11th April 2013:
A further five Australian soldiers, who were killed at the Battle of Fromelles in northern France during the First World War, were named at the annual Joint Identification Board meeting in London. This brings the number of Australian soldiers identified by name to 124, almost half the number of individuals recovered. In addition, 89 soldiers have been identified as Australian, two have been identified as British, while 35 individuals have been buried as soldiers 'Known unto God'.
The soldiers’ remains were recovered during the excavation of mass graves at Pheasant Wood by a multi-disciplinary team of experts led by OA South. The identifications were made possible through a range of historical, artefactual and anthropological evidence collected during the excavation, as well as comparison of DNA extracted from the soldiers’ remains with that of their living descendants.
Warren Snowdon MP, Australian Minister for Veterans Affairs, announced that headstones engraved with the names of the identified soldiers will be erected by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission at the Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) military cemetery ahead of the annual commemoration of the Battle of Fromelles on 19th July.
Efforts to identify more of the soldiers continue, with the last joint identification board meeting planned for next year.
10th April 2013:
Archaeologists from OA North have begun a two-staged evaluation for the Environment Agency in partnership with Derby City Council in advance of a new flood defence scheme. The 'Our City, Our River' scheme will involve the construction of new embankments along the River Derwent as it flows through Little Chester.
Situated a short distance to the north of Derby city centre, Little Chester is the site of a Roman fort. The new flood defences will be situated between the sites of the Roman fort and a Roman bath house.
Archaeologists have been on site for less than a week, but already have unearthed pottery and other finds, and are hopeful that significant remains, including buildings, will come to light. Even at this early stage, the fieldwork has attracted local media attention, featuring in the Derby Telegraph and on the BBC’s East Midlands Today.
10th April 2013:
Oxford Archaeology recently conducted a capacity building workshop in Cetinje, Montenegro, for the Ministry of Culture and the British Council. The workshop concentrated on project design and management in the cultural area with specific reference to the EU's Instrument of Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA).
Rob Early, OA's Head of International Business, focused on two largely untouched archaeological sites dated to the Roman and medieval periods. Funds are sought for setting up international research centres and developing the profile of the two sites for cultural tourism. Montenegro currently has only 25 professional archaeologists and no university faculty for archaeology or heritage.
8th April 2013:
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The past few months has seen a bumper crop of new books, with the publication of three monographs from OA South, two popular booklets, and a volume of heritage guidance.
A programme of improvements to the A421 south-west of Bedford provided archaeologists from OA South an opportunity to investigate early settlement along a corridor of the clay landscape of Marston Vale, within the catchment of the River Great Ouse. The results have now been published in a new monograph, The Iron Age and Roman Landscape of Marston Vale, Bedfordshire.
Excavation in advance of engineering works along the M1 between Hemel Hempstead and Luton revealed significant archaeological remains. From Mesolithic to Motorway: The Archaeology of the M1 (Junction 6a-10) Widening Scheme, Hertfordshire describes important evidence for late Mesolithic and early Neolithic activity and pits, late Iron Age and Roman activity, rural settlements, trackways and enclosures, and a substantial 12th-13th century farmstead.
Meanwhile, Under the Oracle: Excavations at the Oracle Shopping Centre site 1996-8, reports on the substantial evidence recovered at the Reading site for medieval and post-medieval water management, milling at the Minster Mill and St Giles Mill, the tanning, leather working and dyeing industries, and an unusual building interpreted as the 12th- to 13th-century cookhouse of Reading Abbey.
Of the two popular booklets, The Archaeology of the A66: Greta Bridge to Scotch Corner presents the results of excavations undertaken by OA North in advance of the upgrade of the A66. One of the most significant findings was a substantial linear earthwork which crossed the A66. Previously thought to be 6th or 7th century AD, the ditch was in fact early-middle Iron Age and may have been associated with the Iron Age tribal centre at Stanwick.
The findings of excavations at Dorchester-on-Thames, a collaboration between Oxford University’s School of Archaeology, Oxford Archaeology, Dorchester Abbey Museum and the people of Dorchester-on-Thames, have been described in a new booklet, The Discovering Dorchester-on-Thames project: A Report on the Excavations, 2007-2011. Highlights of the discoveries include part of a Neolithic cursus, a Neolithic circular monument, a Beaker-period burial, and buildings and a road from the Roman walled town, while a small excavation at the nearby Dyke Hills produced stunning finds from a late Roman or early Anglo-Saxon burial.
Finally, back in 2009, OA undertook a review of historic landscape characterisation (HLC) in Ireland. The work drew on the experience of OA’s work in England and its research projects in the republic. This led to the preparation of a best practice and policy document, which has now been published. Historic Landscape Characterisation in Ireland: Best Practice Guidance acts as guide for heritage professionals carrying out further studies, and explains to academics, planners and the general public why the work is important. Click here to download the report.
8th April 2013:
OA East’s test-pitting at Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire, brought in the cameras from the BBC’s Look East programme, and ITV’s Anglia news. In addition to the television coverage, the project featured in the local newspaper, the Royston Crow. The project in the parkland associated with the hall began with digging some 160 test pits where trees will be planted. Up to one thousand test pits are planned.
The trees are being planted to restore the 17th-century parkland on the site (set out by Capability Brown), but will impact on the remains of earlier medieval and post-medieval settlements, which were on the site before the parkland was designed.
Although the test-pits were small, being only 0.5m x 0.5m x 0.5m deep, evidence of a house platform or trackway and a 17th-century bowling green in the form of a levelling layer was found in different parts of the estate. Surfaces of the Jacobean stable, which stood close to the house and was demolished when the present Victorian stable was built, was also noted within the test pits.
