Archaeological Institute of America | Digging Up Britain

Yesterday — Wednesday, December 6, 2023 — I attended a webinar hosted by Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) featuring author Mike Pitts as he discussed his book Digging Up Britain: Ten Discoveries, a Million Years of History, also known by its British subtitle A New History in Ten Extraordinary Discoveries. The book won the Felicia A. Holton Book Award given by the AIA to a non-fiction book presenting archaeology to the general public. Moderating the conversation was Laura Rich, AIA Vice President for Outreach and Education.

Pitts described what sparked his interest in writing a book about such a long timeframe. Publishing was “one of these things that you felt you had to do as an archaeologist”. He knew the field of learning about the human occupation of Britain had grown significantly in the past few years. He decided to focus on recent excavations and projects, limiting his scope to ten. Because of this limitation, he did not discuss the Druids, Iron Age, or Neanderthals in his book. Another limitation was the current archeological record. Although modern researchers can “learn a lot about evolution through fossils and DNA and artifacts and technology through stone tools”, they do not know much about ancient daily life such as diet, hunting practices, or clothing style. Additionally, Pitts wanted to dispel myths about ancient people. While they were hunter-gatherers with a nomadic lifestyle, it was “wrong to assume that hunter-gatherers were always on the move”. A plethora of natural resources allowed people to live fairly stable lives without extensive travel. Even so, humans naturally moved around the globe in a relatively short period of time.

Pitts related several stories that appeared in his book. A set of early human footprints from 800,000 to 950,000 years ago were found on a narrow beach near a cliff. The rock had fallen from the eroding layers of cliff materials. Scientists dated the rock based on paleomagnetic data. Because the earth’s magnetic field reverses every few thousand years, the magnetic pull of the poles was recorded in the rocks. Elsewhere at this site, local people found fossilized bones of extinct animals, some of which bearing the marks of a flint knife.

Another notable site was a village of timber round houses burned down around 1,000 BC, which was during the Bronze Age. These houses were built on stilts and sat on the edge of the river. When the houses burned, they fell directly into the river, and the water preserved the materials. A forensic fire expert examined the site and determined that the fires were deliberately set, but no human remains were discovered at the site. A large amount of materials from the day of the fire included a bronze axe head, shards of shattered pots, and the wooden pieces of the houses.

Great Britain has laws requiring archaeologists to excavate sites before construction. The history of British towns last for several thousand years, including medieval and Roman layers. Interest in preserving this history arose after World War II, as people feared important history being destroyed during rebuilding. The current laws were passed in 1990, more than thirty years ago. Pitts happily stated that the new laws contribute to an “absolute explosion of archaeological activity”, huge growth in scale and funding, and standardized procedures. He emphasized that these preliminary archaeological inquiries “don’t actually cause any significant delay… when you do start work, you’re not suddenly going to come across some spectacular archaeological treasure…”

This archeological pre-work was important while building Bloomberg London headquarters, as “the largest collect of Roman marble sculpture in the British Isles” was found at the site along with waterlogged, preserved wood from a Roman temple. Artifacts at most sites are found near the surface, as people would dig holes to bury items whether during interment, construction, or building defensive earthworks. In Great Britain, sediment does not build up over time, but a few major cities have been rebuilt on the same spot for thousands of years. The deepest deposits are in London with layers up to fifteen to twenty feet (four to five meters) deep.

Finishing up the talk, Pitts discussed his desire to visit Stonehenge in its final stages of construction, a “culmination of generations of activity at that site”. He wants to ask the architects what they were doing and why. The site had been sacred for at least two thousand years, although the meaning of the site must have change long with major transitions in culture and religion. The Stonehenge we know today was constructed about 4,500 years ago after many years of renovations. Not long after its completion, new people moved into the British Isles, which changed the culture around burial rituals and introduced metals like copper and gold to the island.

This talk balanced the relaxed, conversational speaking style of Pitts with the well-researched questions of Rich. I was amazed by how much information they could bring to the webinar in a short period of time. As always, this AIA event began and ended promptly but never felt rushed. I look forward to the next AIA virtual event.