British Museum

What's the greatest place in London?

The British Museum of course!

And it's free! Got to love the Brits for that!

Rosetta Stone - now protected by a glass case - unlike the first time I saw it - then there was just a rope around it with nothing to stop an excited 16 year old from touching it!

Amazing - the Egyptian King Lists. The basis for many years of all the chronology schemes in the Near East.
Assyrian scultpture is fantastic. I wonder how much has been lost in the last couple of years as Iraq has slid into anarchy.

One of the Museum's jewels - the Parthenon Marbles. Whether they should be here is far to complex a question for me.
The Lewes Chess set. Beautiful little ivory pieces from the Viking times.
I've always had a soft spot for medieval art. Reckon i missed my calling, should have been a medievalist. These i think were from the old Palace of Westminister.

This piece is equisite each circle is smaller than the centre of my palm and yet it is carved in 3D. Absolutely amazing.

All-nighters

That's what study does to me. Saw the sunrise for the first time in England. Got to love procrastination.

Christmas 06

Down to London for Christmas with the English family and mum and dad and VIC! They do great things with light here, especially since it gets dark at 4.30.


We checked out Kew Gardens - special even in the winter

Saw the site of the Battle of Hastings. 1066 and all that. Now there is a private school there in the old abbey William the Conquerer built. I can't believe the Saxons lost. They had the high ground advantage, although were exhausted from their previous battle at Stamford bridge, and it seems the Normans were just too cunning.

Vic and I caught up with Ryan and his family while in London. Had a great time in a Kensington pub and bistro, and hope to see them again some time soon!

Saw the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London, as well as the site of many royal executions on Tower Green. Plus watched the poor clipped ravens jump about the White Tower. London in Winter is amazing. They have ice skating rinks all around major sites, the Tower, Somerset House, Kew Gardens, Hampton Court lots of beautiful locations. Fancy skating in a former moat?

And of course, New Years Eve.... Slipped up to Sheffield for the night to show Vic the town and celebrate in the Devonshire Cat. Oh, what a night.....!

Now - back to study....

Archaeology 2006

Kaman-Kale Hoyuk. Digging on a grand scale. Late Chalcolithic to Ottoman mound in Central Turkey. Base of the Deep Trench is 12m down.



18 beautiful pots found in the baulk of the South sector. After 2 weeks of painstaking, mindnumbing digging and drawing of the 2 5x1m baulks we made the find of the season.

The real work. Archaeobotany in practise. Floating 1500+ litres of soil with Bronwyn in the Japanese garden. The tank - where we spent so many peaceful days, playing in the mud while watching the seeds float by.

***

Sheffield MSc

Environmental Archaeologists in the field. Soon-to-be pollen experts and geoarchaeologists. A brave and hopeful bunch of people.

Perhaps the future....

Catal Hoyuk. The granddaddy of Turkish Archaeology. Famous for its microexcavations and sponsors. And love of Archaeobotanists.

Viva La REVOLUTION!!!

End of Semester - Flat 29 celebrates for one final time before we all disappear for Christmas





In the beginning: Georgia and Tatianna use chopsticks for the first time.


And then the revolution began!!!!

fruit salad of vodkas - 5 pounds for 6 on a monday night

Gina trys one

I buy some.

Bubblegum, bananna and peach

And we ended at bar one.

What a night!! Cheers, girls - These months have been great.

Adventures!

Took time out from Sheffield with two mates and drove across to the Coast - Whitby and Scarborough. Two amazingly contrasting sea side towns to the east of the Yorkshire Moors. It's a beautiful country.

The church in front of the Abbey where Bram Stoker based some of Dracula

Whitby Abbey, beautiful location.

Micheal and Ryan - as always i was taking way too many pictures.
Whitby itself. Great fish and chips. There is a Captain Cook theme to the village. He worked here prior to finding Oz.
Scarborough. The tacky English seaside with bright lights and beeping things. We also got snowed on here by detergent sprayed out from a big cannon in a winter market.

A casino for children.

Autumn

Afternoon at St Georges

Western Park

The colours of change

Random things

Walkabout on West St, a converted prayer hall with graves in front. A screwed representation of Aussie culture, only Fosters and no Lemon, Lime and Bitters. Oh - and no aussies either, not surprisingly.
The Drama Centre - performing waiting for Godot in a re-used church.
The Job Centre Plus - it has computers! (also the location for the job seeking scenes of the Full Monty) What a strange idea?!?

Sheffield Anglican Cathedral - an otherwise nice building with a Gotham City type entrance. In Sheffield even the oldest buildings are trying to look new (and a little ugly) unlike Melbourne where new buildings start to look old as soon as they are made.

Beneath the Gotham Tower.

Winter Garden. One of those Millenium projects.....

Part of the very tiny old part of Sheffield - a building attached to the Catholic Cathedral