News updates from around Britain

Posted On: October 12th, 2015

Here are a series of notices that have come to the attention of the SMA recently:

Internationally important Ipswich excavation archive is made publicly accessible

Between 1974 and 1990 there were 36 excavations within the historic core of Ipswich.   The results of these excavations are of international importance due to the early origins of the town. Middle Saxon Ipswich was one of only a handful of English trading settlements displaying urban characteristics in the 700’s, alongside London, Southampton and York.

The excavations were archived and carried out by the Suffolk Archaeological Unit (subsequently Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service) under the direction of Keith Wade but never fully published.   The results have now for the first time been made publicly accessible as a web-based resource on the Archaeology Data Service.

The distribution of excavated sites is shown in an ‘Interactive Map’ and there are also summary narrative reports describing the chronological sequence and the range of features and activities identified for each site.  It is hoped that the data will be the basis of new research into the development of Ipswich.

The consolidation of the 1974-90 archive and the preparation of the digital archive by Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service has been funded by English Heritage (now Historic England) between 2009 and 2015.

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Forthcoming conference on Wallingford – Saturday 24th October

This is the sixth conference organised by The Wallingford Historical and Archaeological Society (TWHAS) in conjunction with Wallingford Museum, making public the most recent research on Wallingford’s history. The last eight years have seen major advances in understanding the importance of Wallingford’s role as a royal Saxon and Medieval stronghold. TWHAS has undertaken new documentary research, as well as being actively involved in the AHRC funded Wallingford Burh to Borough Project, led by the Universities of Leicester, Exeter and Oxford. Three publications have so far followed: The Origins of Wallingford (2009), Transforming Townscapes (2014) and now Wallingford: the Castle and Town in Context (Sept 2015). The latest documentary research has finally revealed Wallingford Castle in its rightful place among the great royal castles of the Thames Valley, so click this link to access more details and a booking form for this exciting one-day conference.

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Call for Papers: Death and Identity in Scotland from the Medieval to the Modern: Beliefs, Attitudes and Practices

This conference will take place on Friday 29th to Sunday 31st January 2016 at the University of Edinburgh and is the third in a series of conferences that aims to accelerate interest and research into Scottish death studies. The theme for 2016 is Death and Identity. Papers are invited to explore this subject within any period from the medieval into the modern day from any disciplinary perspective. Established research and work-in-progress welcomed and further details are available here. Send abstracts of no more than 200 words by 16 October 2015 to:susan.buckham@stir.ac.uk

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Boots!

A small, two-man, company specialising in just one product – The Harris Dryboot – have been in touch and while we do not generally advertise commercial products, we thought our membership might be interested in this one… The Harris Dryboot has apparently proved very popular with archaeologists, as it is suited to the type of conditions typical on archaeological digs – they are 100% guaranteed waterproof, washable, quick drying, comfortably padded – and are a good alternative to a knee length welly, which in many cases is an uncomfortable necessity. The lightweight steel shank built into the sole gives extra strength for heavy digging or rough terrain work – so there!

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