Goodbye Eve. New light on Human Origins in Africa

So good bye to a single African Eve. Chris Singer and a host of other authors in their article: 

Did Our Species Evolve in Subdivided Populations across Africa, and Why Does It Matter?

suggest that Homo Sapiens developed all over African in multiple communities, not in a single region.

 See the paper here:

Authors:

Eleanor M.L. ScerriCorrespondence information about the author Eleanor M.L. ScerriEmail the author Eleanor M.L. Scerri

,

Mark G. Thomas

,

Andrea Manica

,

Philipp Gunz

,

Jay T. Stock

,

Chris Stringer

,

Matt Grove

,

Huw S. Groucutt

,

Axel Timmermann

,

G. Philip Rightmire

,

Francesco d’Errico

,

Christian A. Tryon

,

Nick A. Drake

,

Alison S. Brooks

,

Robin W. Dennell

,

Richard Durbin

,

Brenna M. Henn

,

Julia Lee-Thorp

,

Peter deMenocal

,

Michael D. Petraglia

,

Jessica C. Thompson

,

Aylwyn Scally

, Lounès Chikhi

https://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/fulltext/S0169-5347(18)30117-4

A great personalised Guided Tour

Not sure I will ever be able to do a guided walk as good as this.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjvzCTqkBDQ

London 1944 archive film

This is a film about the Abercrombie Plan of 1944 which was to transform London from an unplanned mess to a machine that worked rationally for its inhabitants providing space, light and separation of factories from living spaces.

Fascinating.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8X5bEFvFJQ

London Bridge Revealed - Medicine

I gave a walk for the London Festival of Archiecture on Medicine - good turn out and it went well.

 I tried to give a medical, architectural, historical and to add in various ideas of health and well-being.

London Bridge Revealed – Medicine (Guided Walk)

During June the Museum of Walking will lead an eclectic series of walks focusing on some of the key characteristics that make up London Bridge’s past, present and future: its riverside, railway and greenery, and its unique heritage medical and leisure heritage.
Both the provision and education associated with Guy’s Hospital and Kings College has a huge legacy in the area, and has attracted private hospitals as well. Not only is the Guy’s tower a significant landmark (purportedly the highest hospital building in the world both at the time of its construction in the 1970s and in the present day), but as one of the largest employers, holds the key to many personal and collective memories.
Join for a guided walk in the company of Kevin Flude, former director of the Old Operating Theatre Museum (in St Thomas’ St) who will slice the area with the accuracy of a surgeon’s knife, revealing how the area retains its position at the heart of modern medicine and public health.
The walk is free of charge, but we ask that you book a place through the link provided. The exact meeting point will be announced here before the walk.

https://www.londonfestivalofarchitecture.org/event/__trashed-314-4-2/

Julius Caesar - Soc. of Antiquities Public Lecture "Julius Caesar in Britain" by Andrew Fitzpatrick FSA.

An up date on what we know of Caesar's invasion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfFTM5_WcOE&t=20s&utm_source=Salon+Subscribers&utm_campaign=dda885a268-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_04_10&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c0cb6b55f1-dda885a268-40167989

Basement Mania in London

Very good article on the subject of digging deep basements in the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/may/07/going-underground-the-subterranean-secrets-of-londons-super-rich?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=274068&subid=2272382&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2

Roman Era names

This is a simple web site that has a fairly comprehensive list of Roman era names in a list - gives you the meaning and origin of each name.


http://www.romaneranames.uk/

Virtual St Stephens Project

Here are some 3D visualisations of St Stephens Chapel, home of the House of Commons, Westminster.

https://www.virtualststephens.org.uk/explore

Victorian London Alphabet

This is a lovely Victorian Alphabet illustrated with London sights.


http://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/04/09/the-london-alphabet-x/

London's smallest police station isn't.

London's smallest police station isn't.

Interesting story


https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2018/04/08/london-smallest-police-station-in-trafalgar-square-isnt-what-its-claimed-to-be/

20 great films based in London

Here is Time Outs List

https://www.timeout.com/london/film/the-30-best-london-movies

' Tonite let's male Love in London' 60s documentary

https://vimeo.com/111691128

Radical Walking and other pyschogeographic activiites

Triarchy Press has a set of authors who are developing the idea of walking as a radical art form.

To find out more, follow this link:

https://www.triarchypress.net/walking.html

Victorian Buildings in London you did not know about

This is an excellent selection of buildings, most of which , I did not know about but wish I had!



https://londonist.com/london/best-of-london/five-victorian-buildings-you-didn-t-know-about?utm_source=Today%27s+posts+from+Londonist&utm_campaign=f988096749-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_03_27&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_acfd22879f-f988096749-219853617

Mary Ward House

Great bit of Arts and Crafts Architecture in Tavistock Place

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/27/gun-debate-culture-war-young-people-will-win?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=269200&subid=1563368&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2

Beautiful Brutalism in Camden

This is one of the great estates in London.

Its said to be one of the largest listed buildings in Britain. the Alexandra And Ainsworth Estate and is by the great Neave Brown of Camden Council's Architects Department 1968.


http://londonist.com/london/videos/alexandra-and-ainsworth-estate?rel=handpicked

How many coffee houses in 18th Century London?

I seem to remember they numbered in thousands but initial searches suggest 500. But I came across this web site which gives the answer.

https://publicdomainreview.org/2013/08/07/the-lost-world-of-the-london-coffeehouse/

'By the dawn of the eighteenth century, contemporaries were counting between 1,000 and 8,000 coffeehouses in the capital even if a street survey conducted in 1734 (which excluded unlicensed premises) counted only 551. Even so, Europe had never seen anything like it. Protestant Amsterdam, a rival hub of international trade, could only muster 32 coffeehouses by 1700 and the cluster of coffeehouses in St Mark’s Square in Venice were forbidden from seating more than five customers (presumably to stifle the coalescence of public opinion) whereas North’s, in Cheapside, could happily seat 90 people. '

Milk or Tea first?

I have always believed that you put the milk in first because of the risk of cracking your bone china with boiling hot water.  But have just heard what sounds like a definitive answer to the question:

 

BUT if you are wealthy you can afford cups that don't crack under boiling water AND by the time the hot water comes up from downstairs the water is not so boiling so UPSTAIRS you can put the tea in first DOWNSTAIRS you put the milk in first

So which goes in first becomes a measure of class.  Just like everything else in the UK.

Tudor Map of London 1520

This is another Tudor mapping project. This time it hopes to create a new map fitted to the modern street plan showing the identified parts of Tudor London. And they are printing it!

Here is the link to buy a copy

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Map-Tudor-London-Englands-Historical/dp/0993469833

Here is a link to the project.

http://www.historictownsatlas.org.uk/content/tudor-london-1520

Layers of London Project

This is a project to create an online mapping project for the history of London.

I can't yet see how it is going to work. It has a lot of ambition and very little detail as yet.

Vanessa Harding said the Tudor Map of London project she and Caroling Barron have been working on will link to it.

https://layersoflondon.blogs.sas.ac.uk/

"The Agas Map." and the Map of Early Modern London project

This is one of two really great mapping projects ongoing about Tudor London. 

This one is based at the University of Victoria and is an attempt to populate a digital version of Agas' Early Tudor London Map with information from Stow's 'Survey of London'  and other sources .

I found it very useful for my research for my Cornhill Walk. I also felt sad as I was working reading Stow and looking at hard copies of maps, and then found it all on a plate on this web site.

So it felt like an end of an era.

This is the reference and the link.
 

Jenstad, Janelle. The Agas Map. The Map of Early Modern London. Ed. Janelle Jenstad. Victoria: University of Victoria. Web. 01 March, 2018. <http://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/map.htm>.

Refugium

 Refugium

This is one of my students' projects which is about the issue surrounding being a Refugee.

It is running on 18th March if you wish to attend.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeQsy-fTQoOshwa5HVVW60FS_BYhudaPdYHzspnpgtZFsATOw/viewform

Cornhill Ward Walk

The next in my series of Ward Walks of the City of London, I am doing Cornhill Ward. 

We will look at the archaeology and history of the Ward from the earliest times to the present day.

10th March 18 Cornhill Ward of the City of London
2.30 Bank Tube. Exit 3

Ancient DNA Revolution

We are witnessing a revolution in ancient DNA. The first results came from inference from modern DNA and seem to have given results which are somewhat dubious. But recently changes in cost and technology has built up a new and expanding database of Ancient DNA which is shaking prehistory.

This article gives a good summary.

https://phys.org/news/2018-02-ancient-dna-tales-humans-migrant.html#jCp

One result is that the Beaker folk have been restored to a genuine folk movement after a couple of decades of PC cultural diffusion of a pottery style. But more than that the Beakers Folk are not only an intrusion from abroad But they replaced 90% of the Neolithic genome. The mechanism by which this happened is not yet established. 

So the great Henge projects were created by the first farmers who were largely descended from the Hunter-Gatherers.  Around 2,400 B.C. the beaker folk came over. This was after the Sarsen phase of Stonehenge.  They seem to have adopted neolithic use of henges but not the desire or ability to build huge new ones.

The DNA report is published here:

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25738.epdf?referrer_access_token=VWOWCyPVVXLk4xPfgQahc9RgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0MvCgRpafo1l7XRALArFgCO6vOi1SAh6jgQaefsnzZX1pGLIas5jRPHdWo7nCUK_NDOU3EOuvXbOrokXtSkYpMwwyPp1RX8x9L3YKpE-avBD7y8BMXJGkh-s2PAa-PuH7cIWtx6FXGfFnry1J9SOi7RD1_Z0pibAnYRUIYfq10aZna5ImBOjjsywu8l14vdp0I%3D&tracking_referrer=www.bbc.co.uk

Salon IFA 402 wrote:

'Ancient DNA Continues to Revolutionise the Past

Around 4,500 years ago migrants entered Britain from the European continent, probably travelling from the coasts of France, Belgium or Germany, and initiated a substantial population replacement. The impact is still felt today, with only 10% of the preceding Neolithic genome remaining. The copper age in the UK truly marked the beginning of a new era.

We knew this from a Harvard University research paper published online last year ahead of peer review (‘Pots on the March’, Salon 388). Nature published the article on 21 February, allowing its authors to talk to the press. Among those who did was Mike Parker Pearson FSA (UCL). He told BBC News that the Neolithic British community had monument building ‘absolutely as its core rationale’, while the incoming makers of Beaker pottery were ‘not prepared to collaborate on enormous labour-mobilising projects; their society [was] more de-centralised.’

The context for this is Stonehenge, where our current dating suggests the main structure was built at the very end of the neolithic and shortly before the arrival of Beaker migrants – though smaller megaliths continued to be re-arranged during the Beaker era. There was no ‘violent invasion’, however. The Beaker people, said Parker Pearson, were ‘moving in very small groups or individually’. Steven Shennan FSA (also UCL) noted that ‘around 2500 BC the population [in Britain] is very low and that's precisely when the Beaker population seems to come in.’

In a press release from the University of Cambridge, Christopher Evans FSA (Executive Director of the Cambridge Archaeological Unit) said, ‘this study has been a tremendous project to be involved with. The results are truly ground-breaking and suggest that, with the influx of Continental communities, Britain’s prehistoric story needs to be rewritten in a much more dynamic manner.’ ‘Different teams had different key samples,’ said co-senior author Kristian Kristiansen FSA (University of Gothenburg), ‘and we decided to put together our resources to make possible a study that was more definitive than any of us could have achieved alone.’ The Cambridge Archaeological Unit has supplied many further samples for another Harvard study, of a thousand British Iron Age individuals.'

Good article on Spitalfields by the Gentle Author


http://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/02/26/down-a-well-in-spitalfields/

Daily Mash woman-in-art-gallery-just-guessing-how-long-to-stand-in-front-of-each-painting-

Satire on difficult issues for Museum visitors.

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/arts-entertainment/woman-in-art-gallery-just-guessing-how-long-to-stand-in-front-of-each-painting-20170311123869

The First Britain

The obviously interesting aspect of this is that he is dark skinned. But the piece below indicates what I think is a major change in perception of our origins.  Early DNA studies suggested that most Britains were descended from peoples coming here after the ice melted c 14,0000 years ago.  It was suggested that 90% (in the west) and 75% (in the East)~ were descended from the Basque area refuge.

This threw doubt on the scale of Saxon migration and made the division of peoples on these islands into Celts and Britains a cultural not a genetic indentity.  

 

However, this piece talks about  Cheddar man being part of the Western Hunter Gatherer Group and it then reports a recent  'study released last year also in preliminary form claimed that around 4500 years ago, the time Stonehenge was built, the then indigenous UK genome was all but displaced by migrants from the Continent who made Beaker-style pottery (see Pots on the March, Salon 388). The 10% of WHG DNA seen in modern white Britons could be derived from these Beaker people. They would have picked it up from intermixing with Neolithic Continental populations with a proportion of WHG in their genome.'

 

Thus - we - the British have been continously in these islands not for 14,000 years but 6,500 at most.  Big big changes. I for one am finding the contradictory results from DNA very confusing, and I feel  that the shaft of light that DNA seemed to throw on archaeology was a chimera. Am I right?

 

 

 

This is from Salon IFA 

Salon: Issue 401
20 February 2018

 

 Begin Quotation

 

 

Britain's First Hunter-gatherer Genomes Sequenced

This is the face of Cheddar Man, a modern human buried in a cave near the Somerset village 10,000 years ago, as reconstructed by Dutch brothers Alfons and Adrie Kennis. The model comes from the most recent of a series of projects led by Chris Stringer FSA at the Natural History Museum, in which scientists have been analysing late glacial remains from Cheddar Gorge recovered since the 19th century, including some from new excavation. Cheddar Man, a very rare near complete skeleton of its age, was found in Gough’s Cave in 1903.

The shape of the head and facial details were determined by features of the skull, but skin (dark or dark to black), hair (dark brown possibly black) and eye colour (blue/green) were suggested by elements of the man’s DNA. His whole genome has been sequenced, from a small amount of bone taken from the skull. It was read by Ian Barnes and Selina Brace at the Natural History Museum (NHM), and analysed by Mark Thomas and Yoan Diekmann at UCL Genetics, Evolution and Environment.

This is the first time the colour of Cheddar Man’s skin has been shown to be dark. Public interest was strong, helped by promotion for a Channel 4 film broadcast on 18 February (First Brit: Secrets of the 10,000 Year Old Man). That people in Britain at this time were likely to have been dark-skinned, however, had already been known by scientists.

Cheddar Man’s genetic profile, said Thomas in a release, ‘places him with several other Mesolithic-era Europeans from Spain, Hungary and Luxembourg whose DNA has already been analysed. These “Western hunter-gatherers” [WHG] migrated into Europe at the end of the last ice age, and the group included Cheddar Man’s ancestors’.

Ancient DNA analysis is increasingly showing the history of modern Europeans to have involved several significant genetic changes resulting from migrations and mixing. There are remains of more ancient humans from Gough’s Cave, from whom Cheddar Man was not directly descended, and only around 10% of modern indigenous British ancestry can be linked to the 10,000-year-old skeleton.

The research paper was put online ahead of peer review on 19 February, titled ‘Population replacement in Early Neolithic Britain.’ Authors include Alison Sheridan FSA, Mike Parker Pearson FSA and Chris Stringer. Cheddar Man’s genome represents one of six Mesolithic British individuals, and along with that of 16 new Neolithic and 51 previously published Neolithic British individuals, is used to characterise the Mesolithic and Neolithic populations of Britain. The scientists conclude that the transition to farming at the start of the Neolithic 6,000 years ago was accompanied by incoming continental farmers.

A study released last year also in preliminary form claimed that around 4500 years ago, the time Stonehenge was built, the then indigenous UK genome was all but displaced by migrants from the Continent who made Beaker-style pottery (see Pots on the March, Salon 388). The 10% of WHG DNA seen in modern white Britons could be derived from these Beaker people. They would have picked it up from intermixing with Neolithic Continental populations with a proportion of WHG in their genome.

Stringer, Research Leader in Human Origins at the NHM, first excavated at Gough’s Cave 30 years ago. He said in a release, ‘I first studied Cheddar Man more than 40 years ago, but could never have believed that we would one day have his whole genome – the oldest British one to date!
End Quotation

Hay's Wharf and Hay's Gallerie

Excellent article on Hay's Wharf, Southwark.

http://www.exploringsouthwark.co.uk/hays-wharf/4588352949

BBC Documentary on Thomas Cromwell

Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch argues the case that Thomas Cromwell was a pioneering statesman who laid the foundations for the modern British state.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01t03ky/henry-viiis-enforcer-the-rise-and-fall-of-thomas-cromwell?ns_mchannel=email&ns_source=PAN_SOLUS&ns_campaign=PANUK_DIV_04_IPL_Recommends_C+fortnightly&ns_linkname=bbctwo_henry8senforcerthomascromwell_FactualHistory_henry8senforcerthomascromwell&ns_fee=0

Book review of Quartz and Feldspar. Dartmoor: a British landscape in modern times Planning Perspectives Vol. 0, Iss. 0, 2018

My book review has just been published:

Flude, Kevin Quartz and Feldspar. Dartmoor: a British landscape in modern times

Planning Perspectives Vol. 0, Iss. 0, 2018

Last 2 people to be executed for sex between men in England

This is a  horrendous taie of the judicial murder of  James_Pratt and John_Smith who were found guilty on the evidence of a landlord and landlady spying their sexual activity through a keyhole.

The Magistrate urged clemency but, although the Privy Council, spared everyone else found guilty of burglary, attempted murder and robbery during that period, the only 2 they executed was Pratt and Smith.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Pratt_and_John_Smith

Divorced, Beheaded, Died Sales to Date

Book Sales 'Divorced, Beheaded. Died'  100,380 units  to date. 

 

Moral - don't enter into a fixed price contract.

Hardback 50664 copies

Paperback 24986 copies

Ebook 24,703 copies

Audiobook 27 copies

 

Although, I do think the publisher might give the occassional bonus.

 

Wolfhall London. More and Cromwell Tudor London Walk

My next walk for London Walks is this Saturday 13th January 2018 at 10.45.  St Pauls Tube Exit 2

The Walk is a look at London during the Reformation. Its also a companion to Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall.  We look at the London of the early 16th Century and walks the streets known to both men - both Lord Chancellors to Henry VIII, both commoners, both beheaded, friends but on rival side of the intelectual and political divide.


Here is a short promo video.

https://youtu.be/Jkiza8HOFm4

Sex Pistols - the Uxbridge Gig

Johnny Rotten remembers it as a terrible gig in a huge sports hall with an inadequate sound system, and an incapable Sid Vicious in front of a largely uncomprehending audience.

I should have been there but I couldn't be bothered to travel all the way out to Uxbridge on a cold Dec night in 1977. (16th December, Cost £1.75)

Pictures:


https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.153253181495781.35035.148548651966234&type=3

Description

Diffusion Choir art versus nature

Diffusion Choir.

 

This is, what you might call,  atrium art. And it is a beautiful composition which subtly changes mimicing flocking birds.

Beautiful it is but interesting that it is nowhere near as beautiful as flocking birds.

https://www.treehugger.com/culture/diffusion-choir-sculpture-soso-limited-plebian-design-hypersonic.html

Barging through London

This is a film following a trip along the Regent's Canal in 1924.

Shows Limehouse, Mile End, Whitechapel, Hackney,Camden, Kings Cross.

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-barging-through-london-1924-online

The Arts for Health and Wellbeing

This is a useful Parliamentary Report

It includes links to download the full report; a summary report and videos.

http://www.artshealthandwellbeing.org.uk/appg-inquiry/

Is this the meaning of London

There are some people who think German was spoken in Eastern Britain before the Romans. For them the meaning of the words Thames and London given by modern linquists are wrong.

Thames - Dark River
London - indo-european for Plowonida (Richard Coates - meaning settlement by the Dark or flowing river)

These should be replaced by  (according to:  http://www.proto-english.org/l10.html) 

Thames:
'Etymology of Thames: 'aT (the) ames' = 'inhabited place where the estuary begins'. The Romans wrote: Tamisa or Tamesa. [4] The river would later (before the Romans came!) be named similar to 'the London river' as 'the Thames river'.  '

They make the point that the name originates as reference to the land and then gets transferred to the River.

London
'Landen, if one accepts that the place-name was originally proto-English. 'Land-en' (aphonic 'e') is an ancient English, but still used in Dutch, plural for 'land'.

'Land' meant originally: an open space to build a home upon, the farmhouse with its surrounding grounds.'

Did Beaker Fold replace the Neolithic population

The claim is that the British Neolithic population are 90% replaced by Bell Beaker people in the Bronze Age.  Can't quite see how such a genocide can have taken place at this period in history, but maybe its more of a statistical replacement rather than with death and horror?

You can download the paper or read the abstract here.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/05/09/135962

The Wooden Roads of London

This is a great article about the surfaces of London Roads.  It focuses on the use of wooden setts in the 19th Century.

They can still be seen in Islington and Farringdon.

https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2015/01/10/the-time-when-londons-streets-were-paved-with-wood/

The City still pays rent to the Queen

In October there is a ceremony where the City pays its rent to the Queen.

The rent consists of:  an axe, a knife, 6 horseshoes, and 61 nails.

 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/london-is-still-paying-rent-to-the-queen-on-a-property-leased-in-1211

How does it feel to survive Execution?

Well John Half-Hanged Smith survived in 1705  to be revived and pardoned.

This is link includes his memoire of what it was like to be hanged.

http://www.executedtoday.com/2008/12/24/1705-john-half-hanged-smith-half-hanged/

The Swinging Sixties. 'You want to get a f***ing joint, they're coming out of your earholes. You want a cup of tea, you've got no f***ing chance!' Cecil Beaton on the set of Performance

 Performance was largely filmed in Powis Square, near Portobello Road in Notting Hill.  

Some good quotes come from it but my favourits is by Cecil Beaton, fed up on the set of the film,  said  'You want to get a fucking joint, they're coming out of your earholes. You want a cup of tea, you've got no fucking chance!' 

This is an interesting post about Powis Square and Performance.

 

http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/2009/01/donald-cammells-performance-at-powis-square/

This gives images of some of London's leading post-modern buildings - by no means comprehensive but a few of the most notable.

Click here for link

Main Wheel Decider for Narrative Environments Lecture

This was a test for the device I used to run my Practice Lecture at Central St Martin#'s M.A. for Narrative Environments Course.  In the event I had more options. It would be good if you could click through to a picture or a web site.

Otherwise an easy to use tool.

Click to make your own at Wheel Decide

The Canals in Autumn

Smells of Autumn on the Canal

Story Shapes in Museum displays

This is a short video by Tim Gardom of an idea I first came across in

Saying it Differently

A handbook for museums

refreshing their display

Alison Grey, Tim Gardom and Catherine Booth


The video is here: 

https://vimeo.com/243303263


The handbook is here https://www.swfed.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Saying-It-Differently.pdf

Charles Roach Smith

Interesting article on the pioneer archaeologist. 19th Century and worked in London.

http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue45/6/5.html

All Saints Road,Portobello Rd and its history

Everything you want to know about the formation of Girl Band All Saints.

http://www.allsaintsroad.co.uk/our-history/

The True Facts about the Christine Keeler Chair

It wasn't an Arne Jacobson Chair it was a knock-off copy possibly by Heals. And the V&A have it and the famous photo.

Read all about it here.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/c/christine-keeler-photograph-a-modern-icon/

Bloomberg, Walbrook - a review

 My review on facebook.

I walked around the new Bloomberg Building yesterday. I have contradictory thoughts. But what is clear is what an impact it has. Its huge, its restrained, elegant, perhaps timeless and brings out its neighbours. It places you face to face with great architecture by Wren, Koolhaas, Stirling, Lutyens, Dance and so on. It reinstates part of Watling Street. it creates a sense of space. So it many ways it is a magnificent achievement. And by far the best Foster building in the City for a very long time.
But and there are a few buts for me.

 The public space it creates is not great. Yes, it does give it a sense of space around the building but there is no great new public square. just quite nice small spaces. The building lets down Cannon Street. The facade along Cannon Street could have helped make Cannon Street into a better retail street but it is given over to a services entry which is surely very wrong for Cannon Street. But mostly, it is yet another landmark in that great task that the City of London has embarked on - the destruction of the historic City. Yes you can see great pieces of historic landmarks but they sit as islands in a sea of modern architecture. They are isolated, it helps them become icons perhaps, Somehow Bloomberg marks a period, an end to the Victorian and early 20th Century City. It is gone, it is pickled in Bankers and Hedge Fund aspic. Mammon has won

This link described the project.

https://www.bloomberg.com/company/announcements/new-european-hq-unveiled/

 This is an excerpt of an interview with me about the canal at Kings Cross.



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Evidence of world's earliest winemaking uncovered by archaeologists | Science | The Guardian

This is quite interesting because Georgie has always claimed to be the original wine producing area.





Evidence of world's earliest winemaking uncovered by archaeologists | Science | The Guardian

Viennese Modernism 2018 - Be ahead of your time

Interesting web site which is, I assume, advertising Vienna. Short videos on Klimt and Schiele.





Viennese Modernism 2018 - Be ahead of your time

The Making of the London Mithraeum

A billion pound building by Norman Foster has allowed the rebuilding of the Mithraeum.  It is the 3rd one.  The first was built in the 3rd Century in the Roman Period, the second one in 1954, and that one was then moved back to its original place. So how much is it an original?





The Making of the London Mithraeum - YouTube

here is a second film a bit longer

National Army Museum Transformation

 I went to see the National Army Museum for the first time since its HLF scheme opened.  I always remember the  building as being in a cramped little space with no sense of place.  The architectural transformation by BDP is a resounding success. It now has a decent frontage on Royal Hospital Street and inside has a rational and open countenance that is a pleasure to inhabit..

The displays are less of a success.  The only section that really works is the 'Soldier' exhibition. It works very well to introduce the experience of being a soldier with a nice mix of object, interactive, quotation and image.  However the Battle section is very disappointing. It really gives neither an interesting insight into the wars Britain has fought, not does it give a view of experience of war in the various periods or the hardware of war. I left this section feeling I had learnt nothing.  I had similar experiences in the Army and Society sections. I think the problem is that the displays compete with the Imperial War Museum so the designers decided to take a different approach.  It feels as if that approach might have worked on paper but in reality nothing emerges from the detail to enlighten.  Its still worth a visit but after a fine start in fails to impress.

BDP architectures national-army-museum/







Plan a visit | National Army Museum

Cuseum — Life & Death of QR Codes in Museums

This is a very useful and short summary of the life and death of the QR Code - a method of directing people to extra online content that sounded great but which was never taken up in any significant number.



Also has useful links to other material re digital engagement.



Cuseum — Life & Death of QR Codes in Museums

Britain's First Museum Catalogue - Musaeum Tradescantianum, or, A collection of ra...

For some reason this is not on display at the new Ashmolean museum Founders Room



Musaeum Tradescantianum, or, A collection of ra...

Ancient Pictures as inspiration for Storyboarding.

As part of the M.A for Narrative Environments at Central St Martins we use storyboards as a technique for developing narrative projects.  Tutors on the course collected examples.  I looked at inspiration from ancient sources.

Bayeaux tapestry

The tapestry moves through time and space with a clear narrative. Different narrative layers are used. Simple conventions make it easier to read – the English for example have moustaches while the Normans have pudding basin hairstyles. Text is limited for example to crucial identification of leading characters. Places are not spelt out though can be identified by those who know by context and form.  The narrative structure is  linear and has beautiful clarity. The top and bottom strips allow additional information often decorative but often individual stories or symbols.

The following shows a scrolling video of the Tapestry:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08zVsxjVEJY

Charles Duke of Orleans in the Tower

This is a single image but time is shown passing. This is indicated by the simple method of showing Charles in distinctive clothes so you can recognise the multiple occurrences of this person as time passes..

The duke is shown in prison in the Tower writing – is he writing his poetry (this is the frontispiece of his book of poetry) or is he writing a letter to his relatives saying 'Oi! I've been here 20 years while you fail to raise my ransom!' (he was imprisoned for 20 years after being taken prisoner at the Battle of Agincourt while his family raised the enormous ransom).

He is shown looking out of the window for the ransom money to arrive; he is shown greeting the money; He is shown riding out of the Tower to freedom; he is shown boating to freedom to a boat to take him home
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles,_Duke_of_Orl%C3%A9ans#/media/File:Towrlndn.JPG

Siege of Lachish British Museum

This is an alabaster relief which provides an extended portrait of a siege of a town in Palestine by King Senacherib of Assyria.   It is like a long camera pan across the battlefield but time passes as you move from left to right seamlessly but you also move geographically from the West to the East. So it doesn't have frames but in a single image the story of the siege is told seamlessly,. 

Here is a youtube illustration of the siege relief

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcLwoa19kLw

Trajan's Column

Trajan's Column shows a vast scrolling narrative of the invasion of Dacia by Trajan. It is full of detail and is used by Archaeologists to understand Roman military campaigns and methods of colonisation. The relief are quite subtle often using different viewpoints to elucidate information and can be used as a model of using images to tell a story. 

But what makes it interesting is that it would have been very difficult to read despite the fact that the Romans built 2 libraries to the side of it with viewing platforms. Trajan is depicted 58 times (in yellow above); his ashes were buried in a vault on the ground level, and a statue of him on top. So the public could never see all the detail and so the interpretation was that the primary purpose was to glorify the Emperor – the detail was as much to impress as to be read by the public. 

You can see a plaster cast in the Cast Courts of the V&A

This is an interesting article on the Column. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/trajan-column/article.html and you might enjoy this short stop motion animation documentary about building the Column

Building the column

By way of contrast, here is an interesting collection of story boards of iconic film

http://flavorwire.com/349534/awesome-storyboards-from-15-of-your-favorite-films

Izi.Travel Museum guided tour

I tested a museum's izi.travel guided tour. These were my conclusions.

The app worked very well as far as navigation was concerned. It provides a GPS based mapped route around the system.  There was a slight uncertainty as to how to start the tour but otherwise, mechanically, it looked professional and worked well.

The scripting was very professionally read by actors.  I think the main problem was that each stop was too long.  Some of them were 10 minutes long and this seemed like a bit of a slog to get through. I think it should be split up into 2 - 3 sections with optional extras if any one wants to explore.  I don't know if this is possible with the app.

I would have liked to have seen more images and less audio.

The script did not make it clear whether the spoken material by the characters was made up by the script- writer or quotes from a contemporary source.  I guess a mixture of both but the uncertainty devalued the quotations.


Another problem was that it wasn't very place orientated - I felt sometimes I might as well be in the cafe listening to it as standing on the spot prescribed by the app.

Overall, it worked but I'm not sure it made me what to seek out Museum guided tours on smart phone. It didn't offer enough. I'm left uncertain whether smartphone tours are the way forward.

But I will give it a go for one of my walks.


https://izi.travel/en

Record ID: NMS-63179C - EARLY MEDIEVAL inscribed object

'Dead is the Dwarf'  This is a Saxon runic inscription.

It appears to be a medical inscription to be worn as a talisman and references a illness characterized in the Saxon period as 'the dwarf'.  Presumably the 'dwarf' was driven out of the body and this runic plaque stops it coming back.

More information in the notes section at the bottom of the record in this link. and in British Archaeology Nov/Dec 2017. Page 52

Must Farm Documentary - Britains Pompeii - YouTube

Maybe that is an exaggeration but still very interesting documentary.



ᴴᴰ [Documentary] Britains Pompeii - YouTube

Archaeology and history walks upcoming!

These are the walks I am doing for London Walks for the forthcoming winter season:

Sat 10.45 4th Nov 2017
The Archaeology & History of the Bankside - from London Bridge to the Globe  - London Bridge  Tooley Street Entrance

A walk  looking at the Archaeology and History of Southwark and the Bankside.  This area, to the South of London Bridge, has more prehistoric remains that the City of London and a set of important Roman buildings that suggest it was more than just a suburb of Roman London.  On the walk we look at the origins and history of London's most famous Bridge, and its importance for the development of London's most famous suburb.  The walk will explore the Roman settlement, its decline in the so-called 'Dark Ages' and its reappearance in the 9th Century as a new Bridge was erected.  We investigate the area in and around Southwark Cathedral. The walk ends  looking at the archaeology of Shakespeare's Stage.

Sat 2.30 18th Nov 2017
The Archaeology & History of Chelsea  - From King Offa to the Swinging 60s - Sloane Square Tube

Sat 10.45 2 Dec 2017
Myths, Legends and the Origins of London - Tower Hill Tube

Sat 10.45 16 Dec 2017
Exploring Roman London - a Literary & Archaeology Guide Tower Hill Tube

Sat 10.45 30 Dec 2017
Medieval & Reformation London  - Smithfield to the Guildhall  - Barbican Underground

Sat 10.45 13 Jan 2018
Cromwell and More's Tudor London - St Pauls Tube Exit 2

Sat 2.30 27 Jan 2018
William Shakespeare and Tudor & Stuart London -  Tower Hill Tube

Sat 2.30 10 Feb 2018
The Archaeology & History of Southwark - From London Bridge to Bermondsey Abbey - London Bridge - Tooley Street exit

Sat 2.30 24 Feb 2018
The Archaeology & History of Rotherhithe - Rotherhithe Tube

Sat 2.30 10 March 2018
Cornhill - City of London Ward Walk -  Bank Tube Station Exit 3

ZepplinEvents!

Here is a series of Zepplin themed events in London.



The raid on Calmington Road by Zepplin in 1917 killed 12 people and destroyed 3 houses. 

   http://www.bridgetonowhere.friendsofburgesspark.org.uk/the-story-of-burgess-park-heritage-trail/heritage-trail-a-l/bomb-damage/ 





Events Listing | Bridge to Nowhere

English Heritage needs Interim Listing to avoid destruction of priceless heritage survival. oid potential listing

England needs Interim listing powers to prevent philistines like the developer who destroyed a 17th Century Building. English Heritage were able to do absolutely nothing about it because it was not listed, and it was demolished before they could list it. 





Press release: Developer mutilates Jacobean ceiling to avoid potential listing

Bronze Age Runnymede: Excavations at Runnymede Bridge - YouTube

Film on the excavations at Runymede - the story being told is that it is London's the Bronze Age Glastonbury.

Its a very opinionated documentary with very little in the way of presentation of the data. It is more an archaeological reflection on the Bronze Age than an analysis of the Runymede site and the viewer gets very little in the way of evidence that they can weigh up.  I also came away with little idea of the geography of the site.



Bronze Age Runnymede: Excavations at Runnymede Bridge - YouTube

Spy themed pop up bar The Bletchley opens in Chelsea, London | Metro News

Opened in March.  To get your cocktails you have to decipher the code.





Spy themed pop up bar The Bletchley opens in Chelsea, London | Metro News

A Hackney Autobiography / Home

This is a project to record the history of Centerprise - a Dalston radical institution set up in opposition to mainstream bookshops, cafes, education and so on.  There are interesting links to many projects they did before they closed in 2012.



Reading the archive it seems very 2017.



A Hackney Autobiography / Home

The Archaeology of Greater London online map

This an online map of finds in the London area.



The Archaeology of Greater London online map: The Archaeology of Greater London online map

1982 El Vino in Fleet Street lifted ban on women standing with male colleagues at bar | From the Guardian | The Guardian

I had no idea this was so recent - I thought it was about 1972.



30 years ago today: El Vino lifted ban on women standing with male colleagues at bar | From the Guardian | The Guardian

Essex Hoodie

The portable antiquities scheme has recorded a figure wearing what is thought to be a birrus britannicus,which is listed as one of Britain's leading exports in the reign of Diocletian.



Excellent to think the Essex Hoodie has such a pedigree



Record ID: ESS-33D3A2 - ROMAN figurine

Tunnel: The Archaeology of Crossrail - Tunnel: The Archaeology of Crossrail - Crossrail Archaeology Museum

Videos are well worth looking at.



Tunnel: The Archaeology of Crossrail - Tunnel: The Archaeology of Crossrail - Crossrail Archaeology Museum

The Elizabethan Court Day by Day - Folgerpedia

This is an amazing resource which gives a day to day account of Queen Elizabeth's reign compiled by:



Marion Colthorpe’s The Elizabethan Court Day by Day, published online in May and hosted by Folgerpedia



The Elizabethan Court Day by Day - Folgerpedia

Atlas of Hillforts

Just published 

Atlas of Hillforts

and to go on a walking tour:

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/aug/07/walking-ancient-hillforts-wiltshire-downs-england-atlas-of-hillforts?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=238419&subid=1563368&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2

Going underground: London’s new Postal Museum and subterranean mail train | Travel | The Guardian

Reopened museum in Clerkenwell.



Going underground: London’s new Postal Museum and subterranean mail train | Travel | The Guardian

Story boards and the past

Story Boards examples from the Past

Story boards began as a tool for film makers but are now being used by a range of design disciplines. At CSM we use them extensively for the MA for Narrative Environments.  My question was are there any example from the past which might be useful for my students to consider.  These are my examples:

Bayeaux tapestry

The tapestry moves through time and space with a clear narrative. Different narrative layers are used. Simple conventions make it easier to read – the English for example have moustaches while the Normans have pudding basin hairstyles. Text is limited to crucial identification of leading characters. Places are not spelt out though can be identified by those who know by context and form.It is linear and has beautiful clarity. The top and bottom strips allow additional information often decorative but often individual stories or symbols.

The following shows a scrolling video of the Tapestry:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08zVsxjVEJY

Charles Duke of Orleans in the Tower

This is a single image but time is shown passing. This is indicated by the simple method of showing Charles in distinctive clothes so you can recognise the multiple occurrences of this person as time passing..

The duke is shown in prison in the Tower writing – is he writing his poetry (this is the frontispiece of his book of poetry) or is he writing a letter to his relatives saying 'Oi! I've been here 20 years while you fail to raise my ransom!' (he was imprisoned for 20 years after being taken prisoner at the Battle of Agincourt while his family raised the enormous ransom).

He is shown looking out of the window for the ransom money to arrive; he is shown greeting the money; he is shown riding out of the Tower to freedom; he is shown boating to freedom to a boat to take him home
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles,_Duke_of_Orl%C3%A9ans#/media/File:Towrlndn.JPG

Siege of Lachish British Museum

This is an alabaster relief which provides an extended portrait of a siege of a town in Palestine by King Senacherib of Assyria.   It is like a long camera pan across the battlefield but time passes as you move from left to right seamlessly but you also move geographically from the West to the East. So it doesn't have frames. 

Here is a youtube illustration of the siege relief

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcLwoa19kLw

Trajan's Column

Trajan's Column shows a vast scrolling narrative of the invasion of Dacia by Trajan. It is full of detail and is used by Archaeologists to understand Roman military campaigns and methods of colonisation. The relief are quite subtle often using different viewpoints to elucidate information and can be used as a model of using images to tell a story. 

But what makes it interesting is that it would have been very difficult to read despite the fact that the Romans built 2 libraries to the side of it with viewing platforms. Trajan is depicted 58 times (in yellow above); his ashes were buried in a vault on the ground level, and a statue of him on top. So the main reading was probably to glorify the Emperor – the detail was as much to impress as to be read by the public. 

You can see a plaster cast in the Cast Courts of the V&A. 

This is an interesting article on the Column. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/trajan-column/article.html and you might enjoy this short stop motion animation documentary about building the Column

Building the column

And in case you want some proper film storyboards have a look at these:
 

http://flavorwire.com/349534/awesome-storyboards-from-15-of-your-favorite-films

The V& A new entrance

The V & A has revealed its new entrance.  

 The architect is the Amanda Levete Architect. It provides a new entrance from Exhibition road, and a lovely white open space courtyard with good views of the Henry Cole Wing.

 Below is a new temporary exhibition Gallery,

and it integrates various routes through the Museum.

On a personal level it is great to see the blight caused by the work coming to an end and allows my V&A guided walk to be restored.  I'm particularly pleased to see the Ceramic Staircase restored. I hope it isn't long before the Cast Court is reopened.

This is what the V&a says about the project: 

https://www.vam.ac.uk/info/exhibition-road-building-project.

And here the Guardian.  The V&A

Neolithic people wiped out by Bell Beaker folk.

The latest study of DNa suggests Beaker folk are not a distinct people in Europe but in Britain Bell Beaker DNA replaces Neolithic DNA.



 

Ancient-genome study finds Bronze Age ‘Beaker culture’ invaded Britain : Nature News & Comment

Days in the Archives

This looks like a really nice set of archive sessions in the archives at the Bishopsgate Institute.

http://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/course/3080/An-Excursion-to-the-Great-Exhibition-(1851)?utm_source=Events+and+courses+list+-+newsletter+subscribers+and+visitors%2Fstudents&utm_campaign=d135b8c65d-Summer+Term+at+Bishopsgate+Institute&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3732698dac-d135b8c65d-127520037

Virtual Auto-Icon

Have fun rotating Jeremy Betham, and remember its for the Greater Good.



Virtual Auto-Icon

The World's first land Survey - Cromwell's Ireland

Homepage of The Down Survey Project

Watch this video of a discovery of a 17th Century interior

This is an amazing handheld vid of an exploration of an ordinary house which turns out to be 17th Century.

Watch it!


(7) A hidden treasure is revealed.. - YouTube

Remains of five 'lost' Archbishops of Canterbury found - BBC News

Amazing images of the los crypt in St Mary at Lambeth.



Remains of five 'lost' Archbishops of Canterbury found - BBC News

Huge collection of Celtic warrier images

(164) Pinterest • The world’s catalog of ideas



Huge collection of Celtic warrier images

Introducing the Freud Museum - YouTube

New introductory film on the Freud Museum



Introducing the Freud Museum - YouTube

Eric Gill exhibition to confront child sex abuse | Museums Association

This is an important issue - can you show work by artists who did despicable acts?  Can we dance to Gary Glitter?  or go to an Eric Gill exhibition?  The last question will be answered if you go to this exhibition.







Eric Gill exhibition to confront child sex abuse | Museums Association

“In with a bang and out like fools!” Sheep farming

Now that I am taking some country tours I'm trying to find out about farming.  This is very useful





Year on a Sheep Farm | National Sheep Association: “In with a bang and out like fools!”

Crackdown spells the end of 'free' walking tours where the guides force you to tip

Some, and only some, walking tour companies don't follow good practice.



Crackdown spells the end of 'free' walking tours where the guides force you to tip



London Walks by contrast are brilliant.

Spy report that criticised Marlowe for 'gay Christ' claim is revealed online | Stage | The Guardian

This is the document a spy recorded about Elizabethan Playwright (and spy) Christopher Marlowe a few days before he was murdered with a knife through the eye in a Tavern in Deptford.



It provides a motive.



Spy report that criticised Marlowe for 'gay Christ' claim is revealed online | Stage | The Guardian

Chelsea Buns

To my mind, with Lardy Cake (and Worcestershire Dripping Cake) the king of pastries. If I were a Little Englander I would blame the Belgian Bun and the Danish Pastry for their disappearance from mainstream bakers and Cafes. 

Occasionally, they have them at the British Library Cafe and Cafe Oto. 

Fragrant as honey and sweeter in taste!
As flaky and white as if baked by the light,
As the flesh of an infant soft, doughy and slight.

Swift



London Food History: Chelsea Buns | Londonist

An ancestor at Agincourt?

John Flude listed as an archer with the Earl of Salisbury fought in France in 1417. The battle took place in 1415 but I'm hoping the date might be when the record was made not when he served.



Have a look for your own



Medieval Soldier

Stonehenge a healing centre - tribute to Geoff Wainwright who died recently.

The Healing Stones of Dyfed - YouTube

The Destruction of the Country House

Salon IFA had an interesting report on the export of British Heritage.

'In 1974 Harris, Roy Strong FSA and Marcus Binney FSA co-curated the Destruction of the Country House exhibition at the V&A, which encouraged the founding of SAVE Britain's Heritage, of which Binney is currently Executive President and Harris a Trustee. Now, according to the Observer, Strong and Harris are hoping Britain’s ‘lost heritage’ can be tracked down.

From the 1880s to the 1940s entire historic interiors were shipped across the Atlantic, to be bought by the likes of William Randolph Hearst, John D Rockefeller, JP Morgan and Henry Frick. The owners of Gwydir Castle, Conwy, have been searching for 16th-century decorative carved oak panelling, stripped from the castle and sold to Hearst in 1921, without success. Strong told the Observer: ‘There were ship-loads of early English portraits exported, not just grand things. There’s English sculpture – how much of that went to America? We don’t know. There were no export controls. A large proportion of Britain’s art history from the 16th to 18th centuries may be missing.''