Neanderthal and stuff...

Coming out of Niaux cave, lamps in hand.

Cave art projection, Musée National de Préhistoire.

Reconstitution of Neandertal life, Musée
National de Préhistoire

Perfectly accurate re-enactment (2): prehistoric
 rites at the Cro-Magnon rock shelter.

No posts in a long time! I've started studying at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris and have thereby surrendered both my social and virtual lives. As one of the Prehistory and Quaternary '14 promotion, I've been sent on a trip to Dordogne and the Pyrénées to visit caves, drink wine, eat foie gras and climb up hills in the rain. I don't think I can explain how fantastic and moving it was to stand in a pitch black cave and suddenly see engravings and paintings of mammoths, rhinos, horses and bison appear as the guide lifted his or her lamp and shed light on the cave walls, or to know that Magdalenian adults and children had walked barefoot for hundreds of metres in these cavities (and no, I'm not making stuff up to try and make the story better, researchers did find and date adult and child-sized footprints at Niaux, one of the caves we were lucky enough to visit). So I'm just going to post a couple of pictures instead! Oh and I'd also like to point out that the INRAP (our national preventive archaeology institute) found a mammoth near Paris a few days ago, while excavating a Gallo-Roman site! That's just how random and awesome prehistory can get. [EDIT: funny how things work out, I actually got to do some conservation work on this mammoth! There's an article somewhere on this blog that covers this]

Homo Neandertalensis watching over the valley
from a rock shelter at Les Eyzies.

Bison skeleton, Musée National de Préhistoire,
Les Eyzies-de-Tayac.

Flint debitage explained, Musée National de Préhistoire.

Newbie Digger: Fetternear '09

A newcomer to the world of archaeology, I prepared for my first dig in 2009 with slightly mixed feelings. Excitement: I'm  finally getting to learn how to use a trowel like a boss. Hope: what if I find something significant (be it a rather underwhelming bit of pottery)? Anxiety: what if I turn out to be as useless and counter-productive as a tunnelling pest?

This is what happened: 3 weeks of rain, severe sunburns, and a budding love for pig mandibles and undecorated ceramic.

After a flight, two train journeys and a bus ride, I was picked up by the site supervisor and given my first task: pitching my tent in a nettle-infested field. Needless to say I picked the wrong place and had to move it on the next day.

Fetternear House and nice blue sky- we were later punished for this "heatwave" by unceasing rain. 

Our site, hidden in the almost virgin wilderness of rural Aberdeenshire (at a staggering 20 minute walk from the nearest chippie and pub), consisted of a ruined, mostly medieval castle and a number of trenches, some of which had been sleeping under tarpaulins for a few years. The excavation was led by Dr Penny Dransart (Lampeter University) as part of the Scottish Episcopal Palaces Project, exploring the specificities of Scottish medieval episcopal architecture. Successive occupations, from Prehistoric times up to the early 20th century, have been identified on this site. The castle itself, first excavated in the 19th century, is now known to have been surrounded by a moat, and has had different uses and construction phases (some of them noticeable in the above picture) until its destruction by fire in 1919. It has been the summer residence of the Bishops of Aberdeen in medieval times. From 1550 to 1932, it has been owned by the Leslie family, whose international connections (they owned land in what are now Liechtenstein, Austria, Slovenia and the Czech Republic) could account for some Continental-like features. More information about the project and the site here, here and here. The reports by Dr Dransart form the basis of the information relayed here.

Despite a few setbacks (the weather from Hell, causing trenches to flood, structures to collapse and diggers to curse), Fetternear '09 was a relatively fruitful season, the star find being a well-preserved medieval wooden beam, which was interpreted as a part of a bridge. We appeared on a BBC 2 series that I wasn't allowed to watch (thanks for that, iPlayer!) because I lived in France when it was broadcast, so that I can only trust my fellow diggers when they say that I 'looked awful' in it.

My precious! First ever finds' tray.

Stones. From a wall. Destroyed by the wind and rain.

Apart from archaeological skills per se, I've learnt some invaluable surviving tips on this dig: 

-never forget to bring a waterproof jacket and hand moisturiser, 

-eat properly (beer can sometimes act as food in cases of  famine, but not for lunch/tea/onsite), 

-one can get sunburns in Scotland, 

-buy your own trowel and never lose sight of it, 

-don't let anyone go near your tent with a padlock, they will lock you out (or in),

-never pitch your tent near the portaloo. Take the wind into account in your calculations.

When following these basic rules, digging can be disturbingly addictive.