Here's how the archaeology field school works: there are two courses, Roman Britain and Medieval Britain. The first 2 weeks are the Roman course; the second 2 weeks are the Medieval course; and the last week is the end-of-term trip. For each course, the first week is spent in class, and the second week is spent digging. "In class" = 3 hours of lecture per day and 1.5 hours of seminar (class discussions on the assigned readings, where we're marked on participation). Both of the dig sites are on the estate, and during dig weeks we'll be on site from 10-5 every day, plus guest lectures before 10am some mornings. The history professor, Dr. Scott, does all the regular lectures, and a Canadian professional archaeologist has been brought in to oversee the excavation side of things. The field school has 13 students, and 3 of us are returning castle students.
Thursday's field study was to Pevensey Castle. I've actually been here before- it was part of the "local orientation tour" at the beginning of fall term. It was much more informative to be here with a prof though, instead of just being let loose to explore on our own (although that was fun too).
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Transportation for the 10-min trip from Herstmonceux to Pevensey:
Castle 16-seater minibus |
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| we walked around the circumference of the castle through the woods |
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| grave marker in St. Nicholas' church next door |
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| the "haunted" dungeon! It was extremely creepy, actually. |
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| Inside the castle |
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If you go through the archives you'll see
I have a picture of this same sign
from last September! I guess
flooding is a permanent problem here... |
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| View from the Postern Gate |
Pevensey Castle was originally "Anderida", one of the 10 Saxon Shore Forts built by the Romans. Anderida was built in the 300s CE. Then it was taken over and built upon by William the Conqueror and the Normans in 1066. By WWII in the 1940s, it had fallen somewhat into ruin, and the British army actually destroyed it further to deflect German attention from the soldiers and gun emplacements the British were hiding in the ruins.
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across from the castle
We had a lecture on Pevensey as we walked around the castle. We had also had assigned readings on the Saxon Short Fort system for the day, so for our seminar we stopped at a pub across the street for lunch and our discussion. It's a great atmosphere, all the students are some combo of archaeology/history/medieval studies majors so everyone is genuinely interested in what we're studying. The small group size makes it easy to talk and adds an informality which is awesome. |
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| I ordered a cucumber sandwich and slice of treacle tart :) |
Speaking of the informality of classes at the castle, here's another photo which illustrates my point. The last 2 days had gorgeous weather, so instead of sitting in the classroom for our seminar we went out and sat in the field!
