Artefact - University of Southampton

Artefact
Newsletter for Archaeology at Southampton | Summer 2012
Welcome back
Prof. Gamble
A computer generated image of the
Roman ship-yard (Grant Cox, ACRG)
Roman shipyard revealed
by Southampton
archaeologists
University of Southampton archaeologists in collaboration with the British School at Rome
believe they have discovered a large Roman shipyard at Portus, the ancient port of Rome.
The team has uncovered the remains of a massive building close to the distinctive hexagonal
harbour at the centre of the port complex. At first thought to be a warehouse, the latest
excavations have revealed its earlier use connected to the building and maintenance of ships.
This is an important discovery since few Roman Imperial shipyards have been discovered. It is
also the largest of its kind in Italy or the Mediterranean. The huge building dates from the 2nd
century AD and would have covered an area larger than a football pitch. This vast structure
could have housed wood, canvas and other supplies and was certainly large enough to build or
shelter ships in.
Prof. Simon Keay, who leads the ‘Portus Project’, was recently awarded a grant of £640,000
from the Arts and Humanities Research Council to support this latest phase of excavation.
Geophysicists from the University of Southampton and the British School at Rome have
also been making geophysical surveys of the area around the building, while members of
Southampton’s Archaeological Computing Research Group, led by Dr Graeme Earl, have
created a computer graphic simulation of how it appeared and may have been used.
The international team is planning further investigations at Portus to find out more about this
fascinating and highly significant site, which holds an enormous amount of information about
the activities and trade of Rome.
www.portusproject.org/index.shtml
Archaeology at Southampton is delighted
to welcome the return of one of the
world’s leading experts on human
origins and the evolution of human
society. Prof. Clive Gamble has joined
the Department from Royal Holloway,
University of London, where he was
a co-director of the hugely important
British Academy Centenary Project
‘From Lucy to Language: the archaeology
of the social brain’. He is the author
of numerous books, including Origins
and Revolutions, Archaeology: the basics
and Timewalkers: the prehistory of global
colonization. Clive is far from a dry and
dusty academic, being well known for
his engaging and provocative lecturing
style, generally laced with some very fine
humour! His presence in Southampton
provides a significant boost to the Centre
for the Archaeology of Human Origins
(CAHO), which Clive originally founded.
“Clive’s knowledge on many aspects of
human origins will further strengthen
our research on a global scale”, said
the current Director of CAHO, Dr John
McNabb.
ZSAP - Bronze
Age Cemeteries
in Croatia
Students Jasmine and Evi, and their excavated
Neolithic ditch
Cremations in the Cotswolds
Among the gently rolling hills of the
Oxfordshire Cotswolds, at Swinbrook, near
Burford, Southampton staff and students
were involved in the excavation of two late
Neolithic (c.3000-2600BC) round barrows.
Although similar styles of round barrow
belonging to the Bronze Age are numerous
and well investigated, Neolithic examples
are both unusual and poorly understood.
Were they always used for burial? How did
they relate to patterns of contemporary
settlement? Here we had a rare opportunity
to address these questions. We discovered
a cremation burial placed just beyond the
southern barrow, and close by contemporary
pits containing worked flint and pottery that
had probably been discarded by people who
helped build the barrow. There was no sign of
a burial associated with the northern barrow
– just an enigmatic deep pit! Belonging to
the time of Stonehenge, these monuments
provide important insight into the beliefs
and lives of early farming communities in the
British Isles.
Distinguished medal for
distinguished Professor
Emeritus Prof. David Peacock has been
awarded the prestigious Kenyon Medal for
Classical Studies and Archaeology by the
British Academy. A long-standing member
of Archaeology at Southampton, David has
made many important contributions to the
study of the sourcing of ceramics and our
understanding of the ancient economy, as
well as undertaking major fieldwork projects
on Roman quarry sites in the Eastern Desert
of Egypt and at the Red Sea harbour cities of
Myos Hormos and Adulis. Prof. Jon Adams,
Head of Archaeology said “this award marks
long overdue recognition of the work of
one of the great pioneers of archaeological
science”.
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Artefact | Summer 2012
2011 was the fourth year of a joint fieldwork project between Southampton University and
Zupanja Museum which is investigating a remarkable complex of over 100 Late Bronze Age
/ Early Iron Age barrows in the remote region of Slavonija in the east of Croatia. Survey
information collected by Southampton students is now being used to produce a fine grained
Digital Elevation Model showing the extent of the cemetery, the sizes and shapes of the
barrows, their relationship to one another and to the surrounding landscape. Excavation
continued this year, resulting in the discovery of more enigmatic layers containing cremated
human bone, charcoal and diagnostic pottery within the barrows. The greatest excitement
this year was the discovery of many more cemeteries which are now being investigated by
the ZSAP team.
Sandy Budden
Ben and Pavo working to remove a
spread of Early Iron Age Pottery
Archaeology finalist Anjli Kundi photographing
a Neolithic figurine for her dissertation on
archaeology and photography
Digging a 6th-millennium BC settlement:
archaeology and ethnography (and even theatre!)
at Koutroulou Magoula, central Greece.
A team of 11 Southampton undergraduates together with several
staff members and a group of specialists from many countries took
part for four weeks in September in the excavation of a Middle
Neolithic tell settlement in the Thessalian plain in Greece. The
project is directed by Professor Yannis Hamilakis of Southampton, in
collaboration with the Greek Archaeological Service. It is unearthing
an important and extremely well-preserved prehistoric village,
made of houses with stone foundations and an upper structure of
mud bricks. Several buildings have been already investigated, and
the site is also producing a plethora of human figurines, perhaps the
highest concentration of such finds from any stratified Neolithic
settlement in Greece. More than 40,000 pottery sherds were found by
Southampton students this year alone, together with animal bones,
stone and bone tools, and many other finds. But the team does much
more than digging! Ethnographic research by interviewing people
from the local community is another central part of the project. The
season this year ended with a site-specific theatrical performance
staged next to our trenches. The play was inspired by the excavation
and the ethnography, and was written and performed by two of our
staff members who are also professional actors. It was a great success,
and was attended by more than 300 people from the area.
The whole team at Koutroulou Magoula
Artefact | Summer 2012
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By the Seaside: new
work beginnings
on a remarkable
landscape
For most visitors the scenic coastal
promontory of Hengistbury Head in Dorset
is a great location for walks and outdoor
activities. Less well-known is the multitude
of nationally and internationally significant
archaeological sites located here, which
stretch in date from the end of the last Ice
Age to the Roman settlement of Britain.
University of Southampton staff and
First Year students have just begun a new
campaign of investigation at Hengistbury
Head, beginning with a detailed topographic
survey of the promontory. The results of
this will be used to assess the threat of cliff
erosion to an important Upper Palaeolithic
(hunter-gatherer) site. While undertaking
the survey a rescue fieldwalking exercise
was rapidly put in place, collecting flint tools
and other artefacts that were in danger of
being washed off the encroaching cliff. A very
accurate and detailed topographic map was
produced with artefact positions recorded
in 3D. The team also recorded three Bronze
Age barrows and an Iron Age earthwork.
Discussions with English Heritage and
Bournemouth Borough Council are now
underway concerning the future of the Upper
Palaeolithic site at Hengistbury. In all, the
field season was a great success and lays the
foundations of an exciting project that will
hopefully run for many years.
New Books
by our Staff
With topics ranging from medieval ships
to archaeology’s relationship to art, here
is a taste of some of the staff publications
that have appeared over the last year:
Jon Adams.
A Maritime Archaeology of Ships
Andrew Jones, Davina Freedman,
Hugo Lamdin-Whymark,
Blaze O’Connor, Richard Tipping
and Aaron Watson.
An Animate Landscape: rock art and the
prehistory of Kilmartin, Argyll, Scotland
James Cole, Will Davies and Dominic
Barker
The Hengistbury
survey
Paul Bonaventura and Andrew Jones.
Sculpture and Archaeology
John McNabb and Peter Beaumont.
A Report on the Archaeological Assemblages
from Excavations by Peter Beaumont at
Canteen Koppie, Northern Cape, South
Africa
For further information please contact:
Recruitment and Admissions Office, Humanities, University of Southampton, Southampton so17 1bj
ugapply.fh@southampton.ac.uk | +44(0)23 8059 9339
www.southampton.ac.uk/archaeology