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Charting celebrity

I have been discovering how Google NGRAM can answer all sorts of niggling questions about fame, celebrity and novelty http://books.google.com/ngrams . What it does is search the 5 million books that have been digitised between 1500 and 2000. This adds up to about 4 per cent of all the books published and a staggering 500 billion words. By any standards this is a big sample. Continue reading →

17th-century English ship remains found in St. Mary’s City, Maryland, USA

Ship Remains Identified in the St. Mary’s River Working and pleasure boats have plied Maryland waters for centuries.  No one knows how many wrecked or abandoned ships lay hidden In Maryland’s rivers and bays.  One suspected underwater site that was first mapped in 1994 gave up some of its secrets this summer.   Scott Tucker, archaeologist and doctoral candidate from University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, has been exploring what may be the remains of a ship in the St. Continue reading →

Day 3 – Slipware Mystery! And some other stuff – by Jake

Jake. Written by Jake, The Northern One. — Day 3 On the 24th July 2013 at the Basing House Project a slipware tankard was unveiled in the far left corner of the excavation site. At first it was believed to be a c. 17th century contemporary piece, but after careful analysis by experienced Basing House staff, Dave Allen and Alan Turton came to the conclusion that the tankard was in fact a modern replica. Continue reading →

Day 2 – Let the Festival of British Archaeology begin – by Callum

Callum My name is Callum and I’m studying History and Archaeology at Southampton University. What I’m most looking forward to about Basing House is using techniques and technology’s that they didn’t have on the excavations in the 60′s. — Second Day Today at Basing house we started straight where we left off yesterday with the taking off of the top layer of grass and flowers from the site. Continue reading →

Day 1 – De-Turfing begins! – by Callum

Callum My name is Callum and I’m studying History and Archaeology at Southampton University. What I’m most looking forward to about Basing House is using techniques and technology’s that they didn’t have on the excavations in the 60′s. — First Day Morning We set off from Southampton at half past eight looking forward to our first look at the Basing house in the flesh. Continue reading →

My first abstract

I’m excited because my first conference paper proposal has been accepted, and it gets financial support to help me go deliver it. So in September I’m off to the University of Rochester, NY for their Decoding the Digital conference. I thought I’d share the abstract here. Now, of course, I have to write the paper. Abstract The creators of digital narratives, in the form of computer games, are experimenting with form as they explore story telling in virtual spaces. Continue reading →

The Archaeology of Archaeology

Thanks to all of the students and volunteers we are making amazing progress here at Basing House. Despite the best efforts of nettles and roots the turf has now been removed. It is fantastic to see the previous of the excavation be uncovered and to get a better sense of how the excavators worked on the site in the 1960s. Archaeological techniques have changed a lot in the intervening period and we hope to be able to add to the discoveries which were made then. Continue reading →

Illyrian Coast Field School: Shipwrecks of Croatia

The Illyrian Coastal Exploration Program (ICEP) is an interdisciplinary underwater sciences field school exploring the eastern Adriatic coastline through archaeology, ecology, and geology. The field school partners with leading research centers in each Balkan country such as the International Centre for Underwater Archaeology in Croatia (ICUA) and the Regional Center for Underwater De-Mining in Bijela (RCUD), Montenegro, as well as RPM Nautical Foundation. Continue reading →

Day 1 – Deturfing and site tours

The first day on site is always a challenge. There is so much to set up and to get going. The weather was amazing. Hot, humid, close, and no clouds in sight. Despite this, we managed to put up the bell tent, take an extensive site tour, go through all of the risk assessment and health and safety information, introduce ourselves and even get down to some deturfing in the afternoon. Here are some piccies of our first day. After a morning of paperwork and introductions, we went on a site tour. Continue reading →