A story of Archaeology and Greek culture that I could not put down!

I started reading Travels in Elysium by William Azuski on a cold and wet spring day it proved to be the perfect tonic for such a dismal day. Travels in Elysium is the story of former student Nicholas Pedrosa who lands a position as assistant to archaeologist Marcus Huxley on Huxley's excavations of the lost settlement on the Greek island of Santorini (Thera) destroyed by the colossal eruption that occurred c. 3600 years ago during the time of the Minoan civilization.

Mr Azuski is a master at setting the scene and placing the characters and action in the landscape. After describing Nicholas Pedrosa's journey across Europe and the graphic account of the treacherous storm that blew up as the ship that he was travelling in crossed the Aegean Sea, on landing on Satorini the other main characters are introduced when Nicholas Pedrosa becomes entangled in the funeral procession of Benjamin Randal his predecessor who died on the excavation in mysterious circumstances. The funeral also provides the opportunity to introduce one of the main themes in the novel that of the Grecian burial rite of placing a silver coin in the mouth of the deceased to pay the boatman Charon for their journey across the river Styx to the afterlife.

The narrative of the excavation is cleverly entwined with the mythology of the afterlife and there is a good twist in the plot. Without giving anything away my favourite scene was where Nicholas Pedrosa is in Charon's boat and his barrage of questions and remarks to Charon about the journey across the Styx results in Charon pushing Pedrosa from his boat into the river! All in all an excellent book which I could not put down and a recommended read for anyone interested in Greek culture!


Travels in Elysium is published by Iridescent Publishing and is available from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Travels-in-Elysium-ebook/dp/B00CKBE5C6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1371829446&sr=1-1&keywords=travels+in+elysium

Enjoying being on the edge at the Greenbelt Festival 2012

As a Christian partly due to my theological beliefs I have always been on the edge of the Church of England. When I was in my early 20’s I studied at King Alfred’s College now the University of Winchester and attended my church, All Saints Catherington on a Sunday when I was home for the weekend. When I rolled up at KAC in 1988 a debate was raging over the establishment of a gay society in the Students Union with the College being a Church of England College there was much opposition to the society’s establishment. On the home front our then vicar Tina Beardsley got up in the pulpit one Sunday in November 1989 when the church was in the middle of the Alpha course and informed the congregation that she had realised that God still loved her even though she was gay. I can only repeat this as I was not present at the time being on retreat with the college chapel down at Hillfield Friary the HQ of the Anglican Franciscan movement in Dorset. The house group that I was in was very sensible and was led by the late Alan Richards who Tina Beardsley called her “left hand” after Alan’s sad death in 1991, and made no fuss over this revelation whatsoever. The late 1980’s was a time of much discussion in the C of E over the inclusion or rather the exclusion of gay people from the church and the priesthood and the ordination of women in the church. So between the KAC SU and my house group I lived in two environments where there was no big issue or big deal in other members of the church having different sexual orientations and I had no problem accepting that the church and wider society was made up of different people with different beliefs and orientations and that all should be included.

Secondly as someone with a disability I have myself experienced much discrimination throughout my life and this has also shaped my attitude to other minority groups in the church and wider society seeking to understand them and support their cause. I came to know the Rev Peter Owen Jones through my research into the Gage chapel at St Peter’s church in the village of Firle, East Sussex. Pete is a very forward thinking person he is not afraid to explore new ideas and lives on the edge of Christianity interacting with non-Christian people and beliefs. Knowing Pete Owen Jones has caused much criticism to be thrown at me by other Theology students at Chichester whose beliefs range from straight laced high church Anglican for whom there is only the Book of Common Prayer and no other liturgy to Pentecostal Christians. What they share in common over this criticism is their view that Pete holds heretical views and who have labelled me a heretic by my association with him.

I have come to realise that it is these Christians who are holding the church back. Over the issue of gay marriage they will not budge. Recently one of the now former Chichester students who is Pentecostal criticised gay marriage on Facebook and when I asked them what is equality the reply was that equality for everyone is right but it should not include gay marriage. On booking my ticket to Greenbelt 2012 I told the curate at my church a few Sundays ago at coffee after the service that I was going this year and that the plan was to buy Pete Owen Jones and Diarmaid MacCulloch a drink in the Jesus Arms after their talks to say thank you for the help that they have given me with my history dissertation and how the Pentecostals and other students at Chichester have criticised me for my association with Pete. Her reply was that they should look at who Jesus kept company with – the down and outs and unwashed of society but then on informing her about the views that the Pentecostal student published about gay marriage on Facebook she promptly changed her tune and informed me that marriage is sacred and only between a man and a woman. At this year’s Greenbelt Pete’s talk was on “The New Christianity” and in it Pete touched on how the C of E is fixed on the arguments over the ordination of women, gay clergy and homosexual sex as “like a record that has got stuck”. I think that at present we have a canon of equality legislation that has been cherry picked it is not fully encompassing in equality because it is not comprehensive it does not fully implement disability rights and excludes full and equal marriage rights for gay people.

Pete talked about how western Christianity promotes the individual at the expense of the planet, how he met a group of people in the Lewes area who believe that humanity now stands at a crossroads as it did 10,000 years ago at the time of the agricultural revolution which like the industrial revolution after it changed humanity and the planet. Pete drew heavily on Joanna Macey’s book “Active Hope” which considers the impact of the damage that man has wrought on the planet and Pete summed up the three models or groups that Macey argues humans fall into. The first is the “Business as Usual” model/group in which continued global economic growth is encouraged and people continue to be encouraged to consume products on a mass scale where the subplot is the promotion of finding a partner, having a family and living happily ever after and where people’s lives are far removed from the ecological catastrophe that awaits humanity unless it changes its priorities and begins to think about adopting more ecological friendly policies.

The second model/group is termed “the great unravelling” this model embraces those who hold no hope for the future, and the third model/group is “the great turning point” where people do have hope for a future that humanity can change its ways and look after the planet. Pete asked the audience “Where are you? Which group are you in?” He rounded off his talk by underlining his view that Christianity must embrace the natural world and to love your neighbour means to include the natural world where people will enter paradise by appreciating the butterflies, birds and natural landscapes of our planet. He used Jesus’s parable that all of King Solomon’s finery did not compare to the wild flowers in the fields. That we have to change from the Anthropocentric structured church that we have which is promoting consumerism and driving us to the brink of environmental and social meltdown and adopt an ethos that will save our environment.

From my perspective as an archaeologist and historian I think that Pete might have been better off providing some examples from world history where societies have failed due to the way that they over abused the natural resources around them causing an environmental disaster; for example the people on Easter Island who deforested the island so severely that no tree was left standing or the systematic ecological collapse that many academics have advanced for the cause of the decline of the Maya of the Mayan classic period. Nevertheless his argument was a passionate one. Concerning western Christianity he highlighted its anthropocentric structure which promotes the individual and outlined how the church supports western society and consumerism through this structure. Consumerism is helping to drive the abuse of natural resources and the decline of the natural world  like the developments in the intensification in agricultural production terminus post quem World War II, here Pete cited the decline by 87% of the butterfly population in the fields around Cheltenham. I think that he could also have underlined the point that since the Millennium some scientists have called for a new epoch called the Anthropocene due to the advent of global warming and other environmental and ecological changes that have happened on earth due to the activities of man.

What also needs to be considered is that whilst there has been a rapid increase in the numbers of non-stipendiary ministers in the C of E due to the ordination of women, the church still has a duty to financially support its retired clergy who held a stipend and their spouses in their retirement. Stipendiary clergy often do not own their own homes and live in church property. The C of E has an infrastructure of social care which includes support for its retired clergy including care homes and needs capital income to support this infrastructure let alone income to conserve and protect the fabric of its historic buildings. At the end of the talk during the questions a member of the audience pointed out that although Pete had highlighted these issues he had not put forward any solutions. Any solution to the development of a society that is not based on mass consumerism and the destruction of our natural world has to consider how organisations like the C of E are going to fund social care for its retired members. Pete did attempt to live without money in his series “How to Lead a Simple Life” I know myself that it is perfectly possible to live without a credit card and debt on just what money you have coming in perhaps this is the first step to moving away from a consumer orientated society.

I bumped into Pete later whilst looking for my Renault 5 Henri Tudur II in the car park and he was telling me that in reading my dissertation he is finding it all very Machiavellian leaving him with questions about the events that the Gages encountered during the 16^th and early 17^th centuries. My recent history dissertation on: “The Gage Family of Firle, East Sussex, c. 1503-1650. Prosopography, Politics, Religion and Recusancy.” has led me to consider the effects of the persecution of heretics in the 16^th and 17^th centuries. Sir John Gage KG and his sons Edward and James were involved in the persecution of the Protestant Sussex martyrs during the persecutions of the reign of Mary Tudor. The topics covered in my dissertation are to be expanded and studied in more detail for my planned book on Firle and one issue that I want to explore more closely is the effect that the persecutions and burnings had on Sussex society. During the reign of Elizabeth I the Gages were persecuted heavily for their recusancy and many historians have concluded that this was due to their central role in the Marian persecutions in Sussex. The great 19^th century Sussex Antiquarian Mark Anthony Lower noted that “It may be inferred from the statements of John Foxe that he [Edward Gage] did this ‘ministerially’; that he showed as I have elsewhere stated much courtesy to Richard Woodman” and that the Gages “suffered far more from their consistency to their own creed than from the Protestants ever suffered from them” [Mark Anthony Lower: ‘Notes on Old Sussex Families’ Sussex Archaeological Collections Vol. XXIV 1872; The Worthies of Sussex 1865]. Lower has been credited with creating the cult of the Sussex Martyrs in the 19^th century.

Coincidentally on Saturday evening BBC Radio 3 had a programme the “Last Heretic” about Edward Wrightman who was the last person to be burned at the stake for holding heretical beliefs in 1612. Diarmaid MacCulloch, (with whom I had a cup of tea and chat after Pete had to pull out of the planned drink in the Jesus Arms due to the rescheduling of his Friday talk to Saturday afternoon and our decision that the Jesus Arms was far too muddy to enjoy a drink there) featured in this programme. Diarmaid explained why heretics were perceived to be so dangerous to society due to the view that their heretical beliefs were considered to hurt society and the fact that they as an individual endured an extremely painful death through being burnt alive was given no consideration, the emphasis being on the hurt endured by society from the heresy committed. Diarmaid argued that it was the untidy nature of Wrightman’s case (he was burnt at the stake twice recanting his views at the first occasion the flames were extinguished and he was given a reprieve only to refuse to give a full recantation which led to his second burning) that put those in authority off the practice of burning heretics thus leading to Wrightman being the last heretic burned in England.

I will continue to be labelled by others as holding heretical theological views, but I enjoy life at the edge of the church it is far more interesting!

Pete Owen Jones talk on “The New Christianity” can be purchased from the Greenbelt website:

http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/media/talks/17860-peter-owen-jones/

And Diarmaid’s discussion about the Last Heretic – Edward Wrightman can be heard on BBC iPlayer:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01m6dg2/Twenty_Minutes_The_Last_Heretic/

Miss Caitlin Reilly, the DWP/JobcentrePlus and Poundland. A nail in the coffin of volunteering in museums.

Miss Caitlin Reilly and the issue of her forced work placement in the chain store Poundland whilst claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance. Not wishing to detract from the issues concerning the legal arguments of the case, the facts in this case illustrate the limited vision of the DWP/JobcentrePlus when it comes to voluntary work. Miss Reilly is right in her observation that the DWP/JobcentrePlus fail to see volunteering in a museum as a valid and commendable route into employment. They perceive museums and the heritage sector as the preserve of the middle class and volunteering in them as a comfy task more akin to something undertaken in one’s leisure time or as a hobby, and therefore not qualifying as working towards a goal of paid employment. 

I have a physical disability and have had many dealings with the DWP/JobcentrePlus. I am also am archaeologist who has volunteered within museums and as a lecturer in the further education sector I have been involved in teaching students within a museum environment. Museums and the heritage sector are not the preserve of the middle class, when I was an archaeology student in the 1980’s I was a volunteer digger at Fishbourne Roman Palace in West Sussex. I dug alongside people who were undertaking archaeological placements as part of the then Manpower Services Commission scheme for unemployed and who came from all walks of life the only common denominator being that they were on the MSC scheme by virtue of their unemployment. This scheme worked very well and led to careers in the archaeological field and in museums for unemployed people. Volunteering in a museum is not a comfy or easy option; it is hard work which requires the volunteer to possess many skills. Museums are powerhouses of learning they play a vital role in education not just for children but for people of all ages and volunteers are their lifeblood.

 I have also worked as a volunteer at what is often perceived to be the hard end of volunteering as a Citizens Advice Bureau advisor and in my experience volunteering in a museum is just as an important role to society as undertaking C.A.B. work. A policy that museum volunteering does not count from the governmental department and agency tasked with securing employment for the unemployed if continued to be pursued over the long term will I fear be a nail in the coffin of volunteering in museums and the heritage sector in general. Furthermore until the DWP/JobcentrePlus realise that all forms of volunteering are beneficial to the securing of long term employment including volunteering in a museum their various work schemes will continue to fail.

The Olympic Torch in Petersfield Monday July 16th 2012

The Olympic Torch in Petersfield, Monday, 16^th July 2012

The Olympic torch bearer in Dragon Street, Petersfield, Monday July 16th 2012

The Olympics are coming! Today the Olympic torch relay passed through the ancient Hampshire market town of Petersfield which is situated in the south east corner of the county close to the border with Sussex, and was therefore the last stop for the Olympic torch in Hampshire before it crossed over into Sussex and made its way through Rogate, Midhurst, Chichester, and onto Brighton. I decided last week that I should attempt to see the torch as it passed through Petersfield as an archaeologist and historian I was conscious that this would be a historic moment. After much careful planning I arrived in Petersfield this morning at about 6.20am and parked in the Avenue. I made my way to Dragon Street and took a chair with me to perch my recusant post processual posterior on as I was going to have to wait for two hours! After pouring myself a cup of English Breakfast tea from my flask I settled down. The first thing that happened was that I was approached by an interviewer from the local radio station Kestrel FM (www.kestrelfm.com) who asked me why I had come and at such an early time. I explained that as a historian and archaeologist I thought that it was important to experience this event and to record it. The interviewer asked me if I was going to blog about it – yes - you are reading about it now!

It might have been before 7am but Dragon Street was beginning to see action. Community support workers from Hampshire County Council and street chaplains from Petersfield town chaplaincy (http://www.pact.org.uk/affiliated_groups-chaplaincy.asp) made up of members of local churches in the Petersfield area were beginning to appear. One of the street chaplains came over and had a chat with me. I told her a bit about the volunteering that I used to do for the Citizens Advice Bureau in Petersfield and she told me a bit about the work of the street chaplains.

I also had my iPhone on me and was tweeting Kevin Gard. Kevin is a Petersfield lad who has now retired after 30 years in Hampshire Police to Kenya with his wife Tracy where they volunteer at a children’s’ home in Mombasa. Kevin keeps a blog about the Tumaini Children’s Home and you can visit it here:

http://tumainichildrenshome.org/

Over the weekend Kevin followed the torch relay around the Isle of Wight where he lived for many years. He was able to follow it via the BBC website live feed and tweeted me when it was going around Fratton Park in Portsmouth the home of Portsmouth Football Club, when it was going along the A3 and passed Butser Hill, and when it had finally arrived in Petersfield at the Causeway. By 8am the crowds were gathering along both sides of Dragon Street and the anticipation was rising and when the torch arrived the excitement amongst people was tangible with everyone cheering and waving at the entire convoy including the police outriders

All this technology and anticipation got me thinking about what the Olympic torch relay is a modern version of? I decided that it is like the progress of a monarch through towns and the countryside during the medieval and early modern periods. We are used to seeing the image of the monarch on everything from stamps to tea towels and the Queen’s grandson Prince William and his wife Catherine have even been feted like movie stars. The Olympic torch relay is a once in a lifetime event and that is what seeing the monarch pass through a village or town during the middle ages or the early modern period would have been for the majority of the ordinary people the only chance to see what the king looked like in the flesh. So people would gather in advance wherever the king was travelling though in order to get a glimpse of him. The Olympic torch was on schedule and passed through Petersfield very quickly, I was able to take some photos of the event including two of the torch bearer as he came up Dragon Street. It was different seeing it in person, on the news the torch bearer always appears to be walking or running slowly, but in reality the torch bearer came along Dragon Street in a flash and then he was gone and as soon as he had passed by the crowds that had amassed along the length of Dragon Street began to dissipate. I returned to my car and had a warming cup of tea and by the time that I was driving through Petersfield the town was back to its old self. No doubt this is how places and people operated when the king passed through much anticipation and waiting and then it was over quickly and things returned to normal.

A Return to Blogging...........

I am fated every time I decided to put my mind to a regular or even a daily Blog something happens or rather in the case of each of my two entries an RTA and the consequence being that this Crippled Antiquarian is left even more crippled and unable to Blog.

However Blogging is important to my academic research so I am going to start again (for the 3rd time) and attempt to write a daily or regular blog!

Wish me luck!

Getting my Recusant Post Processual Posterior in Gear!

I haven't written a blog entry for nearly three years! Such is when life at the coalface of British (English) History travels at the speed of the tortoise rather then that of the hare! I have just finished writing up my dissertation on "The Gage Family of Firle, East Sussex, c.1503-1650. Prosopography, Politics, Religion and Recusancy" and so have decided that I need to put more of an effort into maintaining a blog! 

This is a short entry as I'm about to get my Recusant Post Processual Posterior into gear and go to church - well it is Sunday!!!!