Archaeology 2010!
I am still on a high from Archaeology 2010, the two-day Current Archaeology conference held in February. This year’s event, the third, was a spectacular success, not least because of its venue – the modern conference facilities under the Great Hall at the British Museum. But what makes this gathering so very special is the chance for professionals and amateurs to rub shoulders, and also for the readers of both this magazine and Current Archaeology to meet all the archaeologists. As always, there was a rich diet of things Roman, both in Britain and further afield, a favorite topic among the attendees. Yet there was so much else as well – presentations on climate change, on underwater archaeology and its relationship to treasure hunting, on heritage projects, human evolution, and Manchester steam- and water-powered cotton mills, to say nothing of all the latest on Stonehenge. And where else would one hear a fascinating presentation by an amateur archaeologist on Roman coin molds? His enthusiasm was truly infectious! This has become one of my favourite archaeological gatherings, for it gives me a chance to connect with a much wider archaeological community. Furthermore, the standard of the presentations was exceptionally high, which was a welcome change from many professional meetings.
Doozy mystery
Talk about mysteries: Jamestown, Virginia, has turned up a doozy – a slate tablet covered with words, symbols, numbers, also drawings of plants and people. The tablet came from a well built in the centre of the fort in 1609 that became a trash pit after the water went bad during the following winter. Complete tablets are rare survivals, for they were commonly used for composing music and writing practice, then usually broken or thrown away. This example measures 13cm by 20cm, with practically illegible handwriting on both sides. High-resolution digital photographs have enhanced the images, originally made with a lead pencil, and then erased. Fortunately, the sharp point left indelible scratches of what is often called ‘secretary hand’, a commonly used form of cursive script. So far, the words Abraham and book and some individual letters have been identified. There are also two symbols that appear similar to a phonetic Algonquian alphabet invented by Elizabethan scientist Thomas Hariot in 1585 while at the unsuccessful Roanoke Island colony, also in Virginia. Perhaps the Jamestown settlers had copies of a bilingual English-Algonquian dictionary with them.
William Kelso, the doyen of Jamestown archaeologists, believes the tablet may have belonged to William Strachey, the first secretary of the colony. He had legal training, so he would have known secretary hand. Strachey was among 140 settlers aboard the Sea Venture in 1609, cast ashore in Bermuda on their way to Virginia. The castaways built two new ships and arrived safely at Jamestown in 1610, in time to save the colony. Intriguingly, the tablet bears a palmetto tree and what may be a cahow, a rare sea bird that nests in Bermuda and nowhere else. Also strengthening the Strachey connection: drawings of rampant lions, used in the English coat-of-arms of King James I (reign. 1603-1625), such as might appear on government and armorial drawings familiar to someone trained in the law. In the coming months, all the majestic panoply of analytical science will come to bear on this unique find.
Excavating Glasgow and Edinburgh