A Bookworm Transmogrified...

So much for the economic recovery...

There's more demand for archaeological contractors, which means more fieldwork.  I'm scheduled to be out on site this coming Friday and on Monday (which means I probably won't make it to the Writers' Group...) and my desk is rapidly becoming inundated with files, site drawings, scribbled notes and context sheets. 

Archaeology generates an enormous amount of associated clutter.  One or two sites to deal with at once is reasonable, but I'm now juggling four of the things.  I must admit, though, that I'm getting back into the swing of things as far as fieldwork's concerned.  It's easy to get lazy when you're used to life in the office.  But when the weather's nice, it's rather pleasant to be out in the field.

Only trouble is, we're fast approaching the sneezing season...  Ah well, every silver cloud has its thorns.  Perhaps archaeology wasn't an ideal career choice for a hayfever sufferer!

A Bookworm Transmogrified...

So much for the economic recovery...

There's more demand for archaeological contractors, which means more fieldwork.  I'm scheduled to be out on site this coming Friday and on Monday (which means I probably won't make it to the Writers' Group...) and my desk is rapidly becoming inundated with files, site drawings, scribbled notes and context sheets. 

Archaeology generates an enormous amount of associated clutter.  One or two sites to deal with at once is reasonable, but I'm now juggling four of the things.  I must admit, though, that I'm getting back into the swing of things as far as fieldwork's concerned.  It's easy to get lazy when you're used to life in the office.  But when the weather's nice, it's rather pleasant to be out in the field.

Only trouble is, we're fast approaching the sneezing season...  Ah well, every silver cloud has its thorns.  Perhaps archaeology wasn't an ideal career choice for a hayfever sufferer!

Dire News From Cumbria...

My thoughts tonight go to the residents (both permanent and temporary) of Cumbria.  It's the last place you'd expect a mass murderer to be running amok, but then that's usually the case, isn't it?

Why is it these losers can't just cut out the middleman and turn the gun on themselves first, without involving all these poor innocents who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?? 

Hungerford, Dumblane, Whitehaven.  Another place name is etched in collective folk memory.  For all the wrong reasons...

Dire News From Cumbria...

My thoughts tonight go to the residents (both permanent and temporary) of Cumbria.  It's the last place you'd expect a mass murderer to be running amok, but then that's usually the case, isn't it?

Why is it these losers can't just cut out the middleman and turn the gun on themselves first, without involving all these poor innocents who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?? 

Hungerford, Dumblane, Whitehaven.  Another place name is etched in collective folk memory.  For all the wrong reasons...

Cupmarked Rocks - Minoan Style!

I refuse to leave my nightly blogging session on a dismal note, so I'm going to return to Crete and the Minoans...

Malia was the first Minoan site I visited, and I'd barely ventured onto the site when something very strange and yet oddly familiar caught my eye:-

Those of you familiar with British archaeology will hopefully be well-versed with prehistoric rock art.  No,I'm not talking about the album covers gracing ancient recordings of Fred Flintstone covering Rolling Stones songs (with Dino on backing vocals...), but the cupmarks and cup-and-ring marks that grace rocky outcrops in isolated places throughout western Scotland and Northumberland. 

When I looked at this rock,  with its pecked out 'cups',  I thought of our indigenous cupmarked stones, though this is obviously very different in that its cupmarked are so beautifully arranged.  Further investigation revealed that it was in fact a feature known as a kernos. 

These objects are thought to be little altars.  Offerings of grain or liquid might be left in the 'cups'.  Were different cups used for different substances (olive oil, grain, bull's blood, or whatever...) or was each individual cup used by a different family or community?  Who knows!  But they certainly crop up everywhere.

Malia has another beautiful example which unfortunately I didn't manage to photograph.  Imagine a perfectly circular stone, a bit like a small millstone, laid out with similar, though more perfectly executed, cupmarkings to those shown on the kernos I've featured above.  And lurking in the Minoan town of Gornia, another small example lurks near one of the entrances.  It almost looks like it's been reused, but there's various other 'special' features in the vicinity which suggest that this small cupmarked stone has, once again, a (dare I say it!) 'ritual' role:-

I didn't find one at Knossos, but I'm sure there must have been one hiding somewhere on the site...

Cupmarked Rocks - Minoan Style!

I refuse to leave my nightly blogging session on a dismal note, so I'm going to return to Crete and the Minoans...

Malia was the first Minoan site I visited, and I'd barely ventured onto the site when something very strange and yet oddly familiar caught my eye:-

Those of you familiar with British archaeology will hopefully be well-versed with prehistoric rock art.  No,I'm not talking about the album covers gracing ancient recordings of Fred Flintstone covering Rolling Stones songs (with Dino on backing vocals...), but the cupmarks and cup-and-ring marks that grace rocky outcrops in isolated places throughout western Scotland and Northumberland. 

When I looked at this rock,  with its pecked out 'cups',  I thought of our indigenous cupmarked stones, though this is obviously very different in that its cupmarked are so beautifully arranged.  Further investigation revealed that it was in fact a feature known as a kernos. 

These objects are thought to be little altars.  Offerings of grain or liquid might be left in the 'cups'.  Were different cups used for different substances (olive oil, grain, bull's blood, or whatever...) or was each individual cup used by a different family or community?  Who knows!  But they certainly crop up everywhere.

Malia has another beautiful example which unfortunately I didn't manage to photograph.  Imagine a perfectly circular stone, a bit like a small millstone, laid out with similar, though more perfectly executed, cupmarkings to those shown on the kernos I've featured above.  And lurking in the Minoan town of Gornia, another small example lurks near one of the entrances.  It almost looks like it's been reused, but there's various other 'special' features in the vicinity which suggest that this small cupmarked stone has, once again, a (dare I say it!) 'ritual' role:-

I didn't find one at Knossos, but I'm sure there must have been one hiding somewhere on the site...