So here at Finds and Features life's been pretty hectic. Not only do I have a bunch of deadlines, but I've just moved house! On the up side, I now have a large room in a lovely flat with lovely people, and even some shelves of my own. On the down side, all my photocopies… Continue reading New projects and anticipation!
Category: Archaeology Research
London’s oldest terrace houses
As I was in Newington Green this morning, I thought I'd stop to enjoy the Square. Of particular interest are Nos 52-55, four red brick terraces that are in fact London's oldest surviving terrace houses. Here they are in all their spring sunlit glory. According to Pevsner's Architectural Guide, there are few 17th century houses… Continue reading London’s oldest terrace houses
Nature of Technology issue of Cambridge Journal of Economics
How did I miss this? The Cambridge Journal of Economics has a whole issue on the Nature of Technology! For those of you with access (sorry, it's not open access), it's volume 34, issue 1, 2010. I'm not sure exactly why it's this journal that's acting as a venue for this stuff (maybe I'm missing… Continue reading Nature of Technology issue of Cambridge Journal of Economics
Iron ore reduction in a bloomery furnace – part 2
I've spent a lot of hours over the last couple of days trying to express every variable of bloomery iron smelting and their complex and dependent relations. At the moment, I can't seem to do it in any way that doesn't look like a spider covered in multi-coloured ink had a seizure on my page.… Continue reading Iron ore reduction in a bloomery furnace – part 2
Theoretical positioning
My literature review is currently wallowing in the deep waters of attempting to create a diagram to explain the controllable/indirectly controllable variables in bloomery smelting and their relationships. However, I have come to the conclusion that I am also sitting in a rather lonely theoretical position. Essentially, I just want to tell stories. I may… Continue reading Theoretical positioning
Iron ore reduction in a bloomery furnace – part 1
At the moment I'm trying to produce the first draft of my literature review. This involves reading a lot of rather dull and repetitive articles, as well as wading through the kilos of paper I have photocopied in the last six months because I thought it looked 'useful'. Hmm. Probably should have read those as… Continue reading Iron ore reduction in a bloomery furnace – part 1
New Open Archaeometry Journal!
How exciting! I just saw (thanks to Alun) that a new Open-Access 'Open Archaeometry' Journal is starting up. Full peer review, and the blurb they've posted looks promising. This could be really exciting - I hope they get it going. Current archaeological-science journals are Archaeometry and Journal of Archaeological Sciences. The later scores well on… Continue reading New Open Archaeometry Journal!
What are these blog thingies? A response to ‘Blogging Anthropology…’
Anyone into digital archaeology or blogging archaeology and anthropology will have noticed the wave of dislike and irritation that has been spreading through the online communities as a result of the American Anthropologist Journal article on 'Blogging Anthropology: Savage Minds, Zero Anthropology and AAA blogs'. (That's an open link to the PDF - don't know… Continue reading What are these blog thingies? A response to ‘Blogging Anthropology…’
Optical microscopy
Some things I've learnt this week: In an open lab, every microscope will probably have something wrong with it - if it's got a polarising lens, it'll have too dim a light source, if it's got light, one of the eyepieces will be off! If one of the eyepieces is off, expect motion sickness and… Continue reading Optical microscopy
Things I’ve learnt about working in a lab
Phew! Well life in findsandfeatures land has been pretty hectic for the last few days. The usual monetary pressures on a small lab mean that I'm eager to get my samples prepared before we run out of consumables at the end of the university year (July). Â So I've been in the prep labs for the… Continue reading Things I’ve learnt about working in a lab
Ruth Fillery-Travis 