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Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society, 74, 21-36, Quenby Hall, in Hungarton parish, eight miles north-east of Leicester, is a Jacobean H-plan house standing in parkland on a prominent hill-top site. The presence in east Leicestershire of an early seventeenth-century manor house of elaborate sophistication, but built by a relatively obscure family, raises a series of questions about the siring, architectural style, building process and social context of elite houses in early modern England. This paper presents new architectural evidence for the building of Quenby and clarifies the history of the house. It demonstrates that the house is the result of a single and attenuated building sequence, and that despite suggestions of an earlier house on the site that there is no evidence for this. The paucity of documentary evidence and vague dating of Quenby has muted the architectural and historical significance of the house. By reassessing the building and social history of Quenby here, we hope that the significance of the house will now be recognised.

14:36 – I am slightly late, but Tim is still there with his previous meeting, finishing lunch. This table has witnessed hundreds of conversations and is surely a landmark for public archaeology. I am not going to make a biography here, maybe you can learn something about him from the interview. If you follow this journal, and public archaeology, you probably know something about him already.

Skipsea Withow is well known for producing a barbed point and faunal remains, thought to date to the Early Mesolithic period, over a century ago. More recently bones were recovered from the eroding cliff face and have been analysed. Although it was considered that they might be elk (Alces alces) due to their large size, it was demonstrated that they are red deer (Cervus elaphus). Further examination suggested that they represent two individuals of slightly different ages. They have been dated to the Early Mesolithic period and the dates overlap with those obtained from the well-known site of Star Carr, located further north in the Vale of Pickering. It is considered unlikely that the red deer bones from Skipsea Withow represent two natural deaths on the edge of the mere, and it is possible that they are the remains of humanly deposited bones; a practice seen at Star Carr.

This work provides new insights into human responses to and perceptions of sea-level rise at a time when the landscapes of north-west Europe were radically changing. These issues are investigated through a case study focused on the Channel Islands. We report on the excavation of two sites, Canal du Squez in Jersey and Lihou (GU582) in Guernsey, and the study of museum collections across the Channel Islands. We argue that people were drawn to this area as a result of the dynamic environmental processes occurring and the opportunities these created. The evidence suggests that the area was a particular focus during the Middle Mesolithic, when Guernsey and Alderney were already islands and while Jersey was a peninsula of northern France. Insularisation does not appear to have created a barrier to occupation during either the Middle or Final Mesolithic, indicating the appearance of lifeways increasingly focused on maritime voyaging and marine resources from the second half of the 9th millenniumBConwards.

Star Carr has an international reputation in archaeology but it was just a small part of a former lakescape which has been systematically investigated at various periods over the last 60 years. The palaeo-lake and associated sites were first investigated by John W. Moore, a local amateur archaeologist and his findings led to the better known excavations of Grahame Clark. After a hiatus in research, survey and excavation resumed in the 1970s and has been ongoing ever since. The support over the last 25 years of the Vale of Pickering Research Trust has enabled the palaeo-Lake Flixton to be mapped prompting the discovery of new Early Mesolithic sites, resulting in an unparalleled understanding of an Early Mesolithic lakescape. In addition, Star Carr has been revisited at various times revealing new insights and further questions that remain to be answered. This paper presents a history of the investigations from the initial discoveries of Moore to the present day, and considers a range of issues incl...

This paper examines the nature of Mortimer Wheeler's work as a public archaeologist, and in particular his efforts to display the archaeological process to interested members of the public. By focusing on the excavations at Maiden Castle, Dorset, from 1934 to 1937 we compare Wheeler's stated philosophy of public archaeology with his practice in the field. At Maiden Castle the theatre of excavation was the centrepiece of a carefully marketed archaeological experience including tours, souvenirs, and a well-developed media strategy. By applying the commodity model of public archaeology as an analytical framework we highlight the sophistication and success of Wheeler's 'theatre of the past'. This analysis lays a foundation for further critical historical studies of both the public understanding of the past, and of Wheeler's life and works.

(2003). Two men in a trench: Battlefield archaeology the key to unlocking the past Tony Pollard and Neil Oliver. Public Archaeology: Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 54-57.

Authenticity is frequently seen as crucial in archaeology. In this paper, we examine the nature of authenticity and question by implication whether so much attention should be given to determining the actual age and thus the genuineness of archaeological objects. We show that numbers of authenticated objects are potentially fakes. There is an acceptance that many archaeological sites and reconstructions are not actually really old, although the acceptability of this view depends on one's flexibility towards the concept of authenticity. It is clear that the public does not necessarily put the same value on genuineness as do archaeologists. We suggest that certain aspects of the past have always been a potentially renewable resource. We suggest that a more relaxed approach to genuineness and authenticity is acceptable today and is already accepted by the public as consumers of the past.

(1999). Editorial: Public archaeology. European Journal of Archaeology: Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 147-158.

Human remains are a fundamental part of the archaeological record, offering unique insights into the lives of individuals and populations in the past. Like many archaeological materials human remains require distinctive and specialised methods of recovery, analysis and interpretation, while technological innovations and the accumulation of expertise have enabled archaeologists to extract ever greater amounts of information from assemblages of skeletal material. Alongside analyses of new finds, these advances have consistently thrown new light on existing collections of human remains in museums, universities and other institutions. Given the powerful emotional, social and religious meanings attached to the dead body, it is perhaps unsurprising that human remains pose a distinctive set of ethical questions for archaeologists.

Bill Putnam was appointed Principal Lecturer in archaeology at Weymouth College, Dorset, UK, in 1967. The college subsequently became, via a series of changing designations which mirror the bewildering changes wrought in the British Higher Education sector over the last thirty years, part of Bournemouth University when it was established in 1992. He was influential in developing courses for teachers in archaeology in both the Certificate in Education and the BEd courses offered by Weymouth College and its successor institutions. He was intimately involved in providing training in practical archaeology to meet what was becoming a growing demand from hitherto unqualified archaeologists who were gaining employment in the various archaeological units in the UK. His Certificate in Practical Archaeology subsequently became the Higher National Diploma (HND) in Practical Archaeology which continues successfully under the auspices of Bournemouth University. He also developed a BSc Heritage Conservation and a BSc Archaeology in the early 1990s. Putnam therefore worked through and contributed to the main period of growth in the provision of archaeological training in the UK. He worked quietly and effectively both at a local and at a national level to ensure that archaeological training was improved and that the subject was promoted in the broader field of education. There are sixteen contributors to the fifteen essays in this volume, which is to some extent a festschrift on Putnam's retirement. The papers

I have always believed that a first (undergraduate) degree course should teach, or develop, critical analytical faculties, no matter what the subject pursued. At the same time it should introduce the individual undergoing it to basic and often today absent skills, e.g. reading, paraphrasing, research. Above all it should ensure that it delivers both insights into the breadth and potential depth of the degree subject in at least one area and also inculcate values about communication and clarity. In addition it should expose the individual to the sources and nature of information and data on which the degree subject being studied is based. It should equip the individual with an ability to debate and argue coherently and logically both orally and in writing. Given that any well taught and well presented first degree course will affect any sentient human in terms of his or her aspirations and interests it should also provide scope for those undertaking it to be able to pursue it as a career or as an interest, and also to cease studying it if necessary. After all, the range of views and preconceptions about what constitutes a subject often requires correction.

Despite apparent increases in the coverage of archaeological topics in newspapers, and in viewing figures for archaeological television programmes, the vast majority of the public has no interest or direct contact with what members of the archaeological profession consider to be their subject. The development of archaeology as an academic subject across the world in the last two hundred years has left most of humanity untouched and unworried. Nevertheless, many archaeologists have continued to express concern, particularly from the midtwentieth century, about the continued use of myth and wild and (in their eyes) unsustainable assertions about the past. This approach to archaeology is one for which I prefer to use the term ‘alternative archaeology’, rather than fringe or fantastic (see for example Williams 1991) or lunatic (e.g. Jordan 1981: 212) or cult or pseudo-scientific archaeology (e.g. Harrold and Eve 1987a) because all of these describe a series of alternatives to what might neutrally be described as mainstream archaeology.

Since 1954, when Grahame Clark published the results of his excavations at Star Carr in northeast Yorkshire, the site has been recognized as a key to understanding early Mesolithic huntergatherer settlement and subsistence in northwest Europe. In 1976, archaeological and palaeoenvironmental research in the area was resumed - since 1986 under the auspices of the Vale of Pickering Research Trust - and it is now possible to set Star Carr and nearby Mesolithic sites in the wider context of the early postglacial landscape.