AEA APPLICATION FOR CHARITABLE STATUS

In March this year, the AEA Committee made its application to the Charity Commissioners for England and Wales, as outlined in previous newsletters. It seems that the regulations concerning the eligibility for charitable status have been very much tightened in recent months, however, and we were asked to supply a good deal of further information and paperwork in support of the AEA being an organisation for the benefit of the public at large. At the Committee meeting in July it was therefore decided that the amount of work required was unreasonable and unlikely to secure the desired result, so our application has been withdrawn. The Chair, Allan Hall, would like to thank those involved in making the application, especially Rupert Housley, who undertook all the early investigation of charitable status and waded through the Charity Commissioners’ copious papers, and Carol Palmer and Jacqui Huntley, who contributed much of the effort to making the actual application.

ARH, 8/7/03

RELAUNCH OF THE AEA WEBSITE

The ‘new look’ AEA website has been launched. The first difference you will notice is that it has a main page with sub-divisions divided into sections, rather than using a left-hand menu, which we hope will be easier to navigate. The Webmaster has updated has all the links where possible and there is a temporary version of past Newsletter bibliographies (not the final form) as compiled by James Greig. In the near future, we also intend to add further back issues of Circaea.

In order to keep the website as up to date as possible, please keep sending items and comments to the Webmaster: r.craigie@sheffield.ac.uk. If you notice any links that need updating, please be sure to let the Webmaster know.

AEA AGM & ELECTIONS

The Annual General Meeting for the AEA will be held on the 29^th September, at the one-day meeting at York. 

Draft agenda:

Accounts

Jacqui Huntley (AEA Treasurer) will present the accounts in full at the AGM.

Elections

Elections for new members of the AEA managing committee will be held at the York meeting

The current committee structure is as follows:
ELECTED COMMITTEE MEMBERS (elected term in [ ] and * = retiring this AGM)

Jan Bastiaens (Brussels) [2000-2003]*
Allan Hall (York) – Chair [2000-2003]*
Andy Howard (Leeds) [2001-2004]
Rupert Housley (Glasgow) [2001-2003]*
Jacqui Huntley (Durham) – Treasurer [2002-2005]
Tim Mighall (Coventry) – Publicity Officer [2001-2004]
Carol Palmer (Sheffield) – Secretary [2001-2004]
Roel Lauwerier (ROB, Amersfoort) [2002-2005]
Ruth Pelling (London) – Membership Secretary [2001-2004]
David Robinson (CfA, Portsmouth) [2002-2005]
Helen Smith (Bournemouth) – Conference Officer [2000-2003]*
Nicki Whitehouse (Belfast) [2002-2005]

CO-OPTED COMMITTEE MEMBERS 

Wendy Carruthers (Llantrisant, Wales) – Co-editor of the Newsletter
Glynis Jones (Sheffield) – Journal Editor
Vanessa Straker (Bristol) – Co-editor of the Newsletter

Nominations are sought for three ordinary members and for the position of AEA Chair. Ruth Pelling is retiring from the position of Membership Secretary, although not from the Committee at present, and a nominee willing to undertake the role of Membership Secretary is sought.

Some nominations have already been received and brief personal statements by the nominees appear in this Newsletter.  Further nominations, however, can be received up to the time of the AGM.  Nominees should also provide a brief statement about themselves, which will be either be read or posted at the AGM as an introduction to other AEA members who may not know them (and which implicitly indicates the nominee’s willingness to stand). Please send or e-mail nominations (which must be seconded) and candidate statements to the AEA Secretary:

Carol Palmer, AEA Secretary, Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, Northgate House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 4ET, UK. E-mail: c.palmer@sheffield.ac.uk

ABSENTEE VOTING

If you cannot attend the AGM you can still vote by proxy (someone who is willing to attend the meeting). All you have to do is give a signed statement appointing whoever you wish to be your proxy to any member of the committee at any time before the AGM (and tell your proxy how you want them to vote!). If you wish, a member of the committee will act as your proxy.

Please send or e-mail proxy votes to the AEA Secretary (address above).

BIOGRAPHIES OF CANDIDATES FOR AEA COMMITTEE

FOR THE POSITION OF AEA CHAIR:

David Earle Robinson (Centre for Archaeology, Portsmouth)

I studied Biology/Botany at Edinburgh University before embarking on a PhD with Jim Dickson at Glasgow university on ‘The vegetational and land-use history of the West of Arran, Scotland’, which involved pollen, plant macrofossil and charcoal analyses together with studies of peat stratigraphy. Subsequently, I worked as a contract researcher in the Department of Botany at Glasgow in co-operation with Jim and Camilla Dickson, employed by the SDD and the Scottish Urban Archaeological Trust to carry out field work and pollen and plant macrofossil analyses of material from their excavations in Scotland. 

In 1985 I was appointed to a then newly-created position in the Environmental Archaeology Department of the Danish National Museum, Copenhagen as "museumsinspektør" i.e. researcher (subsequently senior researcher) in the fields of plant macrofossil analysis, pollen analysis and bog geology. I was involved in a wide range of archaeological research projects throughout Denmark, covering the period from the Mesolithic to recent times.

In April 2002 I returned to England, to work as a palaeoecologist/palynologist at English Heritage’s Centre for Archaeology in Portsmouth.

As a PhD student I attended the first AEA meeting at Lancaster University in 1980 and was a regular contributor at subsequent conferences in the 1980s. In 1988 I organised the AEA meeting in Roskilde, Denmark and edited the proceedings, which were published by Oxbow Books in 1990. I attended fewer AEA conferences in the 1990s primarily due to other commitments in Denmark, but maintained close contacts with the AEA, being a member of the editorial board of the journal Environmental Archaeology. At the autumn 2002 meeting in Bournemouth I was elected to the AEA committee. I have now a good insight into the workings of the AEA and if elected I look forward to being involved in maintaining and extending the Association’s activities. 

Proposed by: Allan Hall, Seconded by: Harry Kenward

FOR THE ORDINARY COMMITTEE MEMBER POSITIONS:

Alan K. Outram (Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter)

I am a Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Exeter and an Honorary Research Associate of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. I gained my BA in Archaeology from the University of Durham in 1994 and went on to study for the MSc is Environmental Archaeology and Palaeoeconomy at Sheffield. I returned to Durham where I completed my PhD thesis on The identification and palaeoeconomic context of prehistoric bone marrow grease exploitation in 1998.  At Exeter, I teach zooarchaeology and modules on the palaeoeconomics of hunter-gatherers and early farmers and am also engaged with teaching on our new MA in Experimental Archaeology.

I have continued my research on the exploitation of bone marrow and grease by people under subsistence stress.  This research has included the study of bone assemblages from Palaeoeskimo sites in Greenland, medieval Norse sites in Greenland and Iceland, a Neolithic site in Sweden, and Mesolithic sites in Britain and Italy. I recently chaired a session on the Palaeoeconomics of Animal Fats at the International Council for Archaeozoology 2002 conference and intend to extend my work on the role of fat in the past still further. I have also been employing the bone fracture and fragmentation methodologies, I originally designed to study bone marrow exploitation, to investigate the unusual treatment of human and animal remains at the Bronze Age ritual site of Velim Skalka, Czech Republic (in collaboration with Chris Knüsel at Bradford and Anthony Harding at Durham).  My current fieldwork is in Kazakhstan on a collaborative  project investigating the Eneolithic, Botai Culture sites of Krasnyi Yar and Vasilkovka (with Sandra Olsen, Carnegie Museum and Bruce Bradley, Exeter). These are sites related to early horse domestication.  I am also carrying out pilot research (with Richard Evershed, Bristol) into identifying the earliest milking of horses, and more about the economic context of horse domestication in Central Asia, from lipid residue and zooarchaeological analyses.

I have been a member of the AEA since 1995 and feel it is time that I put something back into the association by serving on its committee.

Proposed by: Carol Palmer, Seconded by: Christopher Knüsel

CONFERENCES & MEETINGS

 

AEA ONE-DAY MEETING, UNIVERSITY OF YORK Monday 29th September 2003

The meeting would welcome reports on work in progress, thematic papers intended to stimulate debate, and contributions from younger colleagues.

Papers offered so far include: Jane Bunting on pollen dispersal and deposition Joanna Bending on plant macrofossils from the North Atlantic islands Althea Davies on the human impact on upland diversity Mandy Jay on isotopes in Iron Age bones Further short contributions on any aspect of environmental archaeology are invited.   Registration details and offers of papers, please to: Terry O’Connor Department of Archaeology University of York Kings Manor York YO1 7EP tpoc1@york.ac.uk

URBAN ENVIRONMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY: TOWARDS A NEW AGENDA UNIVERSITY OF YORK Tuesday 30th September 2003

The aim of this one-day seminar is to review the current state of environmental archaeology in towns, and to propose and discuss the directions that this research should take in the future. The programme will include: Andy Howard on the Vale of York project Andrew Jones on growing the next generation of European urban environmental archaeologists John Evans on ideas from Italian urban archaeology Jane Siddell on 30 years of environmental archaeology in London. Further contributions are invited: either critical reviews of progress to date, thematic discussions, or forward-looking proposals.

Both meetings will be held at the Department of Archaeology, University of York, located in the King’s Manor in central York. http://www.york.ac.uk/np/maps/kmdirect.htm Slide, OHP, and data projector facilities will be available. Tea, coffee etc will be available from the King's Manor Refectory, and lunch from the Refectory and other establishments within a few minutes’ walk. A small registration charge (£3 per day) will be made to cover abstracts book and minor costs. PLEASE NOTE that prior registration will be necessary, as the lecture room is of satisfactory but finite capacity!

Registration details and offers of papers, please to: Terry O’Connor Department of Archaeology University of York Kings Manor York YO1 7EP tpoc1@york.ac.uk

Association for Environmental Archaeology

One-day meeting at the Department of Archaeological Sciences  University of Bradford

Saturday 24^th April 2004

Contributions are invited for the AEA spring meeting, to be held in Bradford on Saturday 24^th April 2004. Short papers and posters on any aspect of environmental archaeology are welcome, and we particularly encourage reports on current work, thematic papers and contributions from younger colleagues.

Further details and a booking form will be circulated with the next AEA Newsletter Please send offers of papers or posters to: Jill Thompson, Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, BD7 1DP, UK.  j.b.thompson@bradford.ac.uk

AEA -Association for Environmental Archaeology

25^th Anniversary Symposium in Bad Buchau, Southern Germany

02 - 05^th September 2004

Economic and environmental changes during the 4^th and 3^rd millenium BC

ORGANIZERS

Nationalmuseum of Denmark Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg Federseemuseum Bad

Buchau

CONTACT ADDRESS Dr. Ralf Baumeister Federseemuseum Bad Buchau

rbaumeister@federseemuseum.de

The Federseemuseum Bad Buchau, the Nationalmuseum of Denmark and the Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg are organizing a two-day symposium followed by two excursions in the northern Alpine Foreland and around the Federsee (EU-life project).

The theme of the Symposium will be: 

Economic and environmental changes during the 4^th and 3^rd millenium BC

During this time period many economic and technical innovations were successful in whole Europe. This is reflected in numerous new research results achieved by bioarchaeological methods, as for example changes in the crop spectrum and the appearance of new domestic animals. Numerous archaeological finds of wooden wheels and trackways date from the 4^th and 3^rd millennium BC, several indications show the systematic use of the ard. Were these changes due to environmental events or probably triggered off by them? New research results from the circum-Alpine area will be presented during the Symposium and we hope for many interesting contributions from other parts of Europe.

Conference languages are English and German.

Social programmes include a reception in the historical “Mirror hall” of the monastery of Bad Buchau, a conference dinner in the Federsee Museum, a visit of the running excavations of the Neolithic wetland site Torwiesen II (dated 3280 BC), an evening excursion to the lake Federsee and two separate field-trips.

Field-trip 1 “Landscapes and Archaeology around the Danube” leads from the younger moraine landscape through the older moraine region to the Swabian Alb and to the upper Danube. We are going to visit several museums and running excavations (Palaeolithic camp-site Schussenquelle (reindeer hunting station), Palaeolithic cave-sites in Blaubeuren (Vogelherd, Hohle Fels), Iron Age settlements and “Fürstensitz” Heuneburg, Roman Museum in Mengen. This one-day trip also includes a visit of the impressive baroque church of Steinhausen (ceiling frescos decorated with plenty of flowers, animals and insects, take binoculars with you!).

Field-trip 2 “Archaeology, Nature Conservation and Public Relations”. Presentation of the EU-life project in the basin of the Federsee. Visiting the archaeological Bog Education Path and the Archaeological Open Air Museum, explanations by the management of the Museum.

The lake Federsee is one of the largest silted up lakes in South-western Germany. The former lake and its surroundings is one of the most popular places of wetland archaeology. Since 1875 more than 18 sites have been excavated. Important pioneers in Palynology and Plant Macrofossil Analysis worked here (Firbas, Bertsch, Körber-Grohne). Dendrochronology was first applied to archaeological material (Huber). Interdisciplinary archaeological research has been active since 1979.

Various biotopes with rare plants and animals still exist today in the unique surroundings of the lake. There is lots to see and discover. Bad Buchau is also a good starting point to visit the Iceman in Bozen (Northern Italy, ca. 150 km). In 2004 four special exhibitions concerning the 150-year celebration of wetland archaeology (Pfahlbauarchäologie) in Germany and Switzerland will be shown in Unteruhldingen, Konstanz, Frauenfeld and Zürich (between 60 - 100 km away from Bad Buchau).

How to reach Bad Buchau

Airports: Stuttgart or Friedrichshafen. Trains from Stuttgart and Friedrichshafen to Bad Schussenried. We will organize a bus-shuttle from Schussenried to Bad Buchau. For those who wants to leave back home after field-trip 1, there is the possibility to be dropped at Ulm Central train station. Bad Buchau is a cosy small historical town. Accommodations and conference places can be reached by foot.