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Logboat Sterns
In reply to Paul Townson’s letter in issue 413, I am surprised he did not pick the most obvious explanation for the use of stern transom boards in prehistoric log boats: heart rot.
Heart rot is very common in the base of old standing hardwood trees, and creating a logboat from the resulting partly hollow log would certainly involve a lot less work. There would be comparatively little additional work involved in forming the separate transom.
I would hazard a guess that our ancestors might even have been canny enough to look for the presence of bracket fungi, indicating possible heart rot, before choosing a tree to be felled.
Phil Siddall, Isle of Mull
Blue Plaques
I share Chris Catling’s views in CA 413’s ‘Sherds’ on the proliferation of blue plaques, but I think the late Sir Terry Pratchett had a suitable comment on them, as seen on the wall of the Ankh-Morpork Consulate in Wincanton.
Peter Wright, Yeovil
Edible Archaeology
A Roman coin hoard appeared in Yeovil, and disappeared just as quickly. The reason was the 70th birthday of Yeovil Archaeological and Local History Society. One member commissioned a celebratory cake in the shape of the hoard of Roman coins discovered by digger-driver Mark Copsey under Yeovil Recreation Ground in 2013. Local baker Sam Carnie of Art in Icing recreated the find in superb detail, with the coins even reproducing some of the detail of their Roman originals. The design included a perfect replica of the Yeovil Torc, a 4,000-year-old gold neck-ring that is the finest piece of Bronze Age gold in the Museum of Somerset’s collections. To complete the picture Sam was able to make a little trowel in icing (a trowel is part of the Society’s logo). The cake was a surprise for members when they held their Annual General Meeting. The Society has done much to uncover and study Yeovil’s past, and produces an annual journal: Chronicle. New members are always welcome. For more, visit http://www.yalhs.org.uk.
Tina Rowe, Yeovil Archaeological and Local History Society committee member
CA ONLINE: What you shared with us this month
Athelstan Museum @MuseumAthelstan
Great to see that the Big Athelstan Dig, part of Athelstan1100, features in @CurrentArchaeo this month. And thanks to @CotswoldArch for their support with the event.
Ann Clarke @annclarkerocks
Excellent review in @CurrentArchaeo by Dr Colleen Batey of the @NessofBrodgar exhibition in Orkney Museum and accompanying book.
Cotswold Archaeology @CotswoldArch
The industry that built Roman #Cirencester. We’re on the front cover, no less… BrandiersKilnProject.
Write to us at: CA Letters, Current Publishing, Office 120, 295 Chiswick High Road, London, W4 4HH, or by email to: letters@archaeology.co.uk. For publication: 300 words max; letters may be edited.
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