A picture of concentration

Dr Cleal was, I suspect, concentrating so hard on her tracing that she may well have been unaware that Eric van Dorland was taking this rather fine study of her labours in the planning hut in 1990. Update: Jane Dineen thinks this is a misidentification and so does Eric: possibly someone called Emma, he thinks & not Ros.

Dirt

One of Dr Phillpotts's' more inspired compositions entitled 'Dirt, buckets and limestone'. I am thinking of nominating this seminal example of late 20th century archaeo-grunge for the Turner Prize. Having examined the rules, Dr Phillpotts was young enough to qualify when he took the picture even if he would not pass muster now. Come to think of it, C-H-M himself missed that boat last week.

1990 season begins ...

A splendidly atmospheric view of the vale taken by Lara Unger at the beginning of the 1990 season with just the turf taken off the cutting on the lower slope of the hill.

Gloucestershire shifts on its axis

A rather splendid view from the hill at a rollercoaster angle from Lara Unger's 1990 series. Makes one feel as though the ground is moving.

Apologies for the late posting today: C-H-M has been slaving over a hot stove to produce lunch consisting of Parmesan and chive scones with red onion marmalade, Mushroom roulade stuffed with cream cheese & spring onions, Marinaded prawn, mango and spinach salad, Cherry tomatoes stuffed with mint and cream cheese, Avocado rillettes with tarragon and Greek yogurt, Chicken with saffron and lemon, Pumpkin, butternut squash and brown lentil strudel, Quinoa and lime salad, new potatoes baked en papillotte with rosemary and garlic, Lemon meringue pie and Brownies. Serious quantities of yummy leftovers lurk in the fridges ...

Westwards into the rain ...

A rather beautiful shot across the hill to the west taken by Lara Unger right at the start of the 1990 season: it must have been the day the lorry was hired as the huts are lying agape unassembled on the hilltop. Rain visible just off the hill to the right.

The Iron Age interior

The yellow markers for the Iron Age roundhouses and the blue ones for the longhouses can just be picked out in this 1990 photo taken looking back towards the Iron Age ramparts and entrance by Lara Unger. The viewing platform, dubbed by some, for reasons that C-H-M can no longer recall, the 'Courtney Memorial Platform' stands proud against the skyline.

Stunning view, and not only from Phil's perspective...

Another great shot from Eric van Dorland, taken during the 1990 season, of PWD atop the photographic tower, as Paul Noakes makes last minute adjustments to the ranging rods. Away behind them the beauty of the Vale.

From the ramparts, looking north ...

From the ramparts under a very beautiful sky with fabulous light as it so often is on top of the hill: this photo was taken by Lara Unger during the 1990 season. It makes C-H-M want to be up there looking out over the Severn Vale.

Noakesy

Time for another portrait from a well-known Dutch studio: was Noakesy in training for the marathon in 1990? Here he is in vest and shades, atop Crickley, visualising his perfect run, captured by Eric van Dorland ...

Excavating the Long Mound

Another fine day on the hill: Fiona Wilkes (was Sharpe) sends this "picture of the long mound under excavation, probably 1990 or 1991. You can see Phil in very short shorts strolling along the back of the cutting. This section was supervised by Dave Hollos, crouching in the cream jumper to the left of the photo and Sonia who is standing on the back of the cutting with red boots on."

I think there are 34 people in this shot.

A meticulous record was kept ...

Dixon 1994: "It is our practice to draw all stones and details down to the size of an old florin (about 30mm across), which is the smallest mark that is reproducible when the 1:20 drawing is reduced to 1:50. ... At present these site drawings occupy rather more than two acres of drawing film. At the height of the season as many as twenty drawing frames are in simultaneous use, in the hands of volunteer diggers. We have found that acceptable drawings can be produced by almost all: instruction, monitoring and the final assembly of the individual squares has been the task of the directors of planning. Once completed, the original pencil drawings are traced in ink and photographed for safe storage and reduction to 1:50 which has proved to be a convenient scale for filing and examination of groups of cuttings during the post-excavation work: at its original scale the overall plan of the site measures more than 16 metres in length, and even in this reduced form would amount to 6 metres by 4 metres in size."

So here's an example of an ink tracing done by Eric van Dorland on 10 and 11 August 1990, of Cutting CII including features 10100 and 10114.

Corky Gregory says: "Just a quick note to add: I can confirm that there are acres of drawings as well as mountains of finds and libraries full of feature books, supervisor's notes, and odd notebooks. In 1983 I went to Nottingham University to help with some of the tons of stuff and was given the task of sorting through the supervisor's notebooks and feature books. By that time a record was being kept of feature numbers and what the feature was. In the early years no feature books existed and the supervisory staff kept journals which included all sorts of interesting data and comments. I believe Robin Hall even gave weather reports for the day's work (it's ****ing it down - having to bale out postholes. Wind is gale force, etc) Those aren't direct quotes but simply how I remember it.

I saw piles of inked drawings plus the originals (even saw one I had drawn in '76 on site). There were walls of boxes of finds boxed according to feature numbers or cuttings/layers. I have blocked out the thought of the soil samples ... Anyway, think of all the diggers that lent a hand in all that stuff ... drawing the stones the size of a florin (Phil needed to use a currency exchange system that Americans and others could understand), tracing drawings (remember the year we tried that on site??), saving, recording, washing, marking and sorting bits of pottery, bone, flint, etc., scrunging dirt to find seeds and snails, brushing dirt off stones for photography, JUST AMAZING."

It must have been blowing a Gale: limestone in motion ...

A curious perspective on the Gale family in this 1990 Phillpotts photograph: Julie's legs are top left as John throws a palm-sized piece of limestone into a bucket, which the Chronicler has captured in mid-air. John looks as though he's been buried up to mid-calf of his right leg and is patiently digging himself out, piece by piece.

Arwel rides out ...

For those Crickley blog readers who might miss Arwel Barrett on Facebook: magnificent! Now why did Arwel never turn up at Crickley on a horse? Next year at the reunion, England expects that every man ...

Update from JAB himself: "Unfortunately CHM is wrong. One year I did bring my horse to Crickley. She lived in the field opposite the camp for a week or so. I am guessing that it was either '89 or '90. I'd need to do a bit of research to pin it down any more precisely. As an aside that horse was the dam of the coloured one in this picture." I just wish I'd been there to meet her.

Experimental Archaeology 12: crime and punishment in the Iron Age

What's all this about? Has C-H-M come across some photos from the Senate Armed Services Committee Inquiry Into The Treatment of Detainees in US Custody? What's happening to this poor fellow?

Phew! We are still at Crickley: someone has bound Richard Ozanne up with rope and then tied him to what looks like one of the rods that were used for stringing the electric cow wire round the cutting.

Eric van Dorland explains: "Well, they took Will and tied him up to the observation tower. That called for retaliation, so Richard was kidnapped and tied down in front of the planning hut.. Poor lad... Looks like he can still smile... Dunno how long it took before someone untied him..."

And there I was thinking it might be an archaeological experiment: the reconstruction of punishment methods of the Iron Age?

Late in the season at Ullenwood

From Fiona Wilkes (Sharpe): "Ullenwood at the end of season 1990 or 1991. I'd stayed to the bitter end and this was the last day or so, I think. Those outside the main building are Sarah Ely, Chaz and Joel." The mess hall looking rather neat after a relatively recent coat of paint both on walls and woodwork. Can anyone remember when that refurbishment happened?

The Long Mound 1990

Cuttings V97-98 and W97-98 or thereabouts of the Long Mound are well shown in this 1990 season picture sent by Lara Unger. The two people on the right are Colin and Kristen. The turf lifted from the cutting surface is carefully laid out behind and protected by planking.

Throwing a few shapes ...

From the Hummerstone collection: Les Capon, sporting an utterly splendid pair of yellow trousers, throws some shapes at a 1990 Ullenwood Wednesday night party. Love the scarf.

This way for the Open Day ...

Encouraging all-comers, the blackboard directing the public to the Open Day has a homely charm in this Eric van Dorland 1990 picture. It almost looks as though exhaustion, brought on by spelling 'Archaeological' correctly, as well as fitting into the available space, led to the afterthought of the 'Refreshments' placed meekly underneath.

The 1990 team

Fiona Wilkes (formerly Sharpe) who dug at Crickley between 1989 and 1993 has kindly sent some photos: this is lunchtime or tea break on the hill when the Long Mound was being dug. The people from L-R are: back row Beth, Alex, Guy, Fiona herself, Neil, Emma. Front Row Sarah Ely, Perdita Chamberlain and Abi Anderson. It has the date 1990 written on the back.

Here was thirst-quenching achieved ...

A fine shot of the Air Balloon in 1990 by Eric van Dorland. The transformation of a modest but cosy public house into today's rather extensive premises seems, perhaps, not yet to have begun, though the modern extension is, in any case, behind what one can see here. The bay window held (and still holds) a bench around its perimeter and this part of the bar made a very good snug into which a horde of diggers could be crammed. One had to emerge from the establishment to walk round to the outside lavatories the door to which can be seen on the far right of the photo. The blackboard behind the "Lyons brewed here" sign reads "Full menu and Specials available all day".