Skip to main content

Searching For Stones- Another Summer of Archaeology

 Searching for stones is definitely a good way to describe my summer.

I have been incredibly lucky this year to have had the opportunity to go to the west coast of Scotland three times over my summer. The first was a lovely family holiday, which included getting lost in a bog looking for the remains of an old clachan (pre-clearance township), and just making it to Iona to see the famous abbey before the ferry was stopped for the only day we were on Mull!

Later in the summer, I had the privilege of attending a 'String Ceilidh' on Skye, which was an amazing way to meet the local community that exists beyond the tourist sites and shops. This evening of insights into people's deep lived experience and connection to the and they called home as well as talks by prominent textile archaeologists is one I will not soon forget! Whilst on Skye I also had the chance to visit the Museum of Island Life, which gave a fascinating window into the life of island crofters over the last couple of centuries (and further fuelled my wish to one day learn Scottish Gaelic) and I managed to get lost on the way back to the BnB looking for a Pictish cross.

The third trip to Scotland was by far the biggest, my university fieldwork on the Ardnamurchan peninsula. Most undergraduate archaeology students in the UK have to undertake fieldwork, and this is often facilitated by the university teaching your degree. I had based quite a lot of my decision to come to the University of Manchester based on a talk about this project at an open data. This was an absolutely amazing project and I have made some wonderful friends and memories. Due to the acidic nature of the soil on site, most of our artefacts were stone, and so once again I was looking for interesting stones in Scotland.

Alongside this I have been making a start on research for my dissertation which is on a topic that in many ways is about as removed from stone as you can get, textiles. And yet, given organics are probably the most illusive type of finds recovered in archaeology (I make good life choices...) stones can crop up even here, as loom weights, spindle whorls and a variety of other tools that are often our best insight into the production methods for textiles in the past. 

I have also been incredibly fortunate to spend much of my summer enjoying the countryside surrounded by greenery, ahead of going back to metapolitican Manchester for the next semester. I have visited castles, catherdals and counted court with some rather ancient trees. I've got lost down sides streets and met up with some amazing friends. University is a great experience, but home is still very precious to me and I am so grateful for the chances to connect to my corner of the world.

Thank you for reading, leave a comment about what you have been up to this summer!


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Teaching Continues

 Hello! So I've been at university for a couple of weeks now. There have been a few major developments that have occurred since I last wrote. My classes have continued to be completely online. So all of me lectures are pre-recorded, meaning I can watch them whenever, and my seminars are all on Zoom. There have been a few close calls where my internet has got a bit unstable but so far it hasn't dropped out on me completely! This has all led to a lot of time sitting at my desk in my room. I have got very acquainted with the changed happening to the tree outside my window.  Given the facilities on campus have been reduced and have to be booked I haven't actually made it to the library yet. However, I am hoping to book a study space at least once next week. In the meantime I'm thinking of relocating to the kitchen for a change of scenery!  As of last Friday Manchester has been under Tier 3 lockdown. This means that all pubs and bars have had to shut, and I can only meet wit...

My Degree Has Come to an End

My time as an undergraduate at Manchester has come to an end. I had my last formal teaching last week and handed in my final assessments today. I have completed my degree. And now all that is left is to receive my final results and graduation.  These last three years have absolutely flown by. There have certainly been challenging moments, most certainly starting in the middle of the lockdowns and spending my first year online. But I have also had an amazing time, making wonderful friends and meeting some of the most inspiring people. I will most certainly be staying in contact with these people who have inspired and supported me.  I have also learnt so much, both academically and personally. My love for archaeology has only grown and I now feel confident that this is the career path I wish to pursue. And this is not the end of my involvement, either with academia or these amazing people. I will be speaking at a conference with my amazing supervisor on the findings of my disser...

Post-Degree Summer

I may have finished my degree, but archaeology has still been a central part of my summer so far.  Along with several friends, I attended a brilliant workshop on 'flint' knapping (we used glass) delivered by one of my teachers from Manchester. This was part of the Chorlton Arts Festival and was in the beautiful location of a plant nursery. I definitely still have a way to go with my knapping skills, but I ended the workshop with a lovely glass arrowhead that now sits pride of place on my bookcase. I also stumbled across an amazing food market and had quite possibly the best arancini I've ever had (it was filled with pesto and delicious).  At the beginning of June, I went down to Cambridge to attend the Prehistoric Society's Europa conference in honour of this year's Europa prize winner Professor Marie Louise Stig-Sorrensen. In recognition of her work, this conference focused on 'Peopling the Past', with papers ranging from pioneering genetics studies to expl...