Archaeology can change lives John Schofield

It's not a new question, but one archaeologists have been increasingly asking: what can archaeology tell us about the world around us that we couldn't find out by other means? Can it inform the familiar? Bill Rathje, at the University of Arizona, thought it could. Applying archaeological techniques to homes and landfills, Rathje explored waste management, diet and recycling, shedding unique light on what we eat and discard. Forensic investigation of crime scenes was replicated in 2007 at the University of Bristol by excavating a Ford Transit van. Some asked "Why?", calling for more "sensible archaeology". Perhaps, we replied, because for the contemporary past investigation is more significant than finding. It's less what we learn about things, than what we learn about ourselves and our practices. "Archaeology can change your life" was a line I used to describe how some homeless people in Bristol felt after joining (and increasingly owning) an archaeology project in the city, mapping their own experiences of contemporary homelessness. One participant spoke to an audience at a major conference. She wouldn't speak to a single stranger 12 months before: this project has done wonders for her self-confidence. The archaeology of the contemporary past (or the present, as some prefer) is different, and of course not archaeology at all by its conventional definition. But as Rathje and others have shown, archaeology as a method, and as a particular perspective, is a way to explore the world around us. It can tell us new things and offer fresh insight. In some cases it can be life-changing.

John Schofield is director of the Cultural Heritage Management programme, Department of Archaeology, University of York, and co-editor of After Modernity: Archaeological Approaches to the Contemporary Past (OUP 2010).

8 Who were the Anglo-Saxons?

The Anglo-Saxons, says an English junior school website, were tall, fair-haired men who came from north-western Europe armed with swords and spears; they arrived as pagans (naming most of our weekdays), but converted to Christianity; and unlike the Romans, they never returned – many modern Britons have Anglo- Saxon ancestors. That is pretty much how early historians describe it (and some now, too). Archaeologists, meanwhile, have discovered that texts convey but a fraction of the story to be revealed by digging. The Anglo-Saxon era (AD410–1066) is no longer a dark age, but one teeming with halls, villages and towns, funerals and cemeteries, industrious farmers and some of the finest smiths ever seen (and women and children). Who these people were, however, remains a puzzle. Archaeological opinion ranges from the traditional (invaders and immigrants who largely wiped out the opposition) to a near-nationalistic vision of native Britons adopting new fashions. Excavation has shown a cultural complexity and sophistication only hinted at in texts. Understanding the times will require an equal sophistication of analysis, and full use of the data and techniques archaeology can offer.