Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up?

Dingen die ik deze week heb geleerd:
- Houthakken.
- Vuur maken.
- Brood bakken.
Ik zou me helemaal redden in de pre-historie. Of de Apocalyps.

Zaterdag was 'Pre-History Day' bij de Cambridge Archaeological Unit, waarvoor ik mij uiteraard had opgegeven als vrijwilliger. Want ik ben een volledig deskundige pre-historica natuurlijk.
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Als onderdeel van het 'Cambridge Festival of Ideas' konden kinderen en hun ouders over pre-historische archaeologie komen leren. Ik had mezelf heel snel opgegeven voor het broodbakken aangezien dat het warmste klonk. Andere activiteiten waren muurschilderingen maken, boogschieten, enz.

(metaalbewerking) 

De dinosauriër-vorm was het meest succesvol.

Het was zo koud en nat de hele dag. Ik had m'n hele IJsland archaeologie-zet aan; drie truien, winterlaarzen. Het stormde, regende, hagelde. Net echte archaeologie! Voor de lunch ben ik snel naar huis gefietst. Ik heb niet eens gegeten: alleen nog een trui aangedaan en warme chocolademelk gedronken. 

 We hebben de hele dag op de oven gezeten om warm te blijven.

Het was blijkbaar ook mogelijk om vegetarische chili te koken op onze oven : )

Natuurlijk wil je die ene nacht van het jaar dat de klokken terugdraaien en je een uurtje extra krijgt... om 11 uur instorten in bed. Dus ik was om 8 uur 's ochtends al weer vrolijk wakker om nog een beetje brood te bakken. Ja, als je eenmaal een nieuw talent hebt ontdekt moet je er wel gebruik van maken!

Nog even lekker tijd om een weekendje studieontwijkend gedrag te vertonen, want die stapel werk waar ik het van de week al over had - die ligt nu netjes op m'n bureau hoor. En op m'n bed. En op de grond. Ik heb alle boeken voor m'n dissertation weten te bemachtigen en kopieëren (na een discussie van een half uur met drie verschillende personeelsleden, twee formulieren, en drie kwartier wachten - mocht ik een boek meenemen uit de Verboden Afdeling van de bibliotheek. Veni Vidi Vici University Library). Ik ben bezig aan m'n eerste opsteltitel (practische toepassingen van wiskunde in Mesopotamië). Ik heb twee leeslijsten. We gaan aan de Code van Hammurabi beginnen. Twee nieuwe pixel baantjes. Ben net een echte Cambridge student nu! 

Dinsdag had ik een workshop in het British Museum. Datwaszocool. Ik maakte me en beetje zorgen over de hele reis, maar Katia vertelde me heel wijs dat je het gewoon als een avontuur moet zien. Na een bepaald aantal gemistte vluchten vergeet je dat nou eenmaal af en toe. Dus, goed, ik op m'n fietsje naar het station (aan de andere kant van de stad). Halverwege de ketting er weer af. Zucht. Naja, dan kan ik elk geval ook niemand m'n fiets jatten, toch? Treinkaartje weten te kopen (15 pond! auw), in de goede trein gestapt (toch nog 1 uur!), op King's Cross de uitgang gevonden (platform 9 3/4 :) ). Zelfs meteen, als een postduif, de goede straat ingewandeld! Allemaal volledig op tijd om nog even naar de Palestijnse expositie in SOAS te gaan voordat Ben me daar een rondleiding kwam geven.

At 3 o clock my teacher gave us a small tour of the Mesopotamian section of the BM and at 4 o clock we got to go through one of those little doors in the side on the gallery, into the archives. 130 000 clay tablets. Wow. I think the space itself was infinitely more impressive than the workshop. I want to work there. I want to live there. The (very appropriately bearded) archaeologist there declared "This is the centre of the world".

Unfortunately we did not get to handle the clay tablets. They just showed some of them to us, and explained their significance. Which was very cool and useful of course! But slightly disappointing, I suppose. Someone asked me, why it is so important to get to touch the artefacts. For me, it is because it helps me understand how people in the past felt about the objects. Can you hold it in one hand? How heavy is it? Also more specifically, I really like to get close and see how the inscriptions were made; where the strokes start and end, whether the characters trail off to the side of the tablet. Otherwise we could just photograph all artefacts we find and toss 'em out. The point of keeping them is to be able to turn them around, to study them from all angles, and to study the material composition.

 (On the side of the Rosetta stone is an inscription in a fourth language: English. (L) "Captured in Egypt by the British Army in 1801" (R) "Presented by King George III".)

 Mathemathical text : ) 

Archaeology @ Home I: Histon Road Cemetery

So I started a small new project, out of procrastination: studying my street. Some people like to trace their family tree. I like to know more about my location. If possible I would dig a test trench in the garden, but I think that A. I would need some more conclusive evidence that there is actually anything interesting back there and B. my College would be very angry.

The research on my house is still in progress, so for now, I will stick to the cemetery about 10 minutes down the road. It was Halloween this week, after all.  

Very appropriately, Petar and I strolled down to the cemetery at midnight, to try and take some photos (as you can see throughout this blog-post, I have been trying out a lot of different settings on my camera this week; apologies).

Histon Road has a really interesting cemetery, and many of the graves date back to the end of the 19th century. While we were there, I noticed the entire site had a quite strict layout, although it was difficult to get a good idea of it in the dark. In any case, around 2am it started to pour down, and we had to run back home as if the ghosts were chasing us. My 9am lecture the next day was a little painful.

Anyhow, when I came home from my classes, I did my homework of course. Histon Road Cemetery used to be the Cambridge General Cemetery, and it opened in 1842. It featured in the work of John Claudius Loudon, who dedicated a book to Cemetery Design - and Cambridge was one of his three main designs (the others are Bath Abbey and Southampton). The cemetery is, indeed, an early example of the 'grid pattern layout'.

If you are interested (why would you not be?!), you can find the book for free on Google Books.

In his "Report on the Design for a Cemetery proposed to be formed at Cambridge" Loudon describes the planning of the cemetery in great detail, from suitability of the area, to trees, to drainage, to soil type. He also states that it is intended for the middle class. The whole text reminds me quite a lot of the writing style of Vitruvius, and it could (should? is?) in my opinion genuinely still be used for cemetery design today. As far as I can have any educated opinion on cemetery design, that is...

Loudon himself was an interesting character as well. He was the son of a Scottish farmer, and studied botany and agriculture in Edinburgh. He specialised in landscape planning, which is how I imagine he got into cemetery design. He suffered terribly from arthritis and rheumatism, but found the energy to marry another fascinating person: Jane Webb. She was an early pioneer of science fiction, and author of The Mummy.  She later wrote  "It may easily be supposed that he was surprised to find the author of the book a woman; but I believe that from that evening he formed an attachment to me, and, in fact, we were married on the 14th of the following September." I appreciate how Loudon was attracted to her writing, especially considering that this was the early 19th century.

Finishing the week with a formal at Trinity College.

Oh don't you hate it when your gown gets caught on door handle?

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Pass the port to the left.

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If you step on the grass you will die. Instantly.