News in brief

HMS Victory 1744: Options for the management of the wreck site

In its response to the public consultation on the management of the wreck site of HMS Victory 1744, the Society of Antiquaries has pointed out that ratification of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage 2001, which the Society has frequently urged in the past, would help resolve many of the complexities involved in this particular case and be of great benefit to UK marine assets generally, providing a much-needed regulatory framework for their proper protection.

Rule 1 of the Annex to the UNESCO Convention gives the principle of preservation in situ as the preferred option where this is practical and this must be the preferred option for the Victory, the Society says. The degree to which the vessel is subject to damage from natural degradation and storm damage, fishing and trawling, and interference from divers needs considerable further evaluation. Insufficient survey has been undertaken so far to reveal anything other than artefact scatter and the preservation and nature of the vessel structure; its degree and depth of burial within sediments is unknown. It is therefore premature to do anything other than adopt the precautionary principle of preservation in situ at least until such time as considerable further work is carried out.

The complete text of the Society's response to the consultation can be downloaded here (Word file: 40Kb).

Welcome to New Fellows

A warm welcome to the following people who were elected to the Society on 17 June 2010. This was the last ballot of the academic year. The next ballot will take place after the summer break on 21 October 2010.

  1. Frances Marjorie Harris, BA, PhD. Retired Curator of Manuscripts, British Library (has served as an Expert Advisor on Manuscripts to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport from 2002 to 2010; interests lie in mid seventeenth to mid eighteenth century politics and culture).
  2. Aoi Hosoya, BA, MA, MPhil, PhD. Research Fellow, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto (research interests include ethnoarchaeological approaches and the beginning of agricultural domestication in Asia; has published on archaeobotany, and archaeobotanical approaches to Yayoi social structure).
  3. Nicola Amanda Jane Richardson, BA, MA, PhD. Senior Lecturer in Medieval and Early Modern History, University of Chichester (specialist  in the study of medieval landscape, especially forests and parks; publications include The Medieval Forest, Park and Palace of Clarendon, Wiltshire c.1200-c.1650).
  4. Ann N. Brysbaert, MA, BSc, PhD. Archaeological scientist and conservator (Principal Investigator within the Leverhulme-funded 'Tracing Networks' Networks' project based at Leicester University; lecturer at the Diethnes Kentro Ellinikon kai Mesogeiakon Spoudon, Athens; has published on Egyptian and Greek sites).
  5. Donald Hankey, The Lord Hankey, Architect and Conservation and Cultural Planning Specialist (founder of the GHK Group of Companies in 1973 andthe All Party Parliamentary Group on Architecture and Planning; has advised government, regional and city authorities throughout the world; has published on conservation on China, Jordan, Pakistan).
  6. David Frankel, BA, MA, PhD. Professor of Archaeology, La Trobe University, Australia (has directed numerous excavations at prehistoric sites in Papua New Guinea, Australia and Cyprus; Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities).
  7. Margaret O'Hea, BA, D.Phil. Senior Lecturer, Classics, School of Humanities, University of Adelaide, South Australia (authority on the glass of the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Early Islamic periods in the Near East; has directed an archaeological survey in the Jordan Valley).

The following people were elected on 10 June 2010:

  1. Katherine Victoria Boyle, BA, PhD. Research Facilitator and Conference Organiser, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge (research interests include the Palaeolithic subsistence practices).
  2. Robert Francis Willard Elgood, BA, PhD. Research Fellow, Eastern European, Islamic and Asian Arms and Armour, the Wallace Collection (leading authority on Oriental arms and armour).
  3. Linda Doran, BA, MA, PhD. Hon. General Secretary, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (expert on medieval settlement patterns and allied communication routes; has published on heritage maps).
  4. Julian Michael Charles Bowsher, BA. Senior Archaeologist, Museum of London Archaeology (specialist in the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly London's playhouses; has published on the archaeology of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria; Fellow of the Royal Numismatic Society, former President of the Greenwich Historical Society).
  5. Oliver Rackham, MA, PhD. Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and Keeper of the college silver (ecologist and botanist; leading authority on British woodlands and the ecology of Mediterranean Europe).
  6. Edmond Campion Southworth, BA, MPhil. Director, Manx National Heritage (specialist in Classical Archaeology; has published on the collections of the Liverpool Museum).
  7. Margaret Goodrich, MA. Retired historian and Scholar (has contributed to the study to the Ecclesiastical History of the Diocese of Worcester; has published on medieval nunneries).

The following people were elected on 27 May 2010:

  1. John Essex Goldfinch, BA, MA. Head of Incunabula, British & Early Printed Collections, British Library (has published on 15th-century printed books, the library of King George III and the history of the British Museum).
  2. Derek Leslie Adlam. Early music scholar and practitioner (pioneering figure in early music movement; curator and restorer of C F Colt’s keyboard instruments collection, Bethersden; has published on the Portland family collections).
  3. Zoë Crossland, MA, PhD. Assistant Professor of Archaeology, Columbia University, New York (specialist in African archaeology; interests include the history and practice of forensic archaeology in Britain and Argentina).
  4. Ioana Adina Oltean, MA, PhD. University Lecturer, University of Exeter (specialist in archaeology of Roman Dacia and in aerial archaeology; has published on these topics).
  5. Catrina Anne Appleby, BA, MA. Publications Officer, Council for British Archaeology (her research interests lie in landscape development and later prehistory; projects include excavations at Nadbury Camp, Warwicks).
  6. Gillian M. Draper, BA, MA. PhD. Associate Lecturer, University of Kent (has contributed to study of history of Kent and she is the events and Development Officer for British Association for Local History; has published on this area).
  7. Sarah Helen Parcak, BA, MPhil, PhD. Founding Director, University of Alabama at Birmingham Laboratory for Global Health Observation (has excavated at Tell Tebilla, and contributed to the Northeast Delta Survey and the Survey of Tell El-Amarna).

The following people were elected to the Fellowship on 29 April 2010:

  1. Jillian Lyndon Husselby, BA, PhD. Architectural Historian (specialist in the Tudor Period; has made major contribution to the study of the buildings of William Cecil including Burghley House, Lincolnshire).
  2. Tara Draper-Stumm, MA, BA. Fundraiser and Events Coordinator, Heritage of London Trust (architectural historian; specialist interests include the work of Robert Adam; has published on historic buildings).
  3. Matthew Edgeworth, BA, PhD. Project Officer, School of Archaeology & Ancient History, University of Leicester (field archaeologist with a specialist interest in the archaeology of rivers; has contributed to the Archaeology of Bedfordshire).
  4. Robert James Wallis, BA, MA, PhD. Associate Professor of Visual Culture, Richmond the American International University, London (major contributions to the study of shamans and animism in indigenous and prehistoric art).
  5. Eileen Wilkes, BA, MA, PhD. Lecturer in Archaeology, Bournemouth University (prehistorian with specialist interests in the Iron Age of southwestern Britain; excavated in and published on Poole Harbour).
  6. Daniel James Garner, BA. Archaeological Project Officer, Cheshire County Council (directed major excavation on Chester’s Roman Amphitheatre and Bridge Street Row; has published on these areas).
  7. Carolyn Rosemary Wingfield, BA. Curator, Saffron Walden Museum and Head of the Uttlesford District Museum Service (has published on Anglo-Saxon archaeology; former editor of Bedfordshire Archaeology).
  8. Claire Smith, BA, PhD. Associate Professor of Archaeology, Flinders University, Australia (President of the World Archaeological Congress; specialist interests in Australian Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory and South Australia).
  9. Alexandra Croom, BA. Keeper of Archaeology, Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums (Archaeological Project Manager for TWM Archaeology; has published on Roman costume, furniture and domestic life).