Time's Anvil: England, archaeology and the
imagination
Richard Morris
Weidenfeld & Nicolson £25
(978-0-297-86783-8)
Church Times Bookshop £22.50 (Use code
CT517 )
THIS fascinating book - a combination of the author's
autobiography and a biography of the science of archaeology in
England since the 17th century - suggests that some historical
truths are found and proved, rather than created, by archaeology,
and that the study of conflict, and especially prehistory, is
necessary for the nation's safekeeping.
For some, archaeology is limited to the artefacts recovered by
excavation; but, without the time-line and the stratification,
there is no context into which the items can be fixed. Thus, a
sword recovered from a battle site remains merely a sword, but
knowledge of the battle, particularly why, when, and how it was
fought, gives that item its meaning.
No matter how many battle-damaged skulls are found, the fact
that the man wielding the sword kills people remains headline news,
whereas the rewriting of narratives that explain why the battles
were fought is not.
How the past is read, and what one brings to the reading, is the
fundamental principle of the book. From Anglo-Saxon settlements,
deserted medieval villages, monas- tic remains, Tudor theatres, and
Commonwealth battle-sites to the industrial archaeology of northern
towns, the military cemeteries of the First World War, and the
advent of aerial photography, Morris shows how each has a part to
play in weaving the tapestry of England's history. But it is a
careful weaving that must be done; for society has often
underestimated connections between periods, things, institutions,
and ideas that are normally studied apart, and assumed to be
unrelated.
Archaeology, like other sciences, is continually evolving. The
process of site-excavation in England in the 17th century was crude
compared with today's system. Furthermore, while some 18th-century
antiquarians would tunnel through a burial mound to get to the
burial chamber, today's archaeologist will systematically examine
the whole barrow to see how it was constructed before he or she
reaches the remains within.
J. R. R. Tolkien was of the opinion that to destroy something to
see how it worked was departing from the sense of reason; but
Morris argues that systematic examination is the only way of
finding out why a structure was created, and what its context might
be.
The Snettisham Hoard and the Hoxne Hoard were both deposited
rather than lost, which makes them all the more perplexing; for the
context of the deposits remains unknown. By the end of the book,
the reader will be able to understand that an episcopal ring in a
cathedral treasury labelled as "found" in a bishop's coffin should
be described as "from" that coffin, because nothing that is
deliberately deposited is lost; for it is only the lost that can be
found.
Dr Julian Litten is an architectural historian.