Beware of The Trees!

You may not be aware that a severe weather alert was issued for the west of Scotland over the weekend, warning of 70-80mph gusts on Monday which may cause structural damage to buildings and topple trees.  Evidently the Jetstream is throwing a wobbly (almost literally, because it's got a kink in it right over Scotland) and as a result we're just getting one Atlantic storm after another dumped on top of us almost continually.  Driving has been rather treacherous as a result - it's been like playing a game of Frogger, driving along dodging fallen branches, watching out for unstable trees and avoiding other cars...

But everything relative.  A few fallen trees aren't much to complain about, particularly when you compare that level of damage with the loss of life and property that's been caused by the brute of a tornado that's just hit Missouri...

We finished at the munitions factory today and decanted everything back to the office.  I had a nice surprise when I found that someone had left an iron object on my desk for my inspection.  The finder has decided that it's a medieval arrowhead, and while it certainly looks the part, it seems a little on the heavy side to be aerodynamic.  I shall have to do some serious reading up on arrowheads, just to see what the size and weight range should be - what's interesting is that its context checks out nicely.  It was recovered from Kilwinning Abbey, which has been the scene of an archery competition since at least the early 17th century.   I'd guess this stray find represents the remains of an arrow broken in a archery competition of yore...  Whether it's medieval or not is a different matter entirely.  All I can say is watch this space...

My role as finds person seems to have been usurped in my absence by a lucky colleague.  I found  him helping a school placement doing some finds work today, recording and cataloguing some carved slates.  I was shown a carved 'lion'  identified on one of the slates, but unfortunately I wasn't impressed.  If it was a medieval craftsman's work, I'd say to the fellow in question, 'get yourself a new day job'.  What seems more likely is that some wag has carved a doodle on a handy piece of slate in the very recent past.  Again, watch this space.  I may learn that hopeless medieval carvings are de rigeur on Scots monastic sites of the 14th century.  At the moment, I remain extremely skeptical.

And....  I FINALLY GOT MY BOOK!!!  I am now the very proud owner of Ann Hyland's Equus:  The Horse in the Roman World.  Which will be added to my 'To Read' pile, and which I may get around to reading some time in 2014...

To celebrate, here are some pretty pictures of horses in the Roman World.

As depicted in statues (this one's from Herculaneum):-

 

On frescoes (this example features Victory aboard a chariot):-

 

And in bronzes:-

 

So it's back to normality, after what feels like months spent in exile away from the office.  And now my desk is surrounded by a sea of paperwork - we have recorded 364 buildings in all, and scored off somewhere between 411 and 446 in total. 

No wonder I'm exhausted!

Beware of The Trees!

You may not be aware that a severe weather alert was issued for the west of Scotland over the weekend, warning of 70-80mph gusts on Monday which may cause structural damage to buildings and topple trees.  Evidently the Jetstream is throwing a wobbly (almost literally, because it's got a kink in it right over Scotland) and as a result we're just getting one Atlantic storm after another dumped on top of us almost continually.  Driving has been rather treacherous as a result - it's been like playing a game of Frogger, driving along dodging fallen branches, watching out for unstable trees and avoiding other cars...

But everything relative.  A few fallen trees aren't much to complain about, particularly when you compare that level of damage with the loss of life and property that's been caused by the brute of a tornado that's just hit Missouri...

We finished at the munitions factory today and decanted everything back to the office.  I had a nice surprise when I found that someone had left an iron object on my desk for my inspection.  The finder has decided that it's a medieval arrowhead, and while it certainly looks the part, it seems a little on the heavy side to be aerodynamic.  I shall have to do some serious reading up on arrowheads, just to see what the size and weight range should be - what's interesting is that its context checks out nicely.  It was recovered from Kilwinning Abbey, which has been the scene of an archery competition since at least the early 17th century.   I'd guess this stray find represents the remains of an arrow broken in a archery competition of yore...  Whether it's medieval or not is a different matter entirely.  All I can say is watch this space...

My role as finds person seems to have been usurped in my absence by a lucky colleague.  I found  him helping a school placement doing some finds work today, recording and cataloguing some carved slates.  I was shown a carved 'lion'  identified on one of the slates, but unfortunately I wasn't impressed.  If it was a medieval craftsman's work, I'd say to the fellow in question, 'get yourself a new day job'.  What seems more likely is that some wag has carved a doodle on a handy piece of slate in the very recent past.  Again, watch this space.  I may learn that hopeless medieval carvings are de rigeur on Scots monastic sites of the 14th century.  At the moment, I remain extremely skeptical.

And....  I FINALLY GOT MY BOOK!!!  I am now the very proud owner of Ann Hyland's Equus:  The Horse in the Roman World.  Which will be added to my 'To Read' pile, and which I may get around to reading some time in 2014...

To celebrate, here are some pretty pictures of horses in the Roman World.

As depicted in statues (this one's from Herculaneum):-

 

On frescoes (this example features Victory aboard a chariot):-

 

And in bronzes:-

 

So it's back to normality, after what feels like months spent in exile away from the office.  And now my desk is surrounded by a sea of paperwork - we have recorded 364 buildings in all, and scored off somewhere between 411 and 446 in total. 

No wonder I'm exhausted!