How is your sex drive, honey?

Life was simpler thousands of years ago. In Biblical times, the secret to a happy marriage was nothing more than a honey-based alcoholic drink.

Newly-weds were encouraged to drink mead every night for one lunar month after they tied the knot.

The fruits of their so-named honeymoon would then appear nine months later, in the form of a bouncing baby.

Sex life

Now scientists at the Royal Society of Chemistry in London are setting out to determine whether there is any truth in the ancient myth that mead is, indeed, the key to a healthy sex life.

Researchers are seeking the help of prospective honeymooners willing to drink mead every evening for 30 days after they exchange their vows.

They will select one couple who will be asked to keep a nightly record of the effects or otherwise of the ancient brew.

The findings will be published in November to coincide with UK Chemistry Week, which will highlight the role of chemistry if daily life.

The society has already placed an order for a dozen bottles of mead to help the couple on their way.

Mead is an alcoholic liquor made by fermenting a mixture of honey and water.

The drink has its roots in Babylon more than 4,000 years ago. While popular with newly-weds, it was also hailed by soldiers who poured it on wounds in the belief it helped them to heal more quickly.

"Mead was not just drunk as a wine but was believed to have magical powers revitalising and healing," said Jerome Schooler, who runs Britain's largest mead maker, Lurgashall Winery in Sussex.

"As a result of this, Mead was the elixir to prolong life. People thought if they drank it they would be immortal."

Researchers at the Royal Chemistry Society are hoping their study will unearth some of the science behind the myth.

"There is some serious science in it," said Claire McLoughlin of the society.

"Mead was believed to increase virility and fertility and as in many myths and legends there is a basis in science because mead is rich in B vitamins and also rich in amino acids which are the building blocks of protein so do increase stamina."

Couples who are interested in volunteering to take part in the study can email the society at emsleyb@rsc.org

(BBC News - 2003 May 30)

What gladiators were really like

When you hear 'gladiator', what do you picture? A fat vegetarian with bad teeth, who never fought wearing strappy leather sandals? Well, that's what evidence from an ancient mass grave is telling us.

The discovery of the first confirmed collection of gladiator remains has allowed scientists to apply forensic analysis - such as seen in television dramas like CSI, except with real science and not just fluorescent sprays and swabs - to bones, providing startling new evidence of just how gladiators lived and died.

Instead of the all-out brawling of gladiators depicted in film, the injuries discovered on the remains suggest the fighting in a nearby arena was organised and refereed, with fights between pairs of evenly matched gladiators. These gladiators would have been trained, well fed and given regular medical attention.

The gladiator cemetery was found in 1993 by archaeologists from the Austrian Archeological Institute in Vienna. They stumbled upon it in Ephesus, now part of Turkey, while surveying the ancient route from the city to the nearby Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Ancient cemetery

Located 300 m from the stadium where they fought for their lives, the gladiators' mass grave was found to cover an area of about 20 square metres. In it experts uncovered a three-metre-deep layer packed with over 2,000 bones and 5,000 smaller fragments which are thought to have belonged to nearly 70 men.

“I think the balance of evidence suggests these people were gladiators: skeletal data, archaeological data – graffiti on wall paintings at Ephesus, tombstones of gladiators at Ephesus and historical documentation for gladiators at Ephesus," comments archaeologist Charlotte Roberts from the University of Durham in England.

Historical sources tell us that Roman gladiators were mostly recruited from prisoners of war, slaves and condemned criminals, and were trained in specialised gladiator schools. There were seven main types of gladiators, each packing a different combination of armour and weaponry. These types were matched to fight in pairs with evenly balanced defence and attack weapons. The sources indicate there was no point system, and fights were pursued to a decisive outcome; generally injury, or even death, for one of the participants.

The first gladiatorial contests took place in Rome in 264 BC as a funeral rite, but they became increasingly popular as a public spectacle throughout the Empire around the time of Julius Caesar. Under the Romans, Ephesus was the capital of their Asian province. The Roman commander-in-chief Lucullus introduced the first gladiator fights to Ephesus in 69 BC and the stadium was then converted to an elliptical arena for the purpose.

Counting the dead

Now, anthropologists Fabian Kanz and Karl Grossschmidt, of the Medical University of Vienna in Austria, are painting a picture of gladiatoral life as never imagined before. The pair have spent the past five years painstakingly analysing all the bones with forensic methods much like those used in modern homicide cases. They detail the technique in an article in the journal Forensic Science International.

"We've been able to prove theories about the weaponry and fighting techniques of gladiators based on wounds [on the bones and skulls]," says Grossschmidt. "Inscriptions on the tombstones also tell us that some gladiators survived 136 fights."

To estimate the number of bodies in the grave, the researchers used the standard procedure for analysing mass graves; they looked at the skeletal parts that are generally best preserved, to count the minimum number of individuals in the grave.

Of the minimum of 68 individuals, all were men aged from 20 to 30, except for one young woman found with a gravestone that marked her as a slave and an older man, up to 55 years old. While the men were short by modern standards, their average height - around 168 cm - was within the normal range for the ancient population.

When the pair analysed the bones further, they found high bone densities, similar to modern trained athletes. Enlarged muscle markers on arm and leg bones also provide evidence of an extensive and continuous exercise program.

Intriguingly, the high bone density of the feet hinted that to Kanz and Grossschmidt that the gladiators fought barefoot in the sand rather than with their feet protected by leather sandals - a common Roman fashion accessory.

Green diet

The researchers expected gladiators would need a protein-rich diet to build muscle - however their analysis of the bones in fact suggested a vegetarian diet.

Plants contain higher levels of the element strontium than animal tissues. So, people who consume more plants and less meat will build up measurably higher levels of strontium in their bones. Levels of strontium in the gladiators' bones were two times higher than the bones of contemporary Ephesians, according to research presented by Kanz and Grossschmidt at a meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in Philadelphia, U.S., in April this year.

This agrees with some historical reports of gladiators eating a diet of mainly barley, beans and dried fruit, says Grossschmidt.

It would have given them a lot of strength, but may also have contributed to the tooth decay found in teeth in the cemetery and potentially made the men fat. However, a little extra weight could actually have had benefits in protecting vital organs from cutting blows during fights, argue the researchers.

Grossschmidt says that the gladiators also drank foul-sounding plant or bone ash solutions, acting as a kind of ancient isotonic sports drink. The mineral-rich drink may even have been a kind primitive painkiller, he says.

Expensive commodity

The large number of well-healed wounds found on the skeletons show us that the gladiators were better treated medically than they were with their limited menu. Some bones even show evidence of surgical intervention, such as amputations.

"Medical care and physiotherapeutical treatment were excellent for them," says Grosschmidt, possibly because trained gladiators were such an expensive investment.

"As far as I can see, the treatment of gladiators (historical records) suggests they were well cared for because it was in the interests of their owners that they were healthy and ready for fighting," agreed Durham Universitiy's Roberts.

The most commonly healed wounds seen on the skulls were blunt force wounds to the front of the skull, which the researchers believe were most likely caused by repeated blows to a helmet just above the eyes. Other gladiators survived sharp wounds to the skull, such as that caused by the 'gladius', a thirty-centimetre sword used by most types of gladiators.

One skull struck the researchers as unusual, because it was the only skull with more than one deadly incision. The holes were five centimetres apart and consistent with stabs from a sharp, tapered weapon. These injuries show the same dimensions as a trident, a characteristic gladiator weapon. And a trident of these dimensions was found during excavations of the ancient harbour of Ephesus, and dated to the second or third century.

Death rather than retirement

In general however, the remains tended to lack evidence of multiple injuries or mutilation - unlike the excessive violence often seen on bones from mediaeval battlefield victims. This pointed to strict rules and refereed fights, not a free-for-all melee.

According to historical records, a losing gladiator's fate rested in the hands of the games organiser, who appealed to the mood of the people in the stands. "Upon the cry of 'iugula' (lance him through), it was expected of the vanquished that he would set an example of the greatness of manhood ... and would motionlessly receive the death thrust," write the researchers.

"We found evidence for the final blow to the throat (cut marks on the vertebrae), the chest (lesions on the breastbone/sternum) and on the back (lesions and cut marks on the shoulder blade)," says Grossschmidt.

Given that gladiators wore helmets, it's surprising that ten of the individuals had a single head wound that lead to death. Four of the wounds were a round to square shape of nearly the same diameter, similar to a Roman hammerhead, rather than any known gladiator weapon.

Kanz and Grosschmidt conclude that this could be consistent with historical literature and artworks depicting a death blow administered to condemned gladiators by an arena servant dressed up as the death god 'Dis Pater' carrying a hammer.

After five years fighting, if a gladiator survived he could retire or become and instructor in the Roman army. "They were much sought after, afraid of nothing, and everyone was afraid of them," says Grossschmidt.

Even though gladiators could retire after five years, the evidence shows that very few of them lived beyond the age of 30. The bones from Ephesus show one gladiator, out of almost seventy bodies, was able to survive the carnage and lived to old age.

Recent research, carried out this year for the BBC television's Timewatch series proposed that the body of a 45 to 55 year-old man found in the mass grave could have been a retired gladiator who went on to become a trainer. Evidence to back this up included two major healed wounds on his skull and a tombstone dedicated to a gladiator trainer named Euxenius.

(Hilary Jones, The Science of Everything , COSMOS - 7 June 2007)

Is This Chaucer's Astrolabe?

Astronomical instruments were probably made after Chaucer's designs, not before.

Want to see the astrolabe used for astronomical calculations by Geoffrey Chaucer himself? You'll be lucky, says Catherine Eagleton, a curator at the British Museum in London.

Several astrolabes have been suggested to have once belonged to Chaucer. The claims are based on the device in question's resemblance to one described by Chaucer in his Treatise on the Astrolabe, written in the late fourteenth century. Perhaps, the claimants argue, the astrolabe they now have in their collection was Chaucer's own, and served as a model for his work.

But Eagleton argues it's the other way around. It's more likely, she says, that these instruments were made after Chaucer's death, inspired by the design given in the English scholar's treatise.

(Archaeology in Europe Weblog - 12 June 2007)

MERCURY MAILBOX: TIME TO CALL IN THE TIME TEAM

The old Nat West Bank and site of the Greyfriars Church and burial site of King Richard III is being redeveloped into a restaurant and flats.

An archaeological team is apparently going to be allowed in for a short time in order to investigate, but quite clearly it is being given little, to no, priority.

Considering that King Richard III is responsible for the majority of Leicester's tourist income, as well the site being, potentially, one of the greatest historical significance (King Richard III is the only king of England not to have a proper resting place), I find this lack of concern and urgency on behalf of the council simply quite appalling.

Where is Time Team and just what could their involvement in such a potentially momentous opportunity do for both Leicester's national and international profile?

(Philippa Langley, Leicester Mercury - 12 June 2007)

Viking Longship to Sail Across North Sea

ROSKILDE, Denmark (AP) - On the skipper's command, deckhands haul in tarred ropes to lower the flax sail. Oars splash into the water. The crew, grimacing with strain, pull with steady strokes sending the sleek Viking longship gliding through the fjord.

A thousands years ago, the curved-prow warship might have spewed out hordes of bloodthirsty Norsemen ready to pillage and burn.

This time, the spoils are adventure rather than plunder.

The Sea Stallion of Glendalough is billed as the world's biggest and most ambitious Viking ship reconstruction, modeled after a warship excavated in 1962 from the Roskilde fjord after being buried in the seabed for nearly 950 years.

Volunteers are preparing it for a journey across the legendary Viking waters of the North Sea - leaving Roskilde in eastern Denmark on July 1 and sailing 1,200 miles to Dublin, which was founded by Vikings in the 9th century.

``It's like a banana boat. It moves like a snake,'' crew member Preben Rather Soerensen, 42, said after a recent test sail in the Roskilde fjord.

The crew will explore the challenges of spending seven weeks in an open vessel with no shelter from crashing waves, whipping wind and drenching rain. Working in four-hour shifts, the history buffs and sailing enthusiasts will have to steer the 100-foot-long ship through treacherous waters with a minimum of sleep, comfort and privacy - just as the Vikings did.

``They must have been incredibly tough to do what they did,'' said 24-year-old crew member Triona Nicholl, an archaeologist from Dublin. ``We all have waterproof gear. We have radios and life jackets and all the stuff. They must have been hardier people.''

The Vikings turned to the stars and their ancient Norse gods for help as they navigated across the open sea, reaching as far as Iceland and North America. Many perished in the hostile waters of the North Atlantic.

This crew puts their faith in modern technology: a GPS satellite navigation system and radar. They wear baseball caps and wind-breakers rather than helmets and chain mail shirts. Mobile phones are allowed, but no battle axes.

Nevertheless, the crew is likely to feel they have been transported back a millennium when the voyage begins, although it will be accompanied by a modern support vessel with medical and rescue experts.

The Viking boat has the curved hull and single square sail that typified Norse longships, which were designed to sail on both open seas and shallow rivers.

Using replicas of Viking era tools - chisels, knives, spoon bits and axes - craftsmen built the 8.25-ton Sea Stallion using 5,250 cubic feet of oak and 7,000 hand-forged iron rivets.

``Within a certain framework, we knew how they built the ship and how the missing parts should be,'' said Erik Andersen, 68, who designed the replica. ``The only guesswork was the color of the ship and the sail.''

The builders settled for a brown-colored hull and a red-and-yellow sail, drawing inspiration from the famed Bayeux tapestry in France, which depicts the 11th century Norman conquest of England. The Normans were descendants of Viking settlers in northwestern France.

The ship proved remarkably stable during trials off Roskilde on May 5. Powered by up to 30 pairs of oars, the Sea Stallion - Havhingsten in Danish - sliced through the waves without wobbling. Out in the fjord, the 144-square-yard sail was pulled down like a curtain, catching the salty breeze with a loud thump.

Captain Poul Nygaard, a Dane, dispatched instructions, relayed to the crew by the shouts of a midshipman.

It will be no pleasure cruise. ``They will suffer from blisters on their hands and sore bums,'' Nygaard said.

The voyage across the North Sea, passing north of Scotland and down the famously ill-tempered Irish Sea, will test both the crew and their ship.

The goal is to sail nonstop to Dublin, but the plan could change depending on the weather.

The Sea Stallion will sail around the northern tip of Jutland and across the North Sea to the Orkney Islands, north of Scotland. From there, it is to veer south at Cape Wrath on Scotland's northern tip and down the Irish Sea to Dublin.

The crew - mostly volunteers from Scandinavia, Britain, Ireland, the United States and Canada - will eat, sleep and work in extremely close quarters. When nature calls, the solution is a portable toilet near the mast or over the side of the ship.

``Privacy is a very big problem. We're 65 people living very close for long time,'' said Erik Nielsen, a 64-year-old volunteer from Toronto. ``You deal with it. It is manageable.''

The 78 men and 22 women will take turns sailing the ship on the seven-week voyage. Many will remain onboard from start to finish, said Rather Soerensen, the project manager.

``They have to know something about square sails. And they have to be very socially competent,'' he said.

The Vikings enter history in the late 8th century, when Christian monks chronicled the first Norse raids on the coasts of northern Europe. While feared for their battle prowess, the Vikings were also skilled craftsmen and traders, establishing commercial networks as far away as Constantinople - today's Istanbul, Turkey.

In Britain and Ireland, the raids gradually grew into full-fledged invasions led by Danish and Norwegian kings. The first Viking settlements in Ireland have been dated to 840. Many historians believe Icelandic Viking Leif Erikson reached North America 500 years before Columbus.

The longship on which the Sea Stallion was modeled is believed to have been built in 1042 in Glendalough, south of the Irish capital. It was considered one of the most advanced vessels of its time.

Some historians believe it crossed the North Sea to carry the two adult sons of English King Harold Godwinson to Roskilde, where they sought to form an alliance with the Danish king against William the Conqueror.

The ship eventually was among five sunk in the Roskilde fjord around 1060, probably to block access to the port. The five vessels were excavated and are now on display at the Roskilde Viking ship museum.

Christened by Denmark's Queen Margrethe in 2004, the Sea Stallion is expected to reach Dublin on Aug. 14, where it will be exhibited before returning to Denmark in August 2008.

Terje Boe of Norway's Lofotr Viking Museum, who is not involved in the project, said the expedition could shed light on the maneuverability of large Viking vessels.

``It is so special because of the length of the ship. How will they do in high seas, how big waves can it take?'' he said.

(Jan M. Olsen, Guardian - 27 May 2007)

TUDOR ERA WARDERS' GATEHOUSE DISCOVERED AT TOWER OF LONDON

Extensive archaeological remains of an old guard house dating to the Tudor and Jacobean periods have been uncovered at the Tower of London.

Staff were relaying a cobblestone path across Tower Green to conform with disability regulations when they found evidence of walls, which turned out to be the remains of a substantial building.

“The work we were doing was resurfacing for compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act,” explained Jane Spooner, Historic Buildings Curator at the Tower.

“There were some 19th century cobblestones put down in a crazy paving style so we were taking them out and relaying them in a more even way, so we were doing very shallow excavations.”

“On day two we found a wall at a very shallow level, about 20cm below the old surface. Whilst we knew about it from discoveries made in 1975 we hadn’t anticipated finding it so close to the surface.”

Historic views and plans of the Tower show a building in this location from at least 1570, variously known as the ‘Old Main Guard’, the ‘Warders’ Guardhouse’ or the ‘Warders’ Houses’, likely to have been used by soldiers and the predecessors of today’s Beefeaters.

The foundations, floors, drains and cellar walls uncovered show at least two distinct building phases, the first probably late medieval and the second from the late 17th century.

Accounts from the 17th century describe how the structure was demolished in 1684 and quickly rebuilt only to be taken down again shortly after.

“It was one of those very rare cases in archaeology where you can match the actual visual evidence with the cartographic evidence from the past,” added Jane.

Elizabethan prisoners like the disgraced Catholic Earl of Arundel, Phillip Howard, held in the adjacent Beauchamp Tower, would have been able to see the building from their prison windows.

As well as the remains of the buildings the archaeologists made other finds like clay pipes, oyster shells, animal bones and even a nearly whole Bellamine jar with a detailed bearded face carved on it, providing insights into Tudor and Jacobean life.

“The finds reflect the daily life of ordinary people who worked in the tower,” said Jane. “It is quite nice because we get an idea of their tastes – drinking from Bellamine jars, eating oysters, which were much cheaper then, and lots of clay pipes some of which were very old.”

After investigations are finished the cobblestones will be re-laid and the archaeology backfilled so that the remains are fully protected. Further excavations are possible in the future.

(24Hour Museum - 12 June 2007)

Volunteers wanted for dig in England

Keen historians are being invited to help a team of Exeter University archaeologists uncover secrets of an ancient Bronze Age site. The team have worked at the site, in Stokenham, near Kingsbridge (South Devon, England), for two years and they will reopen it again from July 2 to 24. Last year's excavation unearthed a number of finds including Bronze Age pottery. Project director Penny Cunningham said that anyone who wanted to help would not need any particular skills. "They will be asked to sort or wash finds like pottery and will help analyse them," she said.

The team will work from 9am to 5pm every day except Fridays. Anyone who wants to lend should just turn up. There are open days on the weekends of July 7 and 8, 14 and 15 and 21 and 22. Children of all ages are welcome to participate in the junior archaeologist workshop days on July 7, 14 and 21 from 10am to 3pm. For more information contact Dr Williams, Department of Archaeology, Laver, University of Exeter, EX4 4QE, or h.m.r.williams@exeter.ac.uk, or call 01392 262491.

(Stone Pages Archaeo News - 27 May 2007)

Knight Time

Suppose it's the year 1100 and you're stuck somewhere in Europe.

If you're like 95 percent of the population, you're probably a peasant, scratching out a living on the land with not much more than rye bread or cheese to nourish you.

If you're a tradesman, dinner prospects are a little better. In addition to rye bread and cheese, you might get some meat, too, in the form of roast pork.

Roast duck and freshwater fish, meanwhile, went to knights and barons, while kings enjoyed the best dining of all, at least by medieval standards: potted eels and roast lampreys were all the rage among the crown-wearing set.

What people ate and what people wore and how people worked and amused themselves during that long stretch of history rather vaguely referred to as the Middle Ages is the focus of "Once Upon a Time: Medieval Life: Knights, Castles and Common Folks," which opens next weekend at Lakeview Museum and presents a hands-on, family friendly approach to learning history, according to Ann Schmitt, Lakeview's associate director of education.

You can build a castle out of blocks and then knock it over with a miniature catapult, Schmitt said, during a special family catapult competition set for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 30. You can ooh and ahh over the knight-mannequin with chain mail leggings, shirt and hood. If you're curious about how chain mail works, you can make some of your own. If you're artistically inclined, you can make rubbings of St. George and the Dragon. If you're theatrically inclined but underage, you can don a knight garment with a red cross in front, designed especially for children.

"Once Upon a Time" comes to Lakeview from the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre in Southampton, Ontario, which originated the show.

The interactive, participatory exhibit gives kids a history lesson that they can't get in a classroom, said Vicky Cooper, Bruce County Museum's collections registrar.

"For the schoolchildren, it gives them an idea and a comparison between medieval times and what we do today," Cooper said. "It gives hands-on activities for children to do. We have forwarded on to your museum some of the activities we had here. It's the type of exhibit that each individual venue can model what they choose to work with. We had our children here making construction paper helmets for the boys and little artificial garlands for the girls to wear while they were here. The exhibit also contains a set of costumes for an average class. So each child can put on a medieval garment with a hat and learn what it was like then."

The time wasn't too long ago when the Middle Ages received little respect: The era stretching from the fall of Rome to the Renaissance was seen as an interruption in Western civilization, when ignorance and superstition ran amok.

To be sure, there was lots of both. But that time period in many ways also laid the foundations of modern culture, said Katy Hardy, Lakeview's special events coordinator, who also is pursuing graduate studies in medieval history at the University of Wisconsin. The church and the monasteries, for example, preserved learning and supported universities. And a rising merchant and tradesman class in the cities eventually would break up the feudal order and help usher in the modern world.

Upon arriving, a visitor to the show will draw a card with a name, status and occupation. As patrons work their way through the exhibit, they will learn the likely fates of their medieval selves - how they probably would have had to live had they been born during the Middle Ages.

Since most people back then were peasants and most of them didn't live much past the age of 50, many museum visitors might be thankful for living in the 21st century after all.

(Gary Panetta - PJStar.com - 20 May 2007)

Cathedral funds hit £10m target

A campaign to raise £10m for improvements to Norwich Cathedral has finally reached its target.

The Dean of Norwich, the Very Reverend Graham Smith, made the announcement eight years after the appeal started.

Funds raised during the campaign have already paid for a restaurant on the site of a medieval refectory destroyed by Henry VIII.

Work is also due to start this autumn on an education centre on the site of a medieval lodging house.

Campaign manager Henry Cator said: "I believe these two buildings will put Norwich Cathedral in the premier division of cathedrals in the country.

"It is thanks to the enormous support from people, not only in terms of money, but in time and enthusiasm."

Mr Cator raised £45,000 by driving a vintage Rolls Royce across China in 2000, a year after the campaign was launched.

Other money-making events included charity auctions and a pantomime appearance by the Bishop of Norwich at the city's Theatre Royal.

The refectory, which has won several design awards, opened in 2004.

The education centre will be on the same site as the medieval hostry, which was an inn or lodging house.

It was here that the monks would provide hospitality and medical treatment for visitors.

The Norwich Cathedral campaign finally reached the £10m mark thanks to a £400,000 legacy from a local benefactor.

(BBC News - 18 May 2007)

Medieval enactment 'changed life'

When Gail Griffiths was introduced to medieval re-enactment she had reached a bit of a low point in her life.

Unhappily married, very overweight, depressed and with little prospect of a good job in sight - things couldn't have been much worse

But within months of joining Sheffield-based Knights in Battle, she had turned her life around - finding new friends, setting up her own business and becoming the Guinevere in a modern-day romance.

"I was going through a bad period," she said.

"I'd been into horses and show jumping and a horse I looked after died and I got very low.

"My friend phoned up and said why don't I come down and look at this medieval group at Conisbrough Castle instead of sitting around the house.

"Knights in Battle were going to be performing and I thought, well I like films and medieval things, it might be interesting."

She added: "Then I thought well I wouldn't mind dressing up. I wouldn't mind having a go at swinging a sword around.

"I was very overweight at the time so I thought I am going to lose weight and join a medieval group - which I did."

As someone who had always made her own clothes, it wasn't long before she started making costumes for the other members of the group.

"I started looking up what I needed to be wearing and eventually I wrote a book for the club, a history of the period.

"The more I got into it the more there was to learn," she said.

"You end up where you are completely in with the medieval world - almost living it.

"If you want to you can let it take your life over which is what happened, in a way, with me."

After a couple of years the dress-making and costume designing took on a life of its own and she set up her own business, Guinevere's Dream, which has been paying the bills for the past nine years.

She now creates bespoke garments for medieval themed weddings and costumes for re-enactment and other events.

"Sometimes I have to try to stop myself from telling people to do it the proper way," she says.

But joining the group, not only brought Gail, now 49, alive mentally, it also had a far more personal impact.

"The other thing that happened was that I was unhappily married at the time and I met someone - another re-enactor."

John Pilkington had been helping out another friend in the group but then joined himself.

"We got friendly - just as you all get friendly - and then it turned into something else. He asked me to leave my ex and move in with him and we've been together for 14 years."

So what is it about medieval re-enactment that can be so life-changing?

Apart from leaping with both feet into the dressing-up box and learning about the history of the period, there is the excitement of the actual re-enactments themselves, says Gail.

"There's an adrenalin rush when they say 'run up the hill' and it really is 'Yeah! Charge!'

"It's just great fun. You are with all sorts of people you have never met before. It's just a laugh, it's total silliness."

She continues: "At the Battle of Hastings last year there were English, Canadian, American and Italians who couldn't speak any English.

"I was one of 140 archers. There were 120 men on horseback, and two and half thousand men at arms. There were so many people all moving as one thing.

"One group moves forward, then we send a whole load of arrows over.

"Then we move back through the crowd. It's just this great adrenalin rush all the time.

"It's the best thing. You are out in the fresh air getting exercise and you get to know people really well - you make some really good friends. It's changed my life."

Gail's knight in shining armour, John, now works as a tour guide at Conisborough Castle, where she was first introduced to this life-changing world.

So is there a medieval wedding on the cards?

"No," says Gail, "It's too much like the day job.

"Personally I've always thought the Cavaliers and the Roundheads would be nice for a wedding."

Introduction to medieval re-enactment is one of the courses featured during Adult Learners' Week 19-25 May.

If you want to see what the Knights in Battle get up to, join them at St Augustine's Church, Brocco Bank, Sheffield, at 7.30pm on Wednesday 23 May.

(by Hannah Goff, BBC News - 18 May 2007)

Roman Woman Had Golden Smile

The earliest known dental prosthesis from ancient Rome may not have been very functional, but it gave its wealthy wearer a million dollar smile.

The gleaming grin resulted from multi-karat gold wire, which was used to string together "artificial teeth," according to the team of Italian researchers who analyzed the ancient bridgework.

They found the object, which dates from the 1st to the 2nd century A.D., in the mouth of an unidentified woman who was buried in an elaborate mausoleum within a Roman necropolis.

"At the moment, this dental prosthesis is the only archaeological remain that corresponds to the literary descriptions (concerning dentistry) of the Roman Age," lead scientist Simona Minozzi told Discovery News.

Minozzi, an anthropologist at the University of Pisa, and her team quoted from the writings of 1st century Roman satirist Martial.

Martial wrote, "Lucania has white teeth, Thais brown. How comes it? One has false teeth, one her own. And you, Galla, lay aside your teeth at night just as you do your silken dress."

Minozzi believes the unidentified Roman's bridgework was made from the woman's own teeth that probably fell out due to periodontal disease. Gold wire bound the teeth together, with some teeth possessing drill holes to strengthen the wire bond. More gold wire secured the replaced tooth to side teeth that remained in her jaw.

The discovery is outlined in the current issue of The American Journal of Medicine.

"I think that the dentists used gold because it is a metal that is compatible with biological tissue and it is simple to work with," Minozzi said, adding that gold is still used in dentistry today.

All of the woman's teeth showed signs of rubbing, suggesting she had used an abrasive dental powder.

Writings from the ancient Greeks refer to dental concoctions made out of sea salt, ground oyster shells and other gritty materials that were flavored with refreshing herbs and oils, not unlike some modern toothpastes.

Minozzi asked her own dentist about the rub marks, and he said these are even common today, when people brush their teeth "too intensely."

Scott Swank, curator of the Dr. Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry, which is associated with the Smithsonian, told Discovery News that the museum's collection houses a detailed model of similar bridgework from Egypt. It dates to 2,500 B.C.

"It too consists of teeth that are held together with gold wires," Swank explained, but said it's possible the ancient Egyptians only wore such devices after death. Their spiritual beliefs held that the "body must be whole for the afterlife," teeth and all.

Swank also mentioned an early Etruscan piece of bridgework, dating to 1,000 B.C. It is similar to the Egyptian and Roman finds, except with thicker gold banding.

"The gold bands would have been very noticeable to onlookers," he said. "Royalty, rulers and other important people with access to a lot of cash probably would have worn these."

Shannon O'Dell, curator of the Sindecuse Museum of Dentistry at the University of Michigan, echoed that belief.

"All of these devices were more for looks than anything else," she told Discovery News. "You could not have bit down on any kind of hard food with them."

O'Dell added, "High-status individuals likely wore them for ceremonies to keep up appearances."

(Discovery News - 14 May 2007)

Bones of 20 Skeletons Found at Site

Twenty skeletons - thought to be more than 300 years old - have been unearthed on a Plymouth building site.Archaeologists have spent the past two weeks digging up the bones on the former Crescent Cars site at the junction of Athenaeum Street and Notte Street, in the city centre.

They originally thought there were just four sets of bones on the site - but now they realise they have discovered an entire burial ground.

The first set of bones was found by contractors working on the site, however digs and investigations by experts from Exeter Archaeology have since been carried out.

History experts from Plymouth City Council have also been involved - and they say it could turn out to be one of the most exciting archaeological finds in the city for a long time.

The site - which used to house Crescent Cars before it was demolished - is being prepared to make way for a seven-storey Abbey Manor Development Ltd office block. Contractors Ashcroft Demolition Ltd have been clearing the site in preparation for the foundations in the development to be dug out.

Dr John Salvatore, historic environment officer for Plymouth City Council, said: "It was intriguing when we first went on site a couple of weeks ago, but now it has turned into a more mystifying story.

"Exeter Archaeology is deep in research over the finds, so we still don't know many answers - but we now believe it may have been a naval burial ground.

"There are about 20 skeletons and, amazingly, two of them are amputees."

Dr Salvatore said that one of the most intriguing skeletons had had his right leg sawn through and it was "pretty certain" that he had died as a result of the amputation.

Dr Salvatore said: "Another amputee on the site had had his leg amputated, but the bone had healed over - so he survived for a significant length of time after the operation.

"We are coming to the conclusion that it was a naval burial site, but there is a lot more work to do. We have yet to find any female burials.

"It probably dates to the 18th century. It will be a major find in Plymouth if it turns out to be naval, due to the rich naval history connected with the city.

"These could be sailors who lost limbs in action - or they could have lost their limbs in accidents. It is a fascinating find."

Dr Salvatore said the bones will be reburied once studies have been carried out on the most well-preserved skeletons and the two amputees.

The discovery of the bones comes just a few weeks after news that ancient caves where Plymouth's oldest known human remains were discovered are under threat, according to experts. As reported in The Herald, the Cattedown Bone Caves are next to a site earmarked for a concrete processing plant.

(Matt Fleming, The Herald - 3 May 2007)

Builders move in at castle

Stafford Castle is undergoing a major £100,000 renovation project.

Work to create a new visitors entrance and to restore the west wing has just started at the popular tourist attraction.

It is anticipated that the new entrance will be completed in time to coincide with the first Stafford Festival Shakespeare performance of Much Ado About Nothing on June 28.

Workers will be on site for the next couple of months restoring the main wall to the west of the castle, which faces the M6 motorway.

The west wing is currently part wall and part railing but once restored will be a complete six metre high construction as it was originally.

Stafford Borough Council (SBC) is funding the refurbishment which is being carried out with the backing of English Heritage.

Specialist stone masons are carrying out the works using Hollington Stone from a quarry in Uttoxeter.

SBC spokesman Will Conaghan said the main contractors are Stafford firm Sandy & Co which has carried out a number of historical renovation projects in the town including the Ancient High House in the 1980s.

Mr Conaghan said the castle is one of the largest in the UK and sits on one of the last preserved Norman earth works in the country. He said: “The work at the castle is part of an ongoing repair project which has the backing of English Heritage to improve one of the premier tourist attractions in the county.”

(expressandstar.com - 4 May 2007)

Medieval find at new school site

Archaeologists in Kinross have uncovered a range of finds thought to be part of a medieval settlement.

The discovery was made on the site of the new Kinross High School, opposite Lethangie Farm.

The two fields forming the development site have been recognised as being of archaeological interest.

A Scheduled Ancient Monument - a site designated as being of archaeological importance - has been identified in the south field.

Excavation work, which began in March, was carried out by archaeological consultants SUAT Ltd as part of planning consent conditions imposed by Perth and Kinross Council before work on the new school begins.

Finds in the north field include a large pit with domestic rubbish in the form of small pieces of medieval pottery shards, bone and oyster shell.

A large pit with burnt stone was found, as well as a large circular enclosure ditch containing small broken pieces of medieval pottery and many rodent burrows.

Many of the deposits have been sampled for further analysis and charcoal has been recovered for dating.

Buried archaeology at the Scheduled Ancient Monument in the south field is considered to represent the remains of a prehistoric settlement which is at least 2,000 years old.

A spokesperson for the council said: "During the planning application process, the development site was recognised as being of archaeological interest by archaeologists from Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust.

"The scheduled area will be protected and will be encompassed within the new school grounds."

(BBC News - 1 May 2007)

Medieval brooch discovered near Diss

A medieval silver ring brooch that had lain forgotten for centuries has been discovered in a farm field near Diss.

It was found by a metal detector enthusiast who had the farm owner's consent to search the land. Both are now set to receive 50pc of the value after a treasure inquest.

The trustees of Diss Museum are keen to acquire the piece of jewellery for their collection, providing it meets their policy that artefacts must come from within a seven-mile radius of the town.

However, Jon Newman, Suffolk County Council's archaeology expert, was not prepared to reveal details about the location the brooch was discovered. The find dates from the 13/14th century and is 22mm in diameter.

“It was found by John French but we cannot say more than in Suffolk near Diss, and that it was a metal detector find,” he said. “These items do come up from time to time and it is not exceptionally rare, but it is a nice example, which is why the museum is interested.”

Mr Newman thought it unlikely the brooch would be worth thousands of pounds, but it would be for a valuation panel to decide its worth.

Clifford Bird, chairman of the museum trustees, said the key issue were how far away from Diss the site was, and how much they would need to pay. He added: “We are not flush with money, but if it's of local interest we would like to buy it,” he said.

The treasure inquest also featured a gilt silver coin brooch made from an Edward the Confessor penny, found near Bury St Edmunds which the British Museum wants to acquire, and six Henry II pennies from the Leiston area.

(Diss Mercury - 3 May 2007)

Native American DNA found in UK

DNA testing has uncovered British descendents of Native Americans brought to the UK centuries ago as slaves, translators or tribal representatives.

Genetic analysis turned up two white British women with a DNA signature characteristic of American Indians.

An Oxford scientist said it was extremely unusual to find these DNA lineages in Britons with no previous knowledge of Native American ancestry.

Indigenous Americans were brought over to the UK as early as the 1500s.

Many were brought over as curiosities; but others travelled here in delegations during the 18th Century to petition the British imperial government over trade or protection from other tribes.

Experts say it is probable that some stayed in Britain and married into local communities.

Doreen Isherwood, 64, from Putney, and Anne Hall, 53, of Huddersfield, only found out about their New World heritage after paying for commercial DNA ancestry tests.

Mrs Isherwood told BBC News: "I was expecting the results to say I belonged to one of the common European tribes, but when I got them back, my first thought was that they were a mistake.

"It rocked me completely. It made think: who am I?"

Ancestral home

The chartered physiotherapist studied for a degree at the University of North Carolina, but had no idea she possessed Native American ancestors. She said she came from a long line of Lancashire cotton weavers.

Mrs Isherwood added that she was "immensely proud" of her newfound heritage, which has renewed a long-standing interest in Native American culture.

Anne Hall, who works as a private educational tutor, commented: "I was thrilled to bits. It was a very pleasant surprise. To have Native American blood is very exotic."

She said she now aimed to investigate her family history in an attempt to track down the source of her rare genetic lineage.

Mrs Isherwood says her American antecedent must have arrived in Britain in the 18th or 17th Centuries. She has traced her maternal ancestors back to 1798 and has found no sign of New World progenitors.

Maternal clans

The tests taken by both women were based on analysis of DNA inside the "powerhouses" of our cells: the mitochondria.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is passed down from mother to daughter more or less unchanged; but changes, or mutations, accumulate in the DNA sequence over successive generations.

Scientists can use these changes to classify mtDNAs into broad types (called haplogroups) which, to some extent, reflect a person's geographical origin.

Mrs Isherwood and Mrs Hall possessed haplogroups characteristic of the indigenous people of the Americas, which are referred to as A and C.

"It's very unusual. Most of the people we test belong to one of the European maternal clans," said Professor Bryan Sykes, whose company Oxford Ancestors carried out the tests for Doreen and Anne.

Professor Sykes, also a professor of human genetics at the University of Oxford, said: "There are matches between [Doreen and Anne] and particular Native American tribes, but that doesn't necessarily mean those are the tribes their ancestors came from."

Trickle of immigrants

This month marks the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, the first permanent English-speaking settlement in North America.

Alden Vaughan, a professor emeritus at Columbia University, in New York, has written a book on American Indians in Britain. He said indigenous peoples from the New World began arriving in Britain as early as the sixteenth century.

"It started earlier than Jamestown. A number were brought over through the 1500s, mainly as curiosities," he told BBC News. Others were taken to Britain to learn English and go back to the colonies as translators.

"Sir Walter Raleigh brought back several individuals from the Jamestown area and from the Orinoco valley. Pocahontas went to England in 1616 and died there the next year.

"She was accompanied by several of her tribal associates. Some of them stayed in England for several years. I don't know of any marriages or even relationships between those women and Englishmen, but it is certainly possible.

"Later in the 17th Century, Native American slaves were brought over. I don't know much about them, because all the evidence I have are ads in London newspapers for runaway bond-servants, described as being Indians."

(Paul Rincon, BBC News - 4 May 2007)

School goes green with medieval garden

Fourteen pupils at Trinity School of Frederick recently took their lesson outdoors, literally.

The sixth- and seventh-graders created a medieval garden their teacher described as "a beautiful teaching garden É and a beautiful testament to the love they have for their school."

After a month of teaching about Europe in the Middle Ages, humanities teacher Theresa McMullin asked the pupils to choose topics that most interested them so she could delve further.

The pupils unanimously decided to create a medieval day, McMullin said. For that, they needed a medieval garden containing the herbs and flowers people in the Middle Ages used for healing and cooking.

McMullin had a weedy patch in front of the school tilled with compost to prepare the soil for a simple teaching garden.

"I envisioned a place with plots where each of the teachers could all plant according to their units of study," she said. "However, the weather continued to be cold and snowy, and I kept delaying my plans."

Her pupils discussed peasant herb gardens, the manual labor of monks in an abbey and the formal designs of herb gardens in manor houses.

With the promise of good weather, the pupils sprang into action, hoping to complete their garden for Trinity's Earth Day celebration. McMullin asked them to create a garden design. They agreed on a sunburst pattern with lots of lavender and scented plants.

Earth Day was only three days away and the pupils had no idea how much work they were in for, McMullin said. But they "eagerly attacked the project," excited to get their hands on dirt.

"I made the map and the diagram," sixth-grader Alex Clark said. He used household products, including rice for gravel, brown fabric for dirt, and plastic flowers and fake grass to make a small garden replica.

For three days, the pupils worked from 10 a.m. until dismissal at 3:30 p.m.

They dug walkways and trenches, laid a brick edging, evened out the beds, planted rows of boxwoods and hauled pea gravel for paths, McMullin said.

"Many of them had never worked so hard in their lives, and the results were amazing," McMullin said.

Making the garden come to life was hard work, seventh-grader Alec Proakis said.

"One of my friends said we were doing too much physical work and we should to go to PE instead, which didn't make a lot of sense. It's all work, but it was fun," Proakis said.

The project was tiring, seventh-grader Ben Griffin said.

"But the school does a lot of tiring, but interesting things. We had to dig 3 inches down to lay pea gravel, which cost $2 a bag and weighed 50 pounds. Ripping the bags apart with pickaxes was a lot of fun," Griffin said.

The project required teamwork and compromise, Dylan Hightman said.

Paige Clark said the pupils will be able to look at the project and say, "We did that garden.

"I like getting dirty," she said, "but the gravel bags were heavy."

Lexie Thrash, a seventh-grader, summed up their work.

"It's yet another fun project. That's why I love this school. We get to do a lot of fun things. (The garden) will be a peaceful place for everyone. You can come over and pray or do whatever quiet thing you want to do," Thrash said.

Principal Pamela Seale said she has never seen a group of any age work so hard.

"It took them three days. By the last day, they were ready to drop, they were so tired. They are proud, justifiably," she said.

Parents helped with the project, including Diane Houyke, who was in charge of the school's Earth Day celebration. Gardeners Suzanne Mack and Susan Wolfe laid out the children's design idea in the dirt. The Wolfe family donated bricks for the edging, statuary for the center and plants. Teachers and other parents brought plants as well.

The project sparked an exciting Earth Day, McMullin said. The entire school joined together to bring life to the school grounds. The front of the building overflowed with plants and flowers donated by the school community for every grade to take part in the beautification effort.

The pupils created a butterfly garden around the flagpole and a perennial bed along the back of the building. They filled planters near the front entrance and brightened the beds around the school entrances.

"My students arrived tired from their work the day before, but they were energized by all of the positive comments from their schoolmates, parents, and other teachers," McMullin said.

The pupils put the finishing touches on their garden Monday, laying more bricks. They will dedicate the garden to Seale during a weekly chapel service.

(by Ike Wilson, FrederickNews.com - 2 May 2007)

Could this be the site of a medieval monastery?

A COMMUNITY project to identify the visible and accessible archaeological features of Ceannabeinne township, near Durness, and provide information about the biggest well preserved pre-clearance farm town in Sutherland has got under way.

Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Scottish Natural Heritage and Highland Year of Culture, Glasgow University’s archaeology research division this week are carrying out a programme of surveys and trial trenching at the township to gather information on the medieval and post-medieval occupation of the area.

The survey will involve trial trenching of what is thought to be a monastic or hermitage site on the rock stack at Traigh na h’Uamhag, at the coastal edge of Ceannabeinne. To date few if any such sites have been examined archaeologically along the northern coast of mainland Scotland, and the results will provide important information on the medieval ecclesiastical occupation of the region. If it does prove to be a monastic site, it would be an exciting discovery for the northern Highlands in general and for Durness in particular.

Further archaeological work scheduled for July will provide insights into the nature of life in the township up to its clearance in 1842. It may also help establish how long the township had been occupied and whether that occupation extended back into the late medieval period.

(The Northern Times - 4 May 2007)

More than 3,000 expected to attend medieval congress

KALAMAZOO--Scholars from around the globe will descend on Kalamazoo Thursday through Sunday, May 10-13, for Western Michigan University's 42nd International Congress on Medieval Studies.

More than 3,000 people are expected to attend the event, including scholars from more than 25 nations. Sponsored by the University's Medieval Institute, this year's congress takes place at locations across campus and features more than 600 sessions offering scholarly papers, panel discussions, roundtables, workshops and performances covering nearly every facet of life in the Middle Ages.

"Interest in the congress continues to grow among professional medievalists," says Dr. Rand Johnson, interim director of the Medieval Institute. "For these four days in May, the international conversation on medieval topics moves to Kalamazoo. And the conversation includes students, a feature of the conference, which sets it apart from many others in the profession. Many of these junior scholars, in fact, present their first papers here, making the experience an important part of their entrée into the profession. The congress has become a favorite event for many area residents as well. They attend a variety of paper sessions and performances, and especially enjoy the exhibits hall, where they find rare books and manuscripts, current books by international presses, seals and coins, and many other items."

"Topics for this year's congress include such medieval standards as the Vikings, "Beowulf," Chaucer, Thomas Aquinas and King Arthur. This year's program also includes several sessions on early Islamic/Christian relations, J.R.R.Tolkien, the Knights Templar, medieval anti-war movements and Bohemond's crusade of 1107, for which this year is the 900th anniversary.

Highlights of the congress this year include a reconstruction of the evening prayer service for the feast of Corpus Christi, newly introduced into the Catholic church in the 1200s, as well as readers' theater performances of "Mankind," an English drama of the 1400s, and "The Tale of Sir

Launcelot," from Sir Thomas Malory's "Morte Darthur." There will also be a festival of three films on medieval themes: "A Knight's Tale" from 2001, 1954's "The Black Knight" and "Kriemhilds Rache" (Kriemhild's Revenge) part of Fritz Lang's 1924 silent epic based on the medieval German epic "Nibelunglied."

A number of session and paper titles reflect the intersection of popular culture and medieval studies.

A series of sessions focuses on the Middle Ages on television. "Getting Medieval on Television I: Dateline Camelot" and "Getting Medieval on Television II: Dateline Sherwood Forest" examine everything from "Fractured Fairytales" to "Stargate."

There's an entire session on "Monastic Breweries in the Middle Ages," with one paper in the session titled "Sacred Suds: Monastic Asceticism and the Rationalization of Beer Making in the Middle Ages."

"One-Hit Wonders: Troubadours Represented in the Corpus by a Single Work" will feature a roundtable discussion organized by the Societé Guilhem IX and include comments from five U.S. scholars on the topic.

Some 70 international publishers, book dealers and artisans who specialize in the Middle Ages also will exhibit in the dining hall of the Goldsworth Valley III complex from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to noon Sunday.

Everyone who attends any part of the congress, including the exhibit hall, must register. The late registration period has begun, but Kalamazoo County residents and WMU students, faculty and staff need only pay the $25 late-registration fee. The additional fee for others attending the event is $130. For students and family members accompanying registrants, the fee is $80.

Also in connection with the congress, the famed Newberry Consort will present a concert titled "Puzzles and Perfect Beauty" at 8 p.m. Friday, May 11 at First Baptist Church, 315 W. Michigan. Ave. in downtown Kalamazoo. The concert, which marks Mary Springfels' farewell performance as the director of the ensemble she founded, features music from late medieval France and Italy performed on original instruments. General admission tickets are $20.

To download the full conference catalog, visit the congress at www.wmich.edu/medieval/congress. On-site registration will begin at noon, Wednesday, May 9, in the lobby of Eldridge-Fox residence halls and continue throughout the event. More information also is available by calling the Medieval Institute at (269) 387-8745.

Information about the congress, including a link to order concert tickets, is available at www.wmich.edu/medieval/congress. For additional information, contact the Medieval Institute at mdvl_congres@wmich.edu or (269) 387-8745.

Media contact: Cheryl Roland, (269) 387-8400, cheryl.roland@wmich.edu

WMU News
Office of University Relations
Western Michigan University
1903 W Michigan Ave
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5433 USA
(269) 387-8400
www.wmich.edu/wmu/news

(WMU News - 4 May 2007)

12th century target for dig in ashes of Cowgate

A MAJOR archaeological dig is to go ahead on the site of the massive Old Town fire in a bid to find remains which, it is hoped, will date back as far as the 12th century.

City council archaeologist John Lawson and his team will spend several days hunting for artefacts in a trench to be dug just off the Cowgate.

The dig will be the biggest since the devastating 2002 blaze which destroyed a number of buildings on the Cowgate and South Bridge.

The archaeological team is to move on to the site at the end of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, during which the area is to become home to a huge temporary venue.

Over the next few months the fire site will be completely cleared by a developer. The work will include the removal of the remains of a number of 19th century buildings, kept on site when everything else was demolished. It is hoped clearance work will also solve a persistent fly-tipping problem.

Previous archaeological digs overseen by Mr Lawson have unearthed remains dating back as far as the 17th century.

He said he hoped the forthcoming dig would discover remains and artefacts dating back to the 15th century - or even earlier.

The area was heavily populated in the 15th and 16th centuries, when the great and the good lived in what were known as "the palaces of the Cowgate".

However, Mr Lawson said it was known that people had lived in the area - which had declined to become a notorious slum by the mid-1880s - from as far back as the 12th century.

He added: "This will be the biggest dig we've been able to do on the fire site so far and obviously the last before the work on the development starts. We're going to be doing a full archaeological evaluation of the area.

"It's difficult to predict what we may find, but we know there were a lot of buildings in this area in the 15th and 16th centuries, and the earliest records go all the way back to the 12th century."

In the wake of the fire, Mr Lawson's team spent nine months piecing together a "jigsaw puzzle" of photographs of the fire-hit buildings, drawings and accounts from historical archives in a bid to shed new light on the area. A more modest dig was also carried out in 2004.

Fragments of medieval pottery, bits of leather and wood, the remains of shoes and old kitchen barrels dating as far back as the 15th century have been found on various sites in the Cowgate area in recent years.

A spokesman for developer Whiteburn, which is planning to create a hotel, leisure, retail and residential development on the site, said the firm would be working closely with Mr Lawson to ensure any historical remains were properly safeguarded.

Clearance work is to start within the next few weeks while vacant offices in a neighbouring Chambers Street building, which is to be part of the development, will also be cleared of old furniture and other materials.

David Kilgour, project manager with Whiteburn, said: "The work will enable us to prepare the site so the temporary Edinburgh Festival Fringe venue can be established safely and will ensure the site is also in the best possible condition for visitors in August."

The site was previously home to shops, offices and pubs, as well as the Gilded Balloon comedy venue, the Bridge Jazz Bar, La Belle Angele nightclub, Leisureland amusement arcade and Edinburgh University's School of Informatics.

(by Brian Ferguson, news.scotsman.com - 21 April 2007)

Trace Your Viking Roots At Jorvik Viking Centres New Exibition

A new exhibition hitting the JORVIK Viking Centre in York in May 2007, will be sure to cause a storm, as it delves into the historic ‘melting pot’ of York that was created by immigration and trade in Viking times.

The unique ‘Are you a Viking’ exhibition, which opens to the public on the 26th May, will bring together bio-scientific and artefactual evidence to determine if visitors could have Viking ancestors. Using computer technology, a 3-dimensional walk-through Viking riverside scene, graphics and interactive activities visitors will be able to investigate:

DNA and gene mapping, using evidence generated by gene related studies bone material unearthed by archaeologists and used to map genetic disorders, such as Dupuytren’s disease (known as the Viking disease) an oxygen isotope analysis of Viking-age bones and teeth, used to determine where people originate from archaeological environmental evidence, used to reveal what people ate, where the food came from, and what levels of pollution existed in the city of York at the time Viking migration patterns and trading routes to determine if this affected who and what was brought into York, revealed in the biological remains the assimilation of language and the development of dialects

Sarah Maltby, Head of Attractions at the JORVIK Viking Centre, commented: “We’re very excited about the new exhibition; it’s a combination of modern technology and important Viking era evidence that really will bring the past to life for our visitors. We think it will be hugely popular with families who will be intrigued to work out if they could have Viking ancestors!”

The exhibition will include tactile, audio, and smelling activities to ensure its widest appeal to visitors with disabilities and the very young.

(Femalefirst - 21 April 2007)

The Fairest Feast

Churches tap creativity to portray medieval pageantry of Boar's Head festivals

For three years, a cast of more than 200 people rehearsed and prepared for medieval-style revelry in Connecticut. In January, parishioners of Trinity Church in Southport presented their first Boar's Head and Yule Log Festival with the cooperation of Southport Congregational Church.

Entire families from both churches participated in the cast, led by retired Bishop Clarence Coleridge of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut, and his wife as the lord and lady of the manor; John Bedford Lloyd as the minstrel; and a brass quintet and percussionist assembled by Trinity Choirmaster Charles Dodsley Walker. Live animals -- a camel, a donkey and a peregrine falcon named Isis -- added to the spectacle. The performance was produced and written by Jean Whitney.

The Boar's Head Festival began in Oxford, England, in 1340 and is the oldest of the Anglican pageants and celebrations of the Twelve Days of Christmas. It is an allegory about the triumph of good over evil, with the evil represented by the boar and good by the light of Christ going out into the world. The medieval banquet celebrating families, health and material wealth ends with the merry "Waits" cavorting about the sanctuary as mummers, jesters, a magician, a juggler, acrobats and marionettes.

The second half begins with the entrance into a darkened church of a tiny sprite bearing a lighted candle. She hands the light to the rector, who lights the Pascal candle and holds it high so that its blessed light can fall on the shoulders of the congregation.

As the rector reads the ancient gospel of the Christmas story, torchbearers herald the entrance of the Holy Family into Bethlehem and the ancient Pageant of the Nativity begins. Hosts of angels sing of the glory of God, and the humble shepherds arrive to see the Christ Child in the manger. The kings arrive with their gifts, and the prophesy of Isaiah is fulfilled.

Ancient festival, modern cause

Five congregations in the Diocese of Bethlehem joined forces for a Boar's Head Festival there in January and used the event to support a new youth anti-violence project.

Two hundred performers from the combined congregations of St. Thomas, Morgantown; St. Gabriel's, Douglassville; St. Alban's, Sinking Spring; and St. Mary's and Christ Church, Reading, celebrated with costumes, song and fellowship. They drew an audience of more than 400.

Christ Church member Kathy Kreitz had organized a bus trip so friends and fellow church members could attend the festival at her brother's church. Plans developed after that excursion. As more churches decided to participate, organizers decided to pledge proceeds from the event to a summer camp for youths, CampPeaceWorks.

They raised $4,000 for the five-day summer day camp at Blue Mountain Camp near Hamburg, Pennsylvania. Students from each of the area school districts and churches will be invited, all on scholarship. They will be trained as mentors against violence in the teen community. Organizers hope the efforts -- the festival and the camp -- will become an annual commitment of the five congregations.

(The Episcopal Life Online - 24 April 2007)

The Games That We Play

FANCY a game of hide and seek with the children this summer?

What d’you mean no! Of course you do, which is why you’ll be heading to Aydon Castle on the outskirts of Corbridge.

Admittedly, the 13th century manor house was not originally built as a children’s play area.

But with an excess of nooks and crannies in the ancient building, how could anyone resist hiding in a cubby hole before jumping out to surprise the family with a medieval war cry?

To start your game you won’t go far wrong by heading straight to the inner courtyard.

March up the steps towards the hall, noting along the way an old roofline cut into the wall.

You’ve got a choice now. Turn left and you’re in the hall, once a communal living room and sleeping space for everyone except the Lord of Aydon’s immediate family.

It was here where people were entertained. They used to sit at a long table and tuck into a meat stew while listening to the minstrels in the gallery.

The only problem is, there aren’t too many hiding places, although you can always sit in the lord’s chair at the head of the table and pretend to be a dummy.

If you’d have turned right at the top of the steps, you’d have had more luck in the kitchen – the 14th century fireplace is worth trying out.

The fireplace is big enough to conceal more than one person because, just like modern-day chefs, medieval cooks had to prepare several things at once.

Cauldrons of soups and stews were usually top of the menu rather than a whole ox stuck on a spit.

Slabs of bread soaked up the gravy and everything was washed down with home brewed ale. Everyone drank proper beer in those days instead of tasteless keg lager.

A doorway in the corner of the kitchen leads to the wall walk – no good hiding places here, but inquisitive adults will enjoy the bird’s-eye views of the outer courtyard, curtain walls and orchard. Look closer and admire the finely-made battlements which alternate with arrow slits.

At the end of the wall walk you’ll notice a double lancet window on the north-facing wall in front of you. The bearded fellow above the twin light windows is likely to be God – evidence that the window was carved for a chapel that was never built.

If the children have had enough of hide and seek by now, extra entertainment is often put on during the season, ranging from re-enactments of Tudor life to theatre shows.

Bring a picnic and eat it in the orchard where tables are laid out under the shadow of the trees. This used to be the kitchen garden.

From there, you can walk through a doorway for a stroll around the outside walls of the castle.

Aydon Castle – an English Heritage property – is open from April 1 to September 30, Thursday to Monday, 10am-5pm.

(Hexham Courant - 23 April 2007)

State Theatre presents The Canterbury Tales

The Aquila Theatre Company brings the classic literary text, Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, down to earth Sunday, April 29 at 3pm at the State Theatre. In this production, Aquila brings a modern sensibility and freshness to a classic without diminishing it. As if Monty Python met Umberto Eco at a Medieval pageant, Aquila’s The Canterbury Tales promises to be a fast moving, deliciously saucy, slightly naughty, romp.

Tickets range from $20-35 (group, college student, and senior discounts available).

The Canterbury Tales, written in Middle English by Chaucer in the late 14th century (two of them are in prose, the rest in verse), is a collection of tales told by a group of pilgrims to pass the time on a pilgrimage from Southwark to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. Some make the journey out of a sense of piety, others for spiritual renewal, or just for the sheer fun of it.

The Canterbury Tales is considered one of the cornerstones of western drama. It draws on a rich tradition of classical Greek and Roman poetry and Medieval literature to produce a work of sublime storytelling that is poignant, hilarious, spiritually uplifting, wonderfully lewd yet thoroughly thought provoking. Some of the tales are serious and others comical. All are highly accurate in describing the traits and faults of human nature. Religious malpractice is a major theme. Most of the tales are interlinked with undercurrents of similar themes, and some are told in retaliation for other tales in the form of an argument. The work is sophisticated, visceral, and surprisingly challenging and entertaining for audiences of all ages.

This stage adaptation follows in Aquila’s tradition of theatrical utilitarianism—making the greatest classical works understandable to the largest audience, thus rendering them fresh and accessible to a new generation of viewers.

Aquila believes passionately that the stage is the place for Chaucer’s tales to entertain and captivate a new generation of American audiences. Aquila has become internationally renowned for its uncanny ability to bring a modernly hip sensibility and a universally accessible freshness to classical texts without diminishing these great works. -- www.statetheatrenj.org

(www.huliq.com - 24 April 2007)

Skeleton find halts work on Bishopthorpe Palace revamp

WORK on the redevelopment of Bishopthorpe Palace had to be halted, after excavators discovered a human skeleton in the grounds.

The human bones, believed to be medieval, were found away from any other remains during routine work at the official residence of the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu.

Archaeologists are now investigating the site and conducting further research, but work resumed on the site as soon as the skeleton was removed.

The Archbishop's spokesman Arun Arora said: "During the re-development work at Bishopthorpe Palace, a human skeleton was discovered in the grounds on the afternoon of Wednesday, April 18.

"Field Archaeologist Specialists were already on site as part of the re-development work. Initial estimates suggest the skeleton, which was found in a shallow grave 50cm (20 ins) below topsoil, dates from the medieval period, possibly 14th century. These estimates have been based on the burial rite used, the evidence of a cloth burial shroud and bronze pin as well as the wooden coffin.

"No other remains have been found, suggesting this burial occurred in isolation.

"Having discovered the skeleton, the Home Office was informed under standard procedures and a licence was issued by the Department of Constitutional Affairs allowing for the removal of the remains.

"Field archaeologist specialists are conducting further work in relation to the remains and will discuss their findings with the council's chief archaeologist and the Archbishop in due course."

The palace is currently undergoing a major revamp of its living and office accommodation.

The Church Commissioners, who manage the Church of England's historic assets, also want to ensure the palace meets disability access guidelines.

Andrew Brown, Church Commissioners' secretary, told The Press last year: "Our plans are aimed at providing a modern and appropriate base for the ministry of the current Archbishop and his successors. No major work has been carried out at Bishopthorpe Palace for 30 years. The accommodation for the Archbishop needs to be reordered to provide privacy for him and his family, and it is intended to bring back into productive use areas of the building that have been previously disused."

The earliest parts of the Palace date back to about 1250 with extensions added in about 1480, 1650, 1769 and 1835.

(Gavin Aitchinson, York Press - 24 April 2007)