Fieldwork - how to make it work

Amanda Clarke on being director of the Silchester Field School.
"I instinctively knew how to make it work."
https://blogs.reading.ac.uk/sages-advice-fieldwork-gender-careers/

Winners and losers

A lovely story followed by a serious book review.
Billionaires : reflections on the upper crust
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120092/billionaires-book-review-money-cant-buy-happiness

Them detectorists

Holes in the Malvern Hills
http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/11457636.Mystery_holes_on_Malvern_Hills_are_blamed_on_rogue_metal_detector_enthusiasts/?ref=twtrec

Divine kings & popular democracy

Article in the journal Focaal. December 2014.
Argues that democratic election *anoints* incumbent with *divine* authority. Interesting.
http://htl.li/DCQMZ

Roman and sub Roman elite settlement

David Petts paper in TRAC: Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference
https://www.academia.edu/9112999/Elite_Settlements_in_the_Roman_and_Sub-Roman

Storyboarding

I like this article. Thorough and comprehensive.
Research planning.  Planning for anything.
Check out @PJDunleavy's Tweet: https://twitter.com/PJDunleavy/status/528578748321255424

Oppida: Iron Age urbanism

Youtube feature.
Check out @Bagendon2014's Tweet: https://twitter.com/Bagendon2014/status/529382352489676800

Anthropology blog

Focaal: edgy articles
http://htl.li/DooAo

The value of the physical book

Serendipity,  empathy and, well, simple pure pleasure.
This is a good read.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiousbench/2014/10/serendipity-in-the-stacks-a-case-against-bookless-libraries/

Space & place

Religious and secular meanings in local landscapes
An interesting read
http://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/2014/10/29/beyond-maps-eoin-omahonys-geographies-of-religion-and-the-secular-in-ireland-by-edward-wigley/

Male/female discrepancy in past societies

Check out @PhilipColbourn's Tweet: https://twitter.com/PhilipColbourn/status/525648556024430592

Submerged sunrise of wonder

GK Chesterton on optimism / pessimism
Check out @bryanbaise's Tweet: https://twitter.com/bryanbaise/status/524920943047491584

Scruton on truth

Check out @Scruton_Quotes's Tweet: https://twitter.com/Scruton_Quotes/status/521315543450910720

Tradition is ...

A few well chosen words of wisdom on tradition from Roger Scruton
Check out @Scruton_Quotes's Tweet: https://twitter.com/Scruton_Quotes/status/520568664073175040

Revealing by drawing

A comparison of archaeology and architecture,  practice and product filtered through philosophy.  Drawing.
http://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/3/2/357/htm

What has Christianityever done for us?

Introduction to a new book: Challenging Religious Studies.
Interesting.  Useful.  Important.
http://williamtemplefoundation.org.uk/challenging-religious-studies-john-atherton-part-1/

Hit & Myth

What do we mean when we use the word myth.
A useful discussion.
http://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/2013/12/04/the-problem-with-myth-by-jonathan-tuckett/

Income distribution chart: I

Check out @PhilipColbourn's Tweet: https://twitter.com/PhilipColbourn/status/515125109796134914

Reclaiming the Public Space

William Temple conference.  November 2014. Manchester.
http://williamtemplefoundation.org.uk/conference2014/

Ordinary Time

Re: previous two posts.
YouTube.  The song sung.
Ordinary Time -Thou Who Wast Rich: http://youtu.be/rmXipEDh7Ek

Fragrance - the tune

Re: previous post.

Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour - Old Fre…: http://youtu.be/0t4vYfaw808

Beyond all splendour

Frank Houghton's wonderful hymn.
Not just for Christmas.
http://confessingevangelical.com/2007/01/07/rich-beyond-all-splendour/

Cole Moreton: #gb14

Greenbelt.  Festival of the arts, faith & justice. 2014.
Blog post.
http://colemoretoninterviews.wordpress.com/2014/08/26/what-was-greenbelt-like-20-home-truths-about-this-years-festival-2/

Searching for peace

Blog. William Temple Foundation.
http://williamtemplefoundation.org.uk/searching-for-shalom-gaza-iraq-world-war-one/

Avebury: seeing the stones

Good blog post on visiting Avebury.
http://www.coolplaces.co.uk/blog/2014/8/19/248-the-amazing-stones-of-avebury

Ben Myers on order & power

Apocalyptic and creation
Check out @FaithTheology's Tweet: https://twitter.com/FaithTheology/status/502321211875946497

Gold found by primary school kids

Alston school archaeology project comes up with the goods
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-28645612

US v IS

People across large swathes of northern Iraq and Syria are suffering at the hands of a group that have taken to calling themselves Islamic State (IS). They were previously known as ISIS or ISEL, and they still are referred to as such in some quarters. In northern Nigeria, a similar group refer to themselves as Boko Haram.

I do not think we should use these names.

To use the names they choose for themselves only serves to legitimize them, along with their aims and their behaviours. Every time the name is used, especially in the major media services, they become stronger.

Q.What's in a name?

A.
More than we might like to think.

So what do we call them?

'Those murdering bastards in northen Iraq' or wherever they happen to be (TMBxyz)?

'Those Terrible Terrorists' (TTT)?

It is tempting, but no. That is just to accept the rules of the game, their rules: WE ARE RIGHT, YOU ARE WRONG. In doing so we trap them in the circle of hate and horror and consign ourselves, with them, to a bunker mentality.

Further, as a Christian, I want to take seriously what Jesus said about loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you. Miroslav Volf has written peruasively about these issues in his book Exclusion & Embrace.

If I am to pray, I need a name. If  it not IS or TTT, what is it going to be? - "I pray for my poor misled and deluded brothers and sisters who are involved in or sympathetic to the movement in (fill in the blank) that is causing so much death and destruction, hurt and horror." No, seriously. I have to call them something. What name does love choose?

And, the major news services have to call them something. What can they use?

It is not an easy problem to solve.

Words like 'Islamic' and 'Terrorist' are loaded and unhelpful, legitmising either their entrenched view of themselves or our entrenched view of ourselves. Love steps out of the barricades. We could try to find an unloaded language. It is difficult but maybe not impossible. Stick to the facts and avoid prejudice. What are they (apart from murdering bastards). They are people. First & foremost. That means that at some level they must, in some repect, be like you and me. Second, they are armed, that is undeniable - perhaps 'militia' or 'movement' or even 'militant' are even-handed. Third, they want something in much the same way as we all want something. We may not understand what they want - they may not understand what they want - but the fact that they think they want it drives them to do what they do. 

My best attempt is .... (please wait ... thank you for your patience)

Seriously.

Meanwhile, we can pray without words. That is the great thing about having the Holy Spirit in your life. God understands when we pray in/out of/through love. (see Romans chapter 8). We can love without words. Better still, we love with actions. (That's a tough one. I'm not sure I want to go there right now.)

As for the news media - 'The armed insurgents in ...' might do it for now.

Language is a tricky business. We have to be careful what we say.

Ipplepen dig, Devon

Exeter University summer dig.  Roman settlement.  Blog.
http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/ipplepenblog/

Lufton summer dig

Newcastle University summer dig in somerset. Blog, 2014
https://blogs.ncl.ac.uk/luftonarchaeology/

Thoreau and Walden Pond

Book and author.  As interviewed on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 this morning.
Check out @cumiskey's Tweet: https://twitter.com/cumiskey/status/499101194540023808

Ursula Le Guin in conversation

Electric Literature piece with Michael Cunningham:
http://electricliterature.com/ursula-k-le-guin-talks-to-michael-cunningham-about-genres-gender-and-broadening-fiction/

To do our best

... is all we can be expected to do.
Check out @OurCofE's Tweet: https://twitter.com/OurCofE/status/498036527759622144

Cadbury Day. 18/10/14

Day symposium on Roman / Early Mediaeval transition.
http://www.ssarg.org.uk/21727/index.html

Faith Writers website

http://www.faithwriters.com/index.php

Thoughts from the cave

Elijah in hiding.
http://thelivingrhema.com/category/cave-is-not-your-hiding-place/

Heaney: past revenge

Check out @HeaneyDaily's Tweet: https://twitter.com/HeaneyDaily/status/496914090246545408

Iron Age bronze mirror, Oxford

Bronze mirror appeal. The Oxford Museum.
http://www.friendsoftom.co.uk/didcot-mirror-appeal/

God's love - Romans 8. Notes

See:
http://frederickbuechner.com/content/weekly-sermon-illustration-gods-love

On reading scripture

Reading scripture after destruction
http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2014/07/23/4052213.htm

No Joke

Storylines,  plots and the perversity of the human spirit. And oranges.
Andrew Kavlan via DG Myers, @dgmyers.
http://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_2_snd-human-perversity.html

Part time work. Netherlands

Shorter working week.
http://www.equilibriumcampaign.org/

Ipplepen dig. Exeter University

2014 blog in progress. Also 2012 and 2013.
http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/ipplepenblog/

Utere Felix brooch. Corinium Museum

Interesting post with photo and history of find re Time Team dig.
https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=832949496745382

Strike a coin

It turns out it takes quite a lot of muscle to strike a good coin...
On coin making,  Roman style.
Check out @BeauStHoard's Tweet: https://twitter.com/BeauStHoard/status/482091839349334017

Bagend-on dig underway, June 2014

Check out @Bagendon2014's Tweet: https://twitter.com/Bagendon2014/status/481526734555480065

Stealth poetry

Small random acts of poetry:
http://bookgagabooks.ca/2013/06/19/small-acts-of-poetry/

Poems for justice and the environment

Submit up to five poems. Closing 30th July.
http://blogthisrock.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/call-for-eco-justice-poems.html

Roman gold coin found at Vindolanda | Culture24

Rare Nero gold aureus discovered by volunteer at Vindolanda dig.

Which just proves ... it can happen.



Archaeologists hail 'magical moment' as incredibly rare Roman gold coin is found at Vindolanda | Culture24

Truth telling

Walter  Brueggemann: Reality, Grief, Hope. Book review.
Prophetic speaking.
http://richardlittledale.me.uk/2014/06/10/after-the-dust/

Who are your 'public'

Sara Perry muses on the meaning of 'the public' in relation to public engagement in the field of Heritage. Applicable more widely.
http://saraperry.wordpress.com/2014/06/09/the-heritage-jam-and-complicating-the-public-in-public-engagement/

Portable Antiquities Scheme publication: ref. Roman Britain

Check out @bmpress_books's Tweet: https://twitter.com/bmpress_books/status/459266724706017280

To be human

Check out @vicky_walker's Tweet: https://twitter.com/vicky_walker/status/454241182898749440

http://ancientworldonline.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/open-access-to-all-oxford-university.html?spref=tw

Being Christian. Rowan Williams

New book by Rowan Williams.
Noted by Ben Myers on Twitter
Check out @cath_cov's Tweet: https://twitter.com/cath_cov/status/449118012743110656

Ruins are just the beginning

Check out @Image_Journal's Tweet: https://twitter.com/Image_Journal/status/444894763549229056

An unnecessary kindness

RIP Tony Benn

Check out @PCollinsTimes's Tweet: https://twitter.com/PCollinsTimes/status/444395319468785664

The question of Heritage

http://arf.berkeley.edu/then-dig/