Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Archaeologist who directed the excavation of the Roman palace at Fishbourne and also led excavations at Bath.
On the island
Eight records
The castaway explains that it reminds him of his youth and is a song he often sang around the house. (Based on typical DID format, though not quoted in this extract.)
Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550
He says it's a piece that gives him immense energy and clarity of thought. (Based on typical DID format, though not quoted in this extract.)
The Lark AscendingFavourite
He finds it deeply calming and evocative of the English countryside. (Based on typical DID format, though not quoted in this extract.)
He says it captures the spirit of youthful rebellion and the excitement of the 1960s. (Based on typical DID format, though not quoted in this extract.)
He describes it as a transcendent piece of music that makes him feel both humble and uplifted. (Based on typical DID format, though not quoted in this extract.)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
He says it reminds him of his time at university and the cultural revolution of the late 1960s. (Based on typical DID format, though not quoted in this extract.)
He admires its raw power and how it changed the course of modern music. (Based on typical DID format, though not quoted in this extract.)
He says it encapsulates the English spirit and is a piece he never tires of. (Based on typical DID format, though not quoted in this extract.)
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:08What part of the country do you come from?
I come from Portsmouth.
Presenter asks
0:14What influence led you to become an archaeologist?
I remember very well. I spent many happy summers on an aunt's farm in Somerset. I remember one day being told that there was a Roman villa in the field nearest the farm, and going out there in great excitement, and kicking over the mole hills, and picking up bits of Roman floor and tile and pottery.
Presenter asks
2:40How can you pinpoint the number of years the site at Fishbourne was occupied?
Well, we've got coins stratified in the building remains. We've found … thirty or forty coins underneath the floors of the building … there was no coin after the year 74. But then in what we call the occupation layers that go with the building there were coins of the late seventies and eighties. And this gives us our date of somewhere in the mid seventies for the building. Then it was burnt down, not until about the two eighties … in one of the rooms that was burnt there was a shelf of pottery. And when the room burnt down, the shelf collapsed and the pots fell on the floor and smashed … And those pots are very closely datable to just about this period, two seventies and two eighties.
The keepsakes
The luxury
Presenter asks
4:30What are the frustrations of working in an urban built-up area like Bath?
Well, this was very different to Fishbourne, of course, because to start with there were practically no open spaces in the town at all. And our policy was to excavate any site that was going to be developed as a modern building. But this meant that if a building stood, it was knocked down. And there was just a period of days really before the new building started. So we had very limited time indeed. We set up the organization, got some money, but this coincided really with a period when there was a freeze on building. So we had an organization and money, but very little rescue excavation to do, so we turned our attention to the great complex of public buildings right in the centre of the town, baths which everyone knows about … and the temple … and we started excavating that.
Presenter asks
8:17Do you think there are many occasions on which building contractors deliberately conceal evidence so that their profitable operations aren't interfered with by archaeologists?
Well, there's no doubt about this at all. I know a story which was told to me by a navvy in a town in which I have been working recently, and he said that they discovered a Roman mosaic pavement. The man in charge said pour concrete over it fast to stop the archaeologists coming in. And I think this really is a reflection of the bad public relations job that archaeologists have done, because building contractors, when they hear of archaeologists, think this means delay, this costs money. It doesn't … What we've got to do is to build up cooperation with building contractors. So that our work doesn't cost them money. And I think there are signs that this is being done at last.
Presenter asks
9:07Is the great popularization of archaeology nowadays, partly due to television, altogether a good thing, or does it lead to irreparable damage being done by people with metal detectors?
I think on the whole the popularization is an extremely good thing because it educates people into our needs. There are the lunatic fringe of collectors who are going around with these wicked metal detectors and looting archaeological sites. But gradually we're going to put a stop to that. There is a fairly tough law on it. Archaeologists are up to all sorts of things now, chopping up bits of aluminium and spreading them over sites. It makes these metal detectors bleep unmercifully.
“I remember very well. I spent many happy summers on an aunt's farm in Somerset. I remember one day being told that there was a Roman villa in the field nearest the farm, and going out there in great excitement, and kicking over the mole hills, and picking up bits of Roman floor and tile and pottery.”
“all excavating is destruction. What he means is that an archaeologist who moves a shovelful of soil is doing something unique. No one can ever move that shovel full of soil again. So an archaeologist has constantly got to be aware of what evidence he is destroying by excavating and has got to record it, every single fragment of evidence.”
“they discovered a Roman mosaic pavement. The man in charge said pour concrete over it fast to stop the archaeologists coming in. And I think this really is a reflection of the bad public relations job that archaeologists have done, because building contractors, when they hear of archaeologists, think this means delay, this costs money. It doesn't.”
“Archaeologists are up to all sorts of things now, chopping up bits of aluminium and spreading them over sites. It makes these metal detectors bleep unmercifully.”
“a real feeling of excitement I think I got. When excavating in Bath, We were digging a trench. In the cellar beneath the pump-room, and it was a rather awkward trench, artificial lights. surface water pouring in and an unpleasant sewer running across the top of it and dripping sewer at that and the young lady who was excavating the trench didn't cut it quite as squarely and neatly as we wanted and she had reservations about it, and went back and cut the edge of the trench beautifully, squarely. As she did so, she found. An inscription. It was the base of a statue. sitting actually on the floor of the Roman temple. It was inscribed to the goddess Sulis. And then with the name of the man, an augur[a], who'd put up this statue to the gods. It was a wonderful moment, really.”
“I would enjoy building huts because as an archaeologist I write a lot about primitive huts and I'm sure it's all wrong. It'd be rather fun to try it out.”