The
Archaeology of Ardleigh, Essex, excavations 1955-1980 by N.R. BROWN
East Anglian Archaeology Report No. 90. 1999.
195pp, 114 figs, 30pls. ISBN 1 85281 164 1 (£17.00)
This volume publishes the results of excavations near
Ardleigh in Essex, carried out over a period of 25 years. Local landowner
and farmer Felix Erith, who discovered and excavated a large Bronze
Age cremation cemetery on his land, provided the impetus for the excavations.
He excavated and published his results from 1950 to 1960. As a result
of his work a programme of aerial photographic survey was conducted.
This revealed a large palimpsest of crop marks forming one of the largest
crop mark complexes in Essex. A large area of the complex was scheduled
and excavations were carried out by the Central Excavation Unit to try
and trace the development of the complex and to put Erith’s excavations
in context. The main body of the volume is given over to the publishing
of the aerial survey results and the Central Excavation Unit results.
Erith’s excavations provide an introductory lead in to the CEU
excavations. This volume presents not just the Deverell-Rimbury pottery
evidence from Ardleigh but also that from the major cemetery at White
Colne and thus represents a major corpus of material for reference for
this period and area.
On a purely technical level this is a quite excellent
volume. The production values are very good with large, clear artefact
drawings and well-lit artefact photographs. The colour photographs of
the chalcedony beads on page 73 emphasising the subtlety and beauty
of these objects. The site photographs and plans are also, as one would
expect from the CEU of top quality. The maps produced from the aerial
photograph plots are clear and will provide a firm basis for further
work in the area. The great organisational strength of this book is
to present Erith’s work at the beginning of the book. Not only
does this provide the volume with a chronological structure but it also
gives Erith’s work the prominence it deserves rather than relegating
it to an appendix, which one feels would have happened in some other
monograph series. Some may say that Erith’s work suffers by direct
comparison with that done by the Central Excavation Unit. In that case
I would disagree. Some of his plans and sections may not be as technically
accomplished as the CEU, but then he was a farmer and the CEU are full
time archaeologists. Erith’s own fascinating site photographs
show he absorbed advice from Colchester Museum and developed an accomplished
archaeological technique. He was quadranting ring ditches and excavating
the cremation urns using a method still used today. Many people’s
instinct would be to empty the urn in the field and then try to remove
it. Erith excavated around the urn leaving it filled and then bound
them with string before removal. The contents of the urn would be then
micro-excavated in controlled conditions. The only difference between
his technique and that of a recent excavation of similar material, such
as the Iron Age cemetery at Westhampnett in West Sussex, is the use
of bandages instead of string. Erith’s achievement is made all
the more impressive when one reads how his method for locating sites
involved walking for hours behind a tractor, marking pot scatters with
bamboo canes.
Erith’s background and occupation neatly encapsulate
two important issues that are currently ‘hot potatoes’ in
British archaeology, namely the problems of agricultural attrition of
archaeological sites and the role of the “amateur” archaeologist.
Erith’s discovery of the sites described in this book was the
direct result of the changes that took place in agricultural practice
in the mid- twentieth century. His old ploughman retired and so Felix
decided to retire his horses and buy a tractor. This cut 10 centimetres
deeper into the subsoil than the old horse drawn plough. It was the
pottery being ripped up from the subsoil that Erith noted and started
to record. Ardleigh was lucky in that the farmer was interested enough
to recognise the archaeological opportunity his detrimental ploughing
provided. The majority of farms where this occurs in Britain do not
have Felix Eriths. As a result of agricultural expansion under the Common
Agricultural Policy and allied subsidies, known and undiscovered archaeological
sites have suffered enormous attrition over the last 60 years. This
problem is now being addressed through the provision of specialist archaeological
advice by DEFRA to farmers by Countryside Steward Schemes. Surveys such
as the Monument Protection Programme and the Monuments At Risk Survey
provide the inventory for this management.
Felix Erith is in the great tradition of British land owner/amateur
archaeologists who include great names such as Richard Colt-Hoare and
General Pitt-Rivers. The Oxford English dictionary defines “amateur”
as “One who practises a thing only as a pastime”. In this
sense I think the term is derogatory, especially when applied to people
such as Erith and the work they produced. His technique, intelligence,
results and publications, as well as the continued work they have inspired
place him and his like above the level of the amateur. This was not
a mere pastime but a passionate interest, as serious as any academic
or professional. Thank fully this tradition continues in the work of
many local societies and groups, as well as more well known individuals
such as Martin Green who farms near Pitt-Rivers’ estate in Dorset
and has quietly excavated and published an extraordinary range of previously
unknown monuments. Many “professionals” could do worse than
read his and Erith’s works and benefit enormously. As such this
volume is a fitting tribute to a remarkable individual.
Dominic Barker
Southampton University
Review Submitted: February 2004
The views expressed in this review are not
necessarily those of the Society or the Reviews Editor.
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