Out in the field (and not in the office!)

This week I ‘escaped’ from the office for a few hours to visit the Pond Farm excavations (see blog post from the 12th August). Thank you to Cathie Barnett and Nick Pankhurst for giving us a tour of the Pond Farm site.

ABOUT POND FARM HILLFORT – ‘The summit of the hill at The Frith was once protected all the way round by a huge man-made bank and ditch. Today areas of the bank still rise 2.5 metres above ground but were likely much higher in the past. The southern portion of the hillfort defences have been levelled in recent centuries and can no longer be seen on the ground. However, traces of the bank and ditch there are still visible occasionally as cropmarks and using geophysical surveys. You could once only have entered the interior through one or two restricted and probably fortified entranceways. It is believed to have been built in the Iron Age, around 2000 or more years ago but there is no firm evidence yet to confirm this.’

You can keep up to date with progress at Pond Farm and Silchester Insula III by following the Archaeology Facebook and Twitter pages.

You can visit both sites from Monday to Friday between 10am and 4.30pm. They are not open weekends except Sunday 13th September. If you intend to come in a larger group please let them know in advance: j.e.eaton@reading.ac.uk so they can welcome and accommodate everyone. Please be aware that parking at Little Heath car park for Pond Farm is severely limited so do share a lift or arrange drop offs there or at Little Cottages. Access to Pond Farm is on foot via permitted paths (shown on the map) by kind permission of the Englefield Estate. It’s a pleasant and relatively easy, approx 10 minutes walk within Benyon’s Enclosure up to the hillfort but may not be suitable for everyone. Cycling is not allowed.
For Silchester Insula III please park in the public car park and follow the footpath to the Roman town and the excavation. For directions to Silchester Roman Town public car park visit: reading.ac.uk/silchester. You will be able to see the archaeologists at work on both sites but there will also be finds and environmental processing going on at Insula III. For safety reasons there will be strictly no access to the trenches themselves but you will be able to see them being excavated. There will also be a Public Open Day at the end of the dig at both excavations, on Sunday Sept 13th 10-4.30pm.

Below are a few photographs from the visit:

Back in fieldwork clothes and prepared for rain!

Back in fieldwork clothes and prepared for rain!

 

Entrance to the Pond Farm site - lost of information for interested visitors to read.

Entrance to the Pond Farm site – lots of information for  visitors.

Just one area being excavated on the site

Just one area being excavated on the site

Excavations in action - this is before the rain started!

Excavations in action – this is before the rain started!

A close up view of one of the trenches

A close up view of one of the trenches

Quest (Dan and Rob) percussion coring in a reed covered (wetter), approximately circular area towards the boundary of the field.

Quest (Dan and Rob) percussion coring in a reed covered (wetter), approximately circular area towards the boundary of the field.

Cathie standing on top of the Iron Age bank

Cathie marking out the top of the bank

Cathie explaining the next stage of excavations in this area - this could be the most exciting area!

Cathie explaining the next stage of excavations in this area – this could be the most exciting area yet!

#FieldworkFail: Twitter users share their research mishaps

Across the world research staff and students are continuing to take to Twitter to share their #Fieldworkfails.  Chris Parr has published an article about some of the funniest stories in the Times Higher.

I can relate to the story below – I have been on fieldwork when I had to stop laughing before I could help someone stuck knee deep in mud!

FF

When did you decide to……….?

Athene Donald (Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Cambridge) has written an interesting blog post about decision making, life plans and career paths.

People seem to think that life travels in straight, orderly lines, with everything mapped out from birth. I have never felt that my life was like that and it is always startling when I find other people assume that I know, and have always known, what I‘m doing and why, as well as what I’m going to do next……..’

See Athene’s blog to read more.  Do you have a plan? Or does chance/luck/opportunities play a part?

career path

#LookLikeAProfessor

Have you seen the campaign on Twitter – #LookLikeAProfessor? This is a campaign (based mainly in America) established by Sara B. Pritchard, Adeline Koh and Michelle Moravec to challenge the stereotype of University academics. They highlight cases where a ‘female professor was mistaken for an undergraduate (she was grading homework, not doing it), and a male teaching assistant was assumed to be the professor’.  See ‘We Look Like Professors, Too‘ to read more.

Do we have this problem here?  Should SAGES run our own campaign?

Google images when searching for 'Professor'

Google images when searching for ‘Professor’

Silchester 2015 Archaeological Excavations at Insula III – Silchester & Pond Farm Hillfort 17th August – 13th September

Excavations are taking place at Insula III – Silchester & Pond Farm Hillfort.  More information from Cathie Barnett (Research Manager, Silchester Post Excavation and Calleva Environs Iron Age Projects) below:

WHO CAN VISIT AND WHAT IS THERE TO SEE?
Everyone is welcome! You can visit us Monday to Friday on either of the sites between 10am and 4.30pm. We are not open weekends except Sunday 13th September. If you intend to come in a larger group please let us know in advance: j.e.eaton@reading.ac.uk so we can welcome and accommodate everyone. Please be aware that parking at Little Heath car park for Pond Farm is severely limited so do share a lift or arrange drop offs there or at Little Cottages. Access to Pond Farm is on foot via permitted paths by kind permission of the Englefield Estate. It’s a pleasant and relatively easy, approx 10 minutes walk within Benyon’s Enclosure up to the hillfort but may not be suitable for everyone. Cycling is not allowed. For Silchester Insula III please park in the public car park and follow the footpath to the Roman town and the excavation. For directions to Silchester Roman Town public car park visit: reading.ac.uk/silchester
You will be able to see our archaeologists at work on both sites but there will also be finds and environmental processing going on at Insula III. For safety reasons there will be strictly no access to the trenches themselves but you will be able to see them being excavated. There will also be a Public Open Day at the end of the dig at both excavations, on Sunday Sept 13th 10-4:30pm.’

Silchester site from above

Silchester site from above

Blogs and News Pages

Across the School a number of different research projects and groups (as well as individuals!) write blogs or have News and Events pages covering a wide range of topics.  Here is a small selection that you might be interested in:

Lyminge Archaeological Project – Alex Knox posted an update on their current excavations on the 7th August

Geography and Environmental Science – read about Sarah Duddigan’s Tea Bag Index Project

Tropical Palaeoecology Research Group – find out more information about the INQUA Early Career Researcher Conference and Summer School in September 2016

Archaeology – Updates on all recent fieldwork, projects and publications

Hilary Geoghegan – Citizen Science and Tree Health as well as posts such as the Secret Diary of an Athena SWAN Lead

Silchester Archaeology – They will be excavating at Pond Farm Iron Age Hillfort in Beyon’s Inclosure and at Insula III from the 17th August – 11th September

The Soil Security Programme – Read more about their research networks and projects

Do you have a blog or website that you would like to promote here?

blog

#Fieldworkfail: Scientists reveal their most embarrassing mistakes in the field

The blog is back!!  We are starting the week with another Twitter story.  Research staff and students from across the world are using Twitter to reveal their embarrassing fieldwork mistakes.  A summary article by Alice Harrold was published in the Independent on 7th August.

Do you have any examples?  Forward them in and we will post them on the blog

Fieldwork fail 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KMO Archaeology. Dropped phone to a deep hole in the ground. Spent rest of the day digging it up.

KMO Archaeology. Dropped phone to a deep hole in the ground. Spent rest of the day digging it up.