stand it... mixed digging I think means loss of easiness in the atmosphere and consequent loss of efficiency.  A minor...  objection lies in one particular form of constraint... moments will occur on the best regulated dig when you want to say just what you think without translation, which before the ladies, whatever their feelings about it, cannot be done.' (Curiosities of British Archaeology, ed. Jessup, R, 1951, Phillimore, p. 27).

This caused much hilarity amongst my mixed team of archaeologists, who really can't understand what the f**k he's talking about!!!  How times change, eh??

Oh, I almost forgot...  The second acquisition was a consignment of penstemmon ordered from Hayloft Plants late last season, when they couldn't be shifted.  I now have thirteen bustling little penstemmon plants to find homes for somewhere in the garden, which is terribly exciting, because I lost most of my penstemmon plants the winter before last. 

You know?  The joy of a) ordering so many plants, and b) planting them somewhere means that you never quite know what you've got growing in your garden.  I keep stumbling across things and thinking, oh, did I really buy that?  How exciting!  Can't wait for it to flower!!  almost every other week.


 

Comments

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

We have a copy of the Hyland (you might have guessed :o) and it is an amazing book.

Ronald's brother Frank taught at the school where I was unfortunate enough to spend the years normally devoted to education. He was a keen amateur archaeologist himself.

The male of the species voicing the usual fear- if we were 'allowed' to do such things (take military history for example :o) we'd probably prove to be embarrasingly good at it! :o)

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

I remember seeing the photos of her using that savage bit on her horse, and the distinctly uncomfortable and uneasy expression on its face.

Do you know if she wrote The Horse in The Ancient World? The Boss has got it in his library, but I couldn't remember who'd written the Roman one at the time...

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

It's in the back of my mind that she did, but I'm not absolutely certain!

[xjenavivex.livejournal.com]

I can't wait for more pictures of the surprises.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

I will indeed post photos of the surprises...

In fact, I can feel a garden post coming on. If the weather allows it...

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

I once was involved in an incredibly tedious online discussion about horse harness and whether the horse collar was truly a medieval invention. I believe Hyland was invoked with regularity. Congratulations on scoring your own copy.

If you've waited twenty years to own a copy, I don't imagine that another fortnight will kill you.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Just so long as the office doesn't burn down in the intervening period. Though I think I'd be weeping and wailing and gnashing my teeth over some rather more important things should such a terrible misfortune occur - like two Bronze Age food vessels, four collared urns, and a hugely significant collection of Grooved Ware. Not to mention a massive assemblage of clay tobacco pipes and pottery waste from a major Glasgow factory, and various smaller medieval assemblages. And the hoard of porcelain dog kennels that we're storing for another commercial unit.

Compared with all that, one copy of Hyland would be meaningless...

Which reminds me... I bet I'll have a whole load of Treasure Trove stuff to deal with once I FINALLY get back to the office.

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

That quote is an absolute classic - archaeology as a snapshot of social history...

Possibly it reveals that archaeologists at that period were all public school boys, deeply uncomfortable in the presence of women?

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

I think that's a reasonable deduction!!