Digging the Dirt THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL IMAGINATION Jennifer Wallace Zs Duckworthiret plied in 2008 by Gerais Duckworth & Co, La "0:98 Camere Steet ‘Londen BCIM SEP Fax 02074900080 ‘ngiestducorth-pubishers oak (© 2004 by Jennifer Wallace All sight rorervd No par ofthis puication maybe reprsuced, stored in etrevl system, of wana ny forms by any means eeton, ‘mechanical photoypyng, recording or thers “ethow he pir paris of he publisher catalogue recur fr this book i avilable fom th Bish Labrary ISBN 0 7156 32787 ‘The author and publisher ate gatful tothe allowing for pete to quote Faber & Paber Lid or qt fm ‘he mark f Hera Pound: Faber & aber Lid und area Sera & Gr for quttins fom the works ‘Semis Heaney, AP. Watt Ltd behalf of Michel B. Yeats Torqusatons rm the works of W-B Yeats. "Canto AOI (chert) by Hara Pound fom The Cantos of Bara Pound copyraht © 1934-1997, 1040, 1948 1966, 1958, 1082, 1063, 1966, and G68 ara Pound. Reprinted by permission of "Now Dircthns Publishing Cogoraton Pleture sources and eres Plates 1,28 6 Bets Library Plaoe 48 & 10 Cambridge University Library Pate 9 FreeSoek Photoscom Pater 9,12 15, 148 15: the autor Pte 1: Soioty of Antiquares, Landon. ‘Typeet by Ray Davos Printed a brand in Great Bian by ‘CPL Bath Contents List of Plates 1. The Poti of Depth 2 Romancing Stones: The Archacoogicl Landscape 8, Unearthing Bodies: The Disruption of History 4. Pulfiting Desires: Erotic Excavation 5 Fundamentalism: Digging our Trojan Origins 6 Rock Bottom: Digging and Despair 1. Holy Ground: Archaeology and the Sacred 8 Postmodern Archaeology: Trashing Our Future Notes on Reading Acknowledgements Index 88 0 101 129 180 179 205, ag a8Digging the Dirt lenge lie in facing up tothe stark reality that we spend our lives, in figurative terms, digging inthe dirt looking st insertable fragments and solid, inexplicable mese while stl retaining a commitment to aura, tothe ‘Fights of desire, tothe poetics of depth 26 | Romancing Stones: ‘The Archaeological Landscape A fow miles from the village in Wiltshire where my mother grew up, the stot pilgrime route to the prehistoric stone cic of Avebury and the ‘Basie artificial mound of Sfbury Hull ets through the fields. As the ‘Bote walker bikes along, she will tart to notice more and more rocks ‘Rettered beside the path At fie, maybe jut the odd boulder, standing ‘Shut amid he sheep as they nibble the tfty grass. Then perhaps two oF ‘es, ping in chutere or at regular intervals, Until finally the walker ‘Gints upto the top of Field Down, ashore distance before Avebury, and {inde a whole seatering of grey weather stones, visible in every direction, Some stones appear to be arranged in rings. Others, lying on different prumontories. net more ike pointers, posaibky im alignment with some {Son feature on the horizon. Still others seem tobe entirely random, the faturl rebul ofthe rock formation ofthe area with es mixture of chalky Siland underlying sersen stone, ‘My mother never mentioned Fyfe Down to me or even Avebury, for that matter. She id not talk about the ancient landscape in which she {rev up nor the stones and strange mounds which must have formed the Fhekground to er weekend bieyele rides. Bervows and earthworks must have ecemed ther too ordinary tobe worth noticing. of itle more interest ‘than the hills and valleys which formed her uneonscious mental nap, on ‘par sith the river Kennet which Nowed past her village. She died aged ‘nly forty-seven and is herself buried ina beautiful graveyard inthe Lake District, All her le, ee dreamed of visiting the exotic pyeamidsin Egypt. sn ambition she never realised. She hardly noticed Sibury Hil "So when Tstide over the moor tothe top of Fyfield Down, Ifeela range of complex emotions, The view of the idgeway path, snaking between the favsens towards the town of Marlborough, which must have been £0 familiar to my mother that she barely repiatered itis mew to me. Its ‘iting because fits public archaeological significance but also poignant because ofthe private significance it might once have hel fr my family snd which har now been lot, Tsiton one of the grey boulders at the highest 20Digging the Dirt point of the ridge and think how mang things about my mother I never ‘Setually knew. So much of her hfe is a mystery. a lank which Twill now, never beable tf “And as I ston the boulder, the cold October wind whipping eros the hilltops think also about the stones, Is impossible to tll whether the ‘tone lying all over Fyfield Down are natural or whether they have been placed there deliberately. They tanalie me with the suggestion of differ ‘ent patterns. jump up and run over toone cluster, wondering whether it might be an ancient cele. But when I got thore and see the grey slabs Iving beached emid the netles and tufts of geass, it looks equally as if they might just be a random rock fall, Further down, there appears tobe a Suright line of stones which suggests a prehistoric arrangement. But it ‘night equally well be a natural rocky osteop or the remains of «much later, medieval wall go back to sit on my boulder, balled by the stones resistance to my investigations. ‘Stones are natural. Wiltshire i fll of rocks and boulders lying amid rast and trees, much like Fyfield Down. They le in the earth where nature and geology left them. When placed by man. however, set up Aelberataly ina special position, these same stones take on anew sii ance. Indeed, unlike the stones of Stonchenge which were imported from the Preseli Hills of Wales and were therefore exotic the stones of the [Avebury cirle are les, shifted only from one fish to another and et in pattern. But atthe point when they were consciously erected, they ceased to be merely stones and became part of our history. These carefully ranged stones mark the places in the Iandeeape which have held sone importance forus, which have ben the setting for momentous events. The ‘stones, itcould be aid, trade the boundary between the world of nature tnd the world of man ‘Archaoologyroveals how man is deeply integrated into the landscape. Environmentalist, of eourse, have pointed out for long ime bow closely ‘we are connected with the land, Te eno just environmental activists who draw attention to this fact by chaining themselves to tees and tunnelling underground. Philosophers too have reflected on our bonds with the natural world and our capacity tobe at home in nature. ‘Man to locations, and through locations to spaces, inherer in his dwelling, ‘wrote the pilsopher Martin Heidegger. But history too ca be sd tobe natural. The landscape guards the natural continuity between the present And the past. According to many eighteenth- and nineteenth centary thinkers history should be considered natural process anys, en Incluctable and steady progression from past to present to future in 1714, described historical change insuitably natural, organic term cach eeated being is pregnant with ts 28 12 Romancing Stones: The Archavologicol Landscape e, and it naturally follows a certain cours, if nothing hinders foeure state and ty follows hing a jogical earth, with its sedimented layers deposited year by year, FF Cae rn ange alan k a ener. sgt Sen ete aa lg he ay Te ‘auiafgine ofthe earth by studving the gradual changes inthe earth's ae ee ae hot aa eat ee ee eta etctng acter by Lace hearers See peep rome er ceniaiate im pee jan fe inthe anata repent sa ond ee Reamer Basel eos cee ee ee oe a ees a A es cs esr conn the seine ceperin clay co econ saint eseeetmtn eather ta tinea eh deeaieet tas eens canes nanan ae an eaten er ante inioe, aaa a cxeueerccead ee eee nara mene Sere eet lr Ceara Fee nga wey nrs mt ntetad etree preempt Paper eer ieee ees ets nese ce arn Ss ee epee end sna bein Set oe eat cata eid ee eee aeons eee fcr sargocee jose menierepn ener ee er inten enact Se iar tedaaie mae? acnaea eet ere eee ane ee eetneds insert aat Sot ee cee ee es ple eg pei ey er 29Digging the Dirt | se {he enclogeallahdsepe Andy wile many enthuse beat’ Investigate ancient earthworks and write about tune, no two aten Were. ‘more exercised by the connection between stones and words than the fighteenth-contury waiters Willam Stukeley and William Wordsworth, William Stukeley, who lived at the beginning of the century. ws practising excavator: Wiliam Wordsworth, who came to proitinence at the end af the century, was a poet. The comparison between them therefore not obvious. But both, it seeme to me, were fundamentally inerested i the reladoesip baween the imagination an mater ‘There is close analogy between archacologcsl stratigraphy and the operation of the imagination, Like the memory, the earth makes meaning land can be read and interpreted, Itcontains cancelled eyeles, the concrete record of the leal community embeded in its environment, Adornos ‘edimented history of human misery. although Stukeley literally dug Lup barrows in Wiltshire and only later deseribed them in his books on his discoveries while Wordsworth took an armchair interest in what was then ‘ntiquarienism and uncovered graves purely metaphorically ia his posty, both waiters were developing what might be termed archaeological pot. ice, a sensitivity to the grounds elogiae capacity for recoding, and ‘memorialsing vanished histories and personal loss. William Stukeley was born inthe fst fenland of Lincenshire inthe east, of England in 1687. He spent his life resisting the expectations of his fenvironment. He left school atthe age of thirteen to work in his father’s legal firm but found his mind wandering onto his studies of science and antiquities and begged his father o send itn to university. At Cambridge, where science was not yot part ofthe curriculum, he was obliged ofiially to study the conventional subjects of Classis, Philosophy, Divinity and ‘Mathematics, ut spent all his spare time conducting scenic exper ments, dissecting every animal he ould lay his hand on and becoming, ‘ashe later recalled, master ofthe fabric ofthe human body. Having left the university, he trained asm ctor at St Thomas's hospital in Landon, Dut kept up his interest in antiquities, making series of archaeological ‘expeditions nto Wltchie and neighbouring counties each yea from 1710, ‘unl 1725. He played leading role in forming the Society of Antiguares in London in 1717, becoming the fist seeetary of the socety and drawing Lup its constitution. But by 1726, he had withdrawn from the society snd from London and retreated beck to Linealnshire, where e was ordained 20 ‘2 Romancing Stones: The Archaeological Landscape ‘owenty years after his excavation, he published his books on Senceees re Stoel eckgvound meant that Stukeley was able tobring ‘This Wine world of science and the world of the imagination, While he en aa, ‘peel th rand Tour anos the celbyted ances sin aly a ‘his finances would not permit this, So he turned his attention: ce neler aettie iarecantn ee to thy Rracteristic Grand Tourist’s imaginative wonder at the past with the he chara on tahngues he hal developed when condacting ise Fee a ee as tome ico haa adc eg aor Serta en Da ere Ey undo act man who i fond of cling and nr ely onder a ct at a han ht eer tt cer anerpintn Paso in contrast to both the Grand Tourists, who had no scientific training ea or ee ae ce a act sire hy ae rar ior tg rect ay, a ier ten igre sort a a peel Caen ee rete te an Se rnin at an re or Se esate oe Soe ed tag Sit een ee eather na mtg end ye rad teoe Set a cane ta de cae me their edn sor tsa Ia ee te ce te Ea ee a norte are cra sd erste sin eshte mes i Oe a ace ae sy cic cl ee ae Beene eee mynd Ce ects Le etal et ad Se ee ange Wes eo and wheres 31Digging the Dirt ‘ved at Avebury forthe first time in 1719, the henge hed been sketchity investigated by John Aubrey and afew others, but nobody had conduct systemati Heldwork or mapped the whole area. The village of Avebury | land the downs around it appeared to be btered with random stand ‘Sones, Stukeley proseded to how how they were all connected int Significant pattcn (Pate 1). He claimed that the series of stone ctcog ‘which made up the henge or Druid temple’ of Avebury was originally proached by two grand avenues of stones, one from the southeast, ‘which he termed Kennet Avenue, and ope from the south-west, which bg termed Bekampton Avenue. At the head of Kennet Avenue was the teniple or sanctuary" on Overton Hil, while halfway along Bekampton Avene « Small 'sacellun’ or chapel, cated a¢ the ste of what are now known ag ‘he Adam and Bve Longstones, erved Druids on ordinary days of deve. tion, vs the eabbath-daye Tn oder for Stulkeley to develop this picture of the Avebury landscape as a coherent prehistori enced ste, he had tobe atentive as mich to ‘what was absent as to what was visibly present. Mesto the stones in these fvenues and temples had been removed or destoyed. The stones ofthe ‘sanctuary’ were actualy removed by local farmers between the time of Stuleley’s field survey and his written account ofthe site, co that be wag able to mourn the vacancy of every stone, the hollows stl lef fresh and to write of the original organisation of the temple circle with vivid firsthand knowledge. Bu the rout ofthe avenues relied upon bis imag native reconstitution of & whale Line of stones frm just the one or tw boulders remaining. The end of Kennet Aven, for example, ns it grew near the sanctuary, only actually retained two visible stones, one by Ube ‘iver Kennet and another by the hedge of the Marlborough road. But fom "hea two apparently eolated boulders, Stukeleyexteaplated an original sand aver, ‘Bekampton Avenue demanded an even greater leap of the imagination, since there were scereely any visible remains at all Seukeley relied upon observing one o two stones between the houses of the edge of Avebury village and als on local memory of stenes which had been used as building ‘material. By ploting these apparently random stones, he realized that, ‘adiscorning eye’ they made'a great sweep or curve northwards. Contin ing thet hypothetical trjectors, supported by what he maintained were ‘many stones just buried under the nurface of the earth fe came tothe Longstones, two larg boulders which were still visible aboveground, But rather than seeing them as entirely separate rom the Avebury henge, a5 ‘Aubrey had done, he elated them to the whole symbolic comple, claiing their significance for the avenue end for the wider context of ‘Druid! religious practice 32 2. Romancing Stones: The Archaclogical Landscape sn J ative at Avebury to look for Stukeleys Bekampton Avenue, T When a certain dgres af resatance. My attempt to follow my favour cocoa cologit's footsteps goes against ll expectations. ener up the path and co the Fight: the English Heritage warden sre othe car park, consul my tnap and consider turing inet fnd the henge up a the end. taut navent come to are the henge I eemonstrate, ‘ve come to ee amon Lonstones tngpelwarden bos nonplasse, ‘think sou might finda pth byt niigard abe says heitanty. "But the henge, you know, is real hace, Wea worl heritage site "an fat the churchyard. walle serosa coupl ofl, strewn with cad oy boulders and past moder terrace af otsesOne an it Siesng ni garden SP abng forthe Longsones I shout over the wall him. Theyre non as dam and Be. Row mbes they are? “Tnvert» sue” Bat Fm intrigued ow Let me know when you find two or three houses further down, the village ends and I get a view over aeountryeie Tere,» eaupl of ile aay ae two sant Boulders, ‘Mowing pin inthe autumn eunet, Stembling over aharbed wire fence Skt'nelking nearer to them, Te that they are shaped Ike twe huge imam faces tured towarda Avebury half «mile away. Car in the {Bane rae on, vos toe designated sites of Avebury and Stone ffenge But {stand beside Eve hand the warm mock, and wonder what hemi ence have sen’ Wilt Stukely’s thers shout Bekanpton Avenue andthe Long stones ape wae widely ered. His detractors thought hat twos ‘ooed upon willy excessive fantasy and was not supported by any clear bigscel evidence But an exctvation projet, started in 1909 a the BeLampton Longstnes isn fac confining Stukeleys claims, Photo fap the wtole area were cially taken fm the And pide {5 thove photographs, excavations have revealed bured stones. empty {Sckots where stones once mould have stood and huge pits where the ‘Sonce must have been deliberately broken up and destroyed in the fostinedictal period From noticing thar bles and pita and places where ‘ones are mising the archaesogts have concluded that a avenue did ised tom tphengeand that ters was accalr‘ov’orteple haley slong he projec to vestigate te whole Avebury aren wl at five 33Digging the Dirt sears, Avchocoogists it seems, ae finally catching up with Stukeley’s [As well as imaginatively recreating what the whole religious complex of ‘Avebury might once have loked like, Wiliams Stukeley was able to gin tense of ite changing history over time simply by studying the lnndocape tnd the stones He was sensitive, in other words, othe temporal relation ship of one layer of earth or stones to anther, He carefully dated Stone henge to the time when ‘he Druids had some notice frm Phoenician trader, of the nature of Solomon's temple Ie snow thought to have been substantielly built inthe period between 2550 and 1600 Bc, much earlier than the supposed date of Solomon's templo in the tenth century BC. Bu, ‘while he got the actual date of Stonehenge wrong, he was accurate in his Tense of ts date relative to that of Avebury. Through studying the stones of Avebury clsely and caleulating the elfoet of the weather” on the Femains and the rate of corrosion compared to that at Stonchenge, he ‘concluded that Avebury was twice as old as Stonehenge Since archacoly- fats now belive that Avebury was constructed between S000 and 2200 fc, some five or six hundred years belore Stonehenge, Stukeley’s interpre tion ofthe stones seems remarkably far-sighted ‘William Stukeley aso attempted to date the ancient features ofthe sndecepe around Avebury by studying their elation to one another. The reat long dike, the Wanadike, which rune south of Avebury, stretching from Calne in the west to Savernake Forest, near Marlborough, in the fens, vas built, he believed, before the Roman period. This could be proved. bythofact that 'thebankof the dikes chrown in, inorder to form the road’ ‘or in other words, chat the old Reman road secied to slice through the dike. And the Roman road itl, which intersected the Wanedike, for ‘example could he dated by the fct thatthe earth used fort constriction ‘appeared to have been dug from an old pre-Mlomen burial mound nearby. Stukeley examined the succession of pits which had been dug in one particular barrow to reach this conclusion, ‘Besides the atone irs of Avebury and Stonehenge, Stukeey was also fascinated by the many burial mounds which were seattered around the fields nearby. These barrows are the aifcal ommements ofthis vast and ‘open plain’. he wrote. And itis no small entertainment for a curious Dereon, to remark thei beauties, their variety in form and magnitude, thee situation” Given confidence by his experience in dissection and “sciemtficexperimentation, he proceeded not jut to ‘remark their beauties ‘and note their situation’ but also to excavate thet. By opening the barrows and ascertaining the exsct position and depth of the contents and 34 _2. Romancing Stones: The Archacoogical Landscape soron strata of earth above them, he was able to deduce the dates the dr ad ther historical relationship with the surounding land: wie core group of barron which Stuksley spent time excavating ay ust @ ann woe othe Stonehenge ring He recorded that there were tO ‘roms een eee peer a ae eye aera a and Sere cr a haben tate tc eee a a cc ba aor dbl te as fares in the toms, “Prom three foot deep, he recorded, we found much wood ashes ered black as ink, some litle bts of ur, and black and red earth very ‘often Some small imps of earth reds Vermilion. some ints burnt thro edhe bottom great quantity of shes and burnt bonesThe varying {opts of butil deposit inthis barrow and their differing states of decay ed to Stulkeley that this grave had been used end then re-used by {hetismiy. A childs body ovcupied the prime central position in the ‘ovo but other bodies hed ben deposited here, apparently both before i after the main burial. Soom studying both the postion of the graves {nd thefferent layers of depot within them, Wiliam Staley was able {ordevelop a sophistiented and imaginative picture of « whole history ofa emmunty’or family who had lived around this ite ‘But while tuleley wae alive tothe sense ofthe readability of history ineribedin the sedimented layers in the earth, yet be seriously called into ‘question ite naturalness. Is his books, he revealed nagging doubts about the seamless organi integration of excavator, history and the Wiltshire ‘downs, even while he celebrated i, His challenge might have been partly provoked by his atl alienation from what might be termed his naturel [Edscepe, Having been born and brought up in the excossvely at fens of ‘ruth Lincolnehine he could remember well his fst encounter wit hills, ‘Soe iteame at the surprisingly advanced age ten, when he went to visit, ‘aut wo lived in north Lincolnshire. He was fascinated by th und lating countryside and returned to tell hie schoolfriends of ‘strange Relations of the high countrys Until that timo, he later confessed, he knew onl abt hills from what he had read in book, rom the words in ‘he Latin Grama. But ster that visit his understanding of whet was ‘and what belonged tothe word of fancy ur artifice altered dra: 'No longer would hills belong tothe pages of school textbooks, Instead they were now the touchstone of pure nature while the flat ground ‘this childhood appeared somehow uanatural.T conceived co strong an ‘Mfection for that country that I never could rightly relish my’ native plains 38Digging the Dirt again’, he recalled. felt an uncommon pleasure when I as mount ‘hee hills the primitive face of the Barth, & turnd my back on the ag country which I'esteemed only a8 the levings of the Ocean & attifica, Ground "The barrows in Wiltsh Latin Grammar, were much more obviously artificial. According ty Stukeley, they had been deliberately raied by the early Druids. Dig most dramatic in its blurring of the distnetione betwee nature ang fantifice was Sibury Fill, This hill, the largest manmade mound ip western Europe, which rises thirty-seven metres above the valley floor around it, dominates the landscape (Plate 2). Stukoley depicted i looming over the Avebury henge and the avenues of stoncs in various pictures. Even today the purpose of Silbury Hill remains shrouded in hnystery. There is actually no evidence of burial in the mound no of any other deposits. You approach it walking slong a path that winds from, the Avebury car park slong a particularly flat stretch of the Kennet valley. turning a corner to see the biearre, perfect conical shape rising ‘up out of the fies. I is covered with grass, s0 it does not lok like an ancient monument, But itia so symmmeteiealiy shaped that looks like ‘bo ordinary hil ithe: Cortsinly Sukeley was intrigued by the enigma. According to him, the general mystery of Slbury Hil was symbolised by its transgression ofthe normal boundavies separating nature from artifice. Stukeley pointed out thatthe natural hilly landscape which existed before the Silbury moh ‘ment had actully ben dug away in order to obtain enough earth to form the artificial hill and that's trench had been made ao ae to ‘ender this ‘artifical part more detached from the natural with just two causeways ‘ofatural earth eto llow people ta ceo the tench and reach the g barrow William Stukeley was developing a strange aesthetics of iwersion. The artificial pleased more than the natural because it speared more natural ‘The way in which he wrote about Stonchenge was all in accordance with this new sensibility. He dascribed the effect of walking into the circle of ‘Stonehenge and looking up at the lintel, the croe-stones, overhead: ‘When we advance fre, the dark par ofthe ponderous posts over ou ea the has of th ky between the amb othe el te od emsteu ton ofthe wlole abd the greatese of every ptt, surprises» iyo eo, “pun the porter pat jou fay nie quarries mounted up nk the i if ‘pon the rade havc below you soe a ie were the towel of © mountain termi ine catarde ‘Stukeey’s images here, of quarries mounted up into the aie and of the 36 tunlike the hills encountered initially in the 2. Romancing Stone: The Archocolopcal Landscape eee eee is<;tion. The stones point up to the sky rather than down into the Tho, te te he ns Sei ee et he upwemiation of significant stones demands a conscious exertion of the appre which test the boundaries of nature and culture. Turning the jimagimation, as Stukeley put it, ‘inside outwards'is essential to what I call Peotone eee reer at octet nea eetd iam Wordsworth was borin 1770, some five sears afer Seely Wallan thw men never met But Wordsworth wns steeped in the ed those who had known Saksey and who wee infeed by his Tee et itiations Sir Walter Sots fr example wth hom ee ayed i Ue Satan borders, gt to hea about Seley meine entigunran ohn Clerk, mh lived eal in Pensa ad ani in Seley adi st op am atqonran soy in Set cen eaetracenaingl became feconed by sone the stones they dent Simiery the poct Thomas Gray, who actually bumped io Eitri the ew Bris Libary asd who plane Bey Watten ina BRU Churchyard in TSI, was by the ond ofthe century widely seta by vee incuding Workworth at atthe bend’ ofthe main heen enrol of pet Sst ope hith Gry headed became kwh the rave sant we! benuse ie favourite subject ato” While the ding [ecard posts = mon ike Edw Young. James Hervey and Robert Eres ont curly pid-up members the Soy of Anaees thir cbnen withthe peal xpectcf eat andthe mater culos cecence reels srong adherence to Stukeleys concerns. Robert fr for examin published The Craven 178 a poem which omen trated provocatively apon the natural procerser of decay and ‘compton heh ar ae bro ordi oi hci ot Srhowogalcedimentation se aeritabe ns death When we de Scinph add one moe depst within th col which in tare centriee ‘rile tonabie or archaeon to xcavate: What ithe World? What? bat a spacious url eld unalle Steed with Dest Sols, the Spoils of Animal Sage and Tame nd fl of Dose Men= Bones? a7Digging the Dirt ‘The very Tarn which we ead ane v's ‘Tocotercur own Offepring In hee Turme ‘Thay too mos cover thes Te here al et Ir ganna ep he rer sr er cet cine on sh ee ee i adel pal a a oe RE oe the Hl et tem Sake arate aetna eters apple raleigh earn A STS Sef ret le en Beso eg eae ee ph men ee ees setae acer se ret te eto spe apy ero se each aan ih ec sae eg ctf rc ae ees See eens ae rath ci i he hh fs nae a sei asp np tenn Be dee eee eee eee oes ee cs se ee prs rcp i erie det el wrt a Gg, yr fee ore eee ee ers Seger be Set eer t ‘sito i left inno doubt about the sgniance ofthis stone ‘But Wordsworth Riselfwith an archacologet'svenee ofthe eloquence _2 Romancing Stones: The Archacologial Landscape ees He cpnty churchyard, eae guard far ore sexs ose yf the lives of local people then a writen report by a fait ‘gserver’. The gravestones, reliably and substantially, conveyed See anes ony oss Pht a ad Howey bem nt 1 ne that jon to his 1800 collection of Lyrical Ballads. This poem is about the Sih ee es oe ‘Jeaves home to improve his family’s fortunes in the city, his father ial oe ey ss i rie ceo mr pita. Lay now the comer stone nd here, Lake, gine ra sould ei men Deis companitans er thie Shoop te ‘Thy anchor and hy shied: mid al fear [Rntall empraton et be tothe ‘Anema thee thy Fathers ‘Who, bing nnecet di for that cause esti then in gon deeds. Now. fate thee well— ‘When shou otras, thou in thie place wil soe ‘Awork whith ot here a covenant “Tal be betwen abut wheter Fate Bul thea hal love hoe tho Is, And tear by may tothe seve ing this character Michael the sons he sel art act. ‘SSE forbade presence on the fom frm and fo is diy Sponge her Atte ne when Michel speaking Se Cringe ks of ove with hss ba work whch eRe Buconce ake hase the wale be bi andy wil be ‘Sppetlyperanen in orert sompensate for Luke inpermanent Meare che wil by ev ea and temptation Tucheat Sono ofthe sone a ante rth os hi com sans: Se rope than he thought eke aed ata nthe {Enh cy an. ochamedemgatn sbrndsover to return. His father sant ucmainderct sits buling the sbeplid Ostensibly SSotstcss eid sone tothe shel fr pragma esos to that SSR Dulin time to in! Did be epi to ld the Fld of which! Huck hal need Bu ply Michal Keeparetrang tthe che 39ing the Dirt mancing Stones: The Archaeological Landscape Digsing 2, Romancing fod for complex, sommemortive rotons which he cannot ite ateg a expclly one who has walked srosthe ancient andsape of Inte" ivy all Tht many and many a day he hither went ag] Rao are itl demarcator people story sit ties: ‘never lifted up a single stone’ When Michael dies seven years later, its lem, as tease siting on my boulder on Fyfeld Down, thm si ihe stage doped untae Ides eet | Butrint sino Werswor bed scone Changes have been wrought inal he neighourhoad. Bt the Cheesy, | eae arr at have rend Wiliam Stele tombichahehdetrerlerieditdatthebesiningetthe pony remung | Mp remane be wel oe tere The walk led nde sa testimony toa vanished history: There ea strageting heap of unk se poom, Salisbury Plain’ which addressed this question oft seem earestechier Then a tm Tailed by a ‘The poom raises precisely this quostion of how a story oan ‘appertai: to a ‘stragling heap of stones" Acconing tothe New Historcst ents “Marjorie Levinson. the absorption of Michael's history into the stones er Seginning ofthe poem, the protagonist, a traveller. a» re ancent barrows iy oie frm one of th a oth constitutes the mast troubling at of depots reification, "Resorbed “The San ues ak while ona ound bey nature (ehistorised, the sheepild communicates Michels experience estan teblding with atonshed tee, intheform of generalise, deal (plastic an polsemio experience fas Freucntun th dep atte wo Jina" As such, the poem ‘betrays its histrea! materials by making the Suange marks ef mighty am of forme days ‘The king op at detance he survey ‘What cee an antique castle spreading wide, Hoory and naked are te als and aise ‘nimate inanimate” In ether words, Wordsworth ducks out of discussing poverty and exploitation and all the malevolent political frees that drove ite to tet and Michael ow doping en dnth by pag he ‘feeb whe soe walle No ‘ado cff wih bensfl bt loan ale shout the wns cs shes Rieke soos toubin bisa ed ‘at Levinson’ ntepretation isnt ale to teachoclogiel tape this poem and ignores the way in which significant scones are equally Here Wordsworth describes the traveller looking at the signs on the ‘jet the histonal nee which shape tt laiseape adhe cota wd nic ar former dye ltr in the poo he as of ‘iy While the stones of Micoey cheep are permanent in tat thy ebm’ meh some tO ee suet inthe word tt Fetain avi for inspection and contemplation afer the fay at Aes eh pec toma amet gest wari. Ts Was atuappared, they ae by no means outside the processes of hist. send a one which Stokely challenge inhi oak Initially bul up slowly. stone by stone over period osven yore and UCI RTL Po era napetr of thing ha Jefe still unfinished on Michael's death, the sheepfold is subsequently fancy from hence, great battels on the plain; and that these are the subst to gradual diitegraton unit tral heap o unten Famenry rn the sa, ute herve: Hey ae assure. the sions the procs of raging refi the passage of tine. Inder, St sepce ofKing, an en prone, ured dang const Michal himsel suger the analogy between the stones in the memoria) Se STUCTE tS cn pence Staley ase hi theory onthe sheeple nd human bes na grove, when be tls ake the fold wil MLAS Seat eave the tombs ant had fund sets = ‘san emblem ofthe eth Fuhers vi Theives of tei fathere were hl Be nd aca Ghent ested the careful and ving chiefly characterised by their dutiful willingness to give their bodies the ‘ural ofa valued person, not the hasty disposal of «corpse inthe thick of family mold Justa the ancestrs ae gradually minging thei dant with, PLAINS er at sce hich Wordsworth epic thefarm solo Mhacandakesstnesiolyinsetheelona pec Cunatiy the tms ents poed bythe formation as walls onthe hillside, Subjectivity of the traveller who has aot excavated the barrow and whois "Tere in Michel, no majo ion between people andthe lana» ‘ty ofthe tren scape aod them nr se Levinson would se nogntve baton Tra pom Werdeworth bing deliberately soi. Hes parodying ‘inet stone or lving history: Reitcatin, which means the processof ya 'rcharlgia eldwork, one which i conducted by elodramtc turning people into things or aubsituting slated bjs fr history, does fay ath than by ow cata work of he imagination which om not ron counter to the active hfe af the community. Stoner ate not pau aah'lgnncape fata with anther snd which naaes amples of plc bad faith on Wardsworths par. They are not’ acuta In eater poms To Thoin the 1798 Eyre! Bollods ‘owarly satiate for proper pail discussion Asan} archesopst Sah dos a sina ting. bringing tet the Gothic and the 40 aDigging the Dit frchaeological in the iron voice ofa garrulous narrator. The poem ig basically about three landscape features on the edge of «village le ‘mound of earth, a pond and athora bush. Each day. a distraught womas sits beside the thorn bush and weeps. These ste the only facts we age tiven, but from them the narrator elaborates big melodramati i bout the woman killing her child. The idea behind the poem isto cha lenge the possiblities ofthe imaginative interpretation of material culture through parodying a bad exponent ofthe ar. Ostensibly, Wordsworth seems to be writing & serious poom about archaeological investigation. Where his original source for the pocne Burgers ballad The Lass of Fair Wone, referer toa shallow grave’ asthe resting place ofthe killed child, Wordsworth tranarms this into bata mound, visible earthwork sticking up above the ground. The supposed ‘rave i repeatedly described as hill of mos this heap of earth the ‘beauteous hill of mose. While Burger's version is just receptack a rave, Wordsworth’s appears packed with artfacts waiting tobe opened. Yet the poom hangs upon the necessity of matching the visible date ot ‘mound, pond and thorn with the mystery of the story, the sight of « distraught woman, Martha Ray, erying'‘O Misery’ beside the thorn, The ‘woman, we deduce from this sighting, murdered her illegitimate child and now grieves beside its grave. The narrator becomes more and more ela rate in his fancis about the woman and the grave, suggesting. for example, that the blood ofthe mdr i actually visible on the ground ve heard the moss is potted red! With drops of that oor infants ood But ultimately the poem endsin doubt for the narrator is forced tconcede that, without excavation, the story i long on subjective melodrama and horton material proof Atleast Stakeley was able touncarth the contents of the Wiltshire barrows: the Wordaworthian narrator can only speculate And come had amorn an oath that she ‘Should be pai jt brow ‘And forthe it fan's bones With spades they woul ave sought. Bat iota the Blof moe Bele thei oe gu ti! ‘Superstition impedes the excavation process rather than complementing it The implication ofthe poem is that f the villagers had actually opened ‘he grave, they might have been able to substantiate the story and the speculation would be at an end. There is nothing more solid and authente cating than a physical set of bones. What prevents this at of scientific Inquiry is the supernatural event of the ground beginning to stir. en ‘experience provoked precisely by the superstitions of the villagers. Of 2 _2 Romancing Stone: The Archaeological Landscape sen f the illagers had locked wp enough courage t faethe nipped up by the Gothic legacy and had dug up the grave, there is ee en thy fd wld hve cinched the or, They so guste found bones but there would still have been questions, Whowe si and why? What did they mean othe yman Wht deren ra iroblematic to integrate the physical bones and flints and axes esa ih the narave acount of he now vised people of a exe tpem, and Gothic specslation only highlights this inherent ‘paltry wa, Butt et ing he emai and : lationship between them and the soil in which they were sr re we pss of eounding eral he wider hs Stat ney "t Plain’ in the first rh gath ropeatd the Gothic vision af Salisbury Morte Stary Pin ep of ho 1605 Prelude, inspired by what Bae memumenta locks which el with te roves of dad ie and saci ims Thad a everie ad aw the past, ‘Sow mules of men and bere ond there ‘Aologe Bron nhs wollakin et ‘Wah hilt and tone a. side cross the wld ‘Th voce of spare wes eae the ating pea ‘Shaken yar fg bone tenth ng ouldored of barbaric majesty ut imi ater wn his in 1808, he Bogan the sae Pe ane Gothic ever nw newy crested and re organs vison, Xt ne tons or momen ints ce reat rains af his nngiatveconseton othe relaonhip betwen the parireumte, tom the 1650 Prelude the cima of this Correcting process, a length Avother moments though tha ide wate ‘hace summer dys med where he Pa Wastiard oer wih cls ine, o mown, ‘Thwcgee uve a works rome dine ‘Shaped ty the Daido to represen ‘Te hnwedge oth heavens and mage forth The conmellatns ey was charmed Tro awaing ream, a revere ‘hat with tbeing eer herr earned Bid longbearded eachers, with white wands Upited ning to the sare inte, wl breath 3Digging the Dirt Of musi swayed thet motions, nd the waste Rejoice with thom and me acho swe sds, The rhe pasta things tha may be viewed Orton nh cue yu From monumental ints Ue © Pind Pease with some unpemetiatd suns ‘ha served hse wanderings opt ad Fee nd my mili ord pn the vale of preet g ‘The actual world four fine days. {Yet hier pet had ug em ham 9 ne ‘Animage toda horney tote Nichtheno redecedO1 2980) aarti tare eames Fire tg the llaer of thee meting bare eral een the coving te fireman aca ‘The French pilsopher Michel de Certeas as argued that walking is « metaphor for language: In his essay, ‘Walking inthe Cty he deste ‘iewing a city fom a akyseraper as an ac of eading Through es strecta ban ato speaking i. "The at of walking is tothe trben system what the speech act te language ort the samen Atored’ he writes He goes on ta elaborate wth examples of te theare a4 ‘2 Romancing Stones: The Archacological Landscape eee ring ining Gn 7 ee dec eae a We os oe Sse Pe esse oats vey by Te rn th a ee eh as os ieee ec ek ithe el en Ca a nt aan ce etme ne ae ee ea, seein hed a eae ee ee Siren ee nan, Abe ae utc ca end eg a eee aan face eet ccoas ss Ce ee a Seta Ea Ege, Se tr er Co ee rar Per atreclepine geen none he present a chem erro “Thanksto the human heat by which we Live ‘Thanks toite condense so a fers ‘Tome the meanest ower that blows can ve ‘Thoushte tht dfn ie too dep fr tars. 0 208) By this stage in the poem, the reader knows the emotional levels which {he poet inns experienced and rebured withthe passage of years the lines tf oy and lose and recovery recorded earir in the poem. He has been Alaturbed by Wordsworth’s sudden discoveries and excavations, the ‘bst hate questionings Of vense and outward things! Falling rom us, vanish Inge and has trembled like s guilty Thing surpred’~ surprised Dprecumably by some event in Ue past which resist the natural decay of time ike the ghost of Hanalet’s father before which Hamlet i surprised “ite guilty thing. ‘The reader has learat too the archaeologists art of {esgnetion, being satisfied with the remains of the past rather than Jontning for the original He has lent to tr Co guess what once might 45Digging the Dirt hhave existed by reading those metaphoric! burial mounds of subsequeng arth: We will grieve not, rather find! Strength in what remains behisgy In the primal sympathy’ Which having been must ever be, 182-5), ‘So by the time we reach the final line of Wordeworth’s poem, fl explanation is unnecessary. Tho understatement, too deep for tats ig ‘more powerful because it assimilates and implicates all the previous ‘thoughts with a conciseness which s poignantly telling in its demsity. "ae poem is a sorrowful and solid heap of memories, The post’ explc, ‘meaning les 'too dep’ for clearcut analysis, just asthe barrows contents an only be understond inthe context of the burial mound as a whole, the context of the heap of tur above it ‘William Stukeley implicitly likened the writing of his book of Stone henge with archacologial fieldwork. Stones and eaith were the type of metaphorical language he worked in and therefor, in preparing the book the was effectively, in the archaeologist Christopher Tilley’s words ‘con verting material or solid metaphor into linguistic metaphor. He covered the bare bones and facts with a layer of imaginative interpretation and slective presentation, ike the layers of earth covering the missing stones in Bekhampton Avenue “The method of writing which [have chosen isa Aifusive one, not pretending to a formal and stiff scholastic prool of ‘everything [say he warsed inthe preface to Stonchenge twas up tothe feadder to Use his or her imagination to interpret the cbservations which Stukeley made inthe book and to develop an appreciation of the hidden and mysterious history ofthe Druids rom the hints which Stukeley gave inthe text. ‘The knowledge I have acquired in these matters, waa from ‘examining and studying their works the proofs are deriv’ frm distant ‘topicks, and it would be inconvenient to marshall thet ‘Stukeley explained, mall matter of 0 great antiquity it must be found oat bythe reader, and to one that has proper sagacity and judgement, conviction wil steal upon him insensiby But there lies the ub. To interpret stones correct, one needs to be possessed of the ‘proper sagacity und judgement. One needs to have the "ight kind of imagination. What loks highly significant to a particular ‘Person might jus ok like apileof rocks to another Sos the archaeolog fal imagination elitist and exclusive? William Stukeley tried to make the imaginative power of stones avai: able to everyone but came up against some resistance. He criticised the workmen for example, fr not appreciating the signifennce of stones, fr treating them simply as stones, The farmers around Avebury kept remov ing the boulders to clear their elds for ensier ploughing end the villagers often used the stones as building material. Infact te villagers had to > to great efforts to break up the sacred stones and make them less signif fant At first they would dig great pits and bury the stones and later they 46 2 Romancing Stones: The Archaeological Landscope aoe eee ea evel fe proces with utter bewilderment, noting how they would ig Sekt er in erga afew wer et or er along it when heated and then, with smart strokes of a great ee pay prt pen ct hen sled an thirty shillings. So while he was doing his utmost to transfigure Sera ane tease teen oes Ae lated boulders on Salisbury Pain o the Marlborough downs, the te ope were making equally strenuous efforts to transform the place teal re into somewhere ordmary and workable. They were tying to Seok gn stones back into natural anes which they coud eut up and ‘Baza gulfbeticen his capacity to appreciate the symbolic value of tones ey faounde and their incapacity to see chem as anything other than carci tect abt Jy. a more lively sense of imagination’ Of cates ae, Just have ‘aon part of an elite archaeologists’ rhetoric and it might be possible to ‘eon FA lerteed pont excess, just as ieraryechnar bave aie ot et es ha sacra as nae Steg ovis hale antares ames ie Scien tu in eta ahatephons at Sere catwaat create mebardrtian ae rn demas rence sethantes ne Satin eh het ae cat Sri rieeatt an Aree Spree ae es nose foDigging the Dirt For Wordaworh ogra tombstone could mean diferent hin to ferent peopl. In hie Essays upon Epitaph. he made co Aistintion beeen the bereaved relatives a the general obeever sre ‘emetery, whether later descendant nthe vilage othe casual tage But Wordaworth dramatied most vividly the aiferent waye the Sura mands mitered eet pint and eee ing ofall his poems, The Brothers Tn ths poem. the Priest of Bonet ‘nthe Lake District pot visitor tothe lage lingering the chee yard and ascumes that he in btterlike ours api al gay wi flowing Thomas Grays Elegy in a Country Churchyard. vets ee cemeteries to luzviate brid in profound and melancholy thought Be infact the man was once acid of the parish sd ae just etre Inter to find aut wht as happened tothe ast of he family. hi sons ‘other James. He examining the graves nthe churchyard which se sot marked by gravestones but are jst simple heap of tot tose whether anew rave has been aed, which wold contain the boy fe Irother Too emotionally onfused to confess hs entity to the priest he hopes to deduce what might be to painful to hear divecty from the hate sleened in the graveyard ‘The man, called Leonard, hopes that he will not see @ new grave, He hopes that his brother has not been buried and that, unlike the fami the pooin ‘Michael’ which T discussed eater, his family has not heen integrated withthe earth and stones ofthe landscape. So when he does ne ‘new ‘heap of turf, he tres to convince himself that it doesnot mean, anything and that perhape even the natural landscape itself is new nad When Leonard had approach is me is hast Pain hin. and. no wentring to inguie ore wim bee dat ved, ‘Towards de churchyard be he arid side, ‘Tht ae he know in what particular spot istumily wer lad he thence it nen Willis Bethe fv orto the fe ‘Avather grave was added He had found “Armther rave ear which a fal half our Head vemati but a he az there grew Sod a confsion in hie emery ‘That he bp to dub ad he hd hopes ‘hat bead seen this Bop of ta bee, ‘That it was ot soater grave. bet one He had fraton: Head lu hs pot [As op the val he came that aero, ‘Through Glds which nos ha been well nwa to him, 8 ‘2 Romancing Stones: The Archacoogical Landscape retorts tin eee Ce pe soot rt age eh err Sat werden non pavtclayPistries‘Another grave’ cold mean sion over Errany other grave general inclusion for the casual visitor. ‘unspect/jonard, for whom each grave is numbered and known personelly, Bat wo rave, a new adlition, gars to carry only one meaning. sz EY eae thane reo is eter Wma tn ony It would only be by it jing a complete reversal feria a OU oe catia a reals ster implications of ‘another grave’ ic ccate winter antes ordain THlnge custom of doing without gravestones, ‘We have no ned of ames and epitaph, Metal about the dad by ur fireside Dut rn they cannot dois sustain the degre of entiation oh Sec anit “Ect spying at ele cxf Tay rnc ee ie al el ca at se ieerareee nara marion rca daa neenaae eee acnard and this particular mound ite poignant 49Digging the Dirt 12, Romancing Stones: The Archaeological Landscape fur sympathy toe cay expressed. The Brother in ther wor afthe ilo the ra community and of hrouding ts business ‘fostinns about the ature othe archacolgial imagination Care | ¥en Herta, onthe ther hand, countered by stesing cross comncnar BY tis Baslh Menage oop hnowied of he ill tree The anower is that ican ony be implied. Leonard’ repression o tha i ra men foe conservation. They comiasoned 8 Seismic sxory echors the burial of is roher ody The poem could be et ere ee vee dimensional age of the introns frchecolgal inthe sense that ke the end of Ode. intimation, Immortality ideals with thoughts tat do often ito deep for teary. | My une 2001 and agin in Decry locl protean. pans he sles upon te render appreciating the undercurrents offeling hinted | gg te cures aking, sbi down nt the unstable Choo during the eoure of the narrative, Just asthe excavator interpret | SbMrveacavaton saf the aparent cause ofthe collapse, ones particular history from the stratigraphic layers in the archaeological century eg mmeras, Tis action ectually eased further erosion damage [Rnscape Wordsworth wisherthe feclingsofgrieftostey buried beeen | Ttartese The protesters wanted natant knowledg, drt acsss Ield'in the memory of repeted act of recollection and represion, they | —_Saeeren workings, regardless of the consequences. Boalih Herta than ream more polenreyand meaning Sohcemwaoel soos ne, | MEM taking her ie. Not content with he esl of the it before forming #2 beey in onde poets derived foot what i compre! in ayers hard pack Ec opie her than traced strctre ithe Fesistant asthe stony ground ofthe Lake District. dao | sey el hey demanded that farther test be undertakon, They ‘Archaeol pets volves reading etwen the ins, apreciaing | ‘Seguning an understanding ofthe il nt hough damaring ag sat Dried cmparng preset inegicnce with past and ow let gay ema eauoent By "mensring he, reat eer of ane Sigieance. requires the pow or tchaclet to ac hinge na ey |__ gaeling tvouth th erent wits and sis Oly oe hy Nase Way to turn the imagination ‘inside outwards" in order to ponder what'y | ult up 2 ‘reading. through sonar empliations ofthe hill and ehesagh Ten below the earth ater than what isvinbleabove Theres ning ales died are ino te eihteesthcentary excavation shat ‘oye gb auc archasloga pss sinat the asonpion tines "the fxm eoervaton pla SKC te andthe inteprson of cones and wor Icon curpij "esc al he more important to appreciate the density and op ‘Stukeley proved when he looked up at the stones of Stonehenge rather ate SP Sibury Hill when increasingly the cultural emphasis leans Shan dw int ature ary Ilecan beat wie pete Bin cg unr aces ity a ci seme imlary moran sores Ucard shows in he Brother, when what ay bred was to paints aaahedenatyof Staley sand Wordewortswritingata time ey when ttealat or shar Bu erly shapes our apa to aprecte our thedoman infor tnapatecy nll ings, Langoage must eet NMtonalinimaterelsionwiththeearthtodetcopanandestasdiog_sraltme: aia an ejetvs ave to be ransparent aval fo the unstated and the opaque, snd te clcrate and cscs the Prutny Fatal demecrcy i eyonomou ith the ght to mow an bolic importance of things ike earth and stnes which cutwardy eight to unerstand.Perape Wi i ine with hi sete hat Took insignificant we pak Levinoan and others criticise Wordaworth for effectively being Mate at repression They arguc, in effect, that Wordsworth buries the ‘iota! beneath the ground and tes up his meaning i obfoseation, an meet conservative displacement, But ifthe ground itself is considered In the lst fow years, the largest of al the barrows in Wiltshire, Sibury ‘$Siteal and storica init density, in its layers of socal integration ill has been going though a eiss. In May 2000, a great hole appeared ‘cen aun and his vironment, then burial beneath the ground should inthe summit, provoking much debate and pobtieal controversy about the brosicbrated, not denigrated. The lapidary doesnot replace or displace the Internal working and preservation ofthe hill The mound, ax mentioned [nguistic but both are eubjct to the same forees of burial et, has never boen fully excavated and no human remains have yet fant subsequent interpretation. The opacity of Wordworth bhoen found inside. The purpose or function ofthe bill has reinaned oignant understatement, the things le unspoken, are as vase as iystery. But with its ellapee, the lack of clear knowledge about the ‘Stueley’s artificial hills aa the giant Sibury Hl the ‘artificial ora. precise structure ofthe mound became more sigficant, more plitiised. rents of the great plain’ of Wilshire Local activists and archacoogiets accused English Heritage of being slow “Sol thought, ar 1 sat on my boulder on Fyfeld Dove, that this is 9 to respond to the situation, of not appreciating the significance and chapter both about stones and lately about my mother, posed asi 50 81Digging the Dirt betaeen the landscape of her carly fe andthe place of herbal Wilshire andthe Lake Distt And isin thnkang abou thon one one ‘nl represian i infring what have eft uni andy ppreciatng what I can never hope fly to understand thatthe aha Slogcal imagination reall begins Unearthing Bodies: ‘The Disruption of History ‘omaot, sultry day in August 1790, the parishioners of Stiles, Cripple: or London's East End decided to dig up the body ofthe post John itn, He had been dead fr over a hundred years. iM raup of Milton enthusiasts were proposing to setup a permanent mananent to the poet in the church in Cripplegate where he was sup to have been buried, nowadays marooned in the middle of the ro conure, Since the exact location in the church of his eave was in se tume of the projects supporters supgested thatthe matter should ally be investigated by the spade. Workmen dug down inthe chancel [RI Bund lead colin Iying'on top of the wooden coffin which was ‘ought to be that of Milton father, The sight of thes two coffins seemed {teak the question of Milton's burial place andi was decided, out of a Sst and laudable piety, to close the excavation ‘Br ater that evening, afters tery" me in the local pub, several of tne men decided to return to the site, daring eachother on to ook inside the cain before it wae busied agsin. Philip Neve, who reported the incident, takes up the tale: ‘They then went with Holes into the church, an ple the effin, whieh Tide the ground fom terial station, tothe edge ofthe exevation, Inte dspghe, When they had tn reed the overseer ated Fler ihveould spent tht they might sc the be. Holmes immediatly hed {malts chisel, aad cut open the top af the cain, slanswie fom the ind tlm asthe breast m0 tat the top Being doubled backward they (ould ane the srg. he eu open le the fe. Upon Get view of the {itis nappered pric andcompletarenvelopedin the shroud which was tinany fed the be stending up regulary. When they disturbed the ‘Sow he ibe lL Mr Fantom ld me, chat he pled ard at the test, ‘ich reeled unt sotnone hit them a nek witha stone, when Shey ly came out ‘Once Fountain had seized hold of Milton's teth, a frenzy of trophy hunting 53Digging the Dirt 2. Romancing Stones: ‘The Archaeological Landscape Wiliam Sieh’ wo man tks, Sonchengs A Temple Resor the tah rude 0) nd Ary A Temp of se Bteh Dru weve tepushad by the orld Press n 084 no singe won Exdnts and enn wore planed at The Comments, ay aoe Commonpiae Bot of Wiliam Stel byte Dope Presa 10 Th nly ography ef Selsey, writen bythe ahaclgt See Puget a Toone the eae and obj cay Year a See fe sort wth te becitve an fats ate as when he taut Cake theft bon on Avebury tay ena Plan and Adee iguid chug he Biography of Landaape 002) “feats of Was Wordowert poems end ik choco sections, sine be contin seed ten tvougout he i The quel fe iteRadge cious te Lyi Bellad edited by RL Bet and A Sones oth Cl Werdowothetton The Say tn Poe ‘ited by Steen land fom the Merton itn Phe Pred eel is Sonat Wortwor MLH- Abram and Steen Gill snc shee hikes nena csatte ed preserve te eee versions, Michl de Crtntsecny, Waking ne Ce puis isook ‘he ri of try E880 Te cls ony acarlgeths pt ‘Dthnting ata archi pons Christopher Flyer tectnea teks caphor sm Manel Care 100) The eres Aernry ere bas gol Owothey Hertnan, whe ence antl tat Wordsworth ewes pycholgy vert nehactlo ht ten eck {encked by saying fut he ocr lapis neipo! ith he tnd mind seh WerdaorthIncepios and fomante Novae ty in FW ile ad Bom el, ron Sen fo Romont Eom (960), Mayors Levine's tition of Wortsworte poem, ‘Mice con be found io her ek, Hordaronhs ret Derod Proms die 3. Unearthing Bodies: ‘The Disruption of History "The story of the Cripplegate parishioners digging up Milton can only be rad in the British Library: A Narrative ofthe Disinterment of Millon’ Coffin in the Parish Church of St Giles, Cripplegate (1780) The acount of the excavation of Robert Burns can be found in James Hoge memol ‘which was published inthe fve-volume edition of Burns which he edited jointly with William Motherwell (183430). T discovered the story of 206 Note on Reading Laverence Steme in an article by Arthur Sherbo published in Notes and (Gucriee (Septeinber 1987), Ax Stern's biographer. Ian Campbell Ross, Atscnibes, Stene' grave was disturbed again in 1969 and his bones were {emoved to Coxwold Yorkshire, Jeremy Benthan’s bizarre tact n favour [rembaloing corpses ~Auto-leon: or Farther Uses of the Dead to the ising ~ is alo diffielt to get hold of outside the walls of Une British Library, eis Southiood Smith's Lecture Delivered Over the Remains of ‘Jeremy Bentham in the Webb Street Schoo! of Anatomy and Medicine {1852}. in contrast, the two classic Books on preserved ancient beds ~ PV. Giob's The Bog Pople (1968) and Konrad Spindler's The Manin the Tee 1888) can be found in any good bookshop. ‘Freuds cesay on “The Uncanny is published in The Penguin Freud Library vol. 14 Nicholas Roses one ofthe best theoretical writers on the tincann at the moment: see his eseay‘Deja-vu'in Martin MeQuilan (ed), Post Theory: New Directions in Criticism (1998)-L alo found very helpful ‘Terry Cal's book, The Female Thermometer: Eighteenth Century Cul ture and the Inoention of the Uncanny (1985), and the article by Tan Duncan, ‘The Upright Corpse: Hogg, National Literature and the Un fanny in Studies in Hogg od his World § (1999) ‘Michel Poweaullseeflections on history and archacology can be found in The Archasology of Knowledge, transated by AM. Sheridan Smith (1972), For his theories about the regulation of bodies ee in particular Discipline and Punish: The Birth ofthe Prison (187) 4. Palfiling Desires: rotie Bxeavation William Hamilton published two accounts of his discoveries in Pompei. A Later from Sir Wiliam Hamilton. On the Cult of Prigpus (1786) is quite ttaphit the cari Account ofthe Discoveries at Pompeii communicated {o the Soviety of Antiquariee of London (1777) was intended fr more fensitive ear, Further Pompelan pornographic fantasies were published inthe nineteenth century: see Le Fatin, afusée Roy de Naples, Pei tures Bronze ot Statues Brotiques (1896): Louis Barre, Herculaneum et Pompei (1840) and Dominique Vivant Denon, LUeuire Priapigue de Dominique Vivont (1850) Hunting down the macabre and erotic poems land books which I deserbe in this chapter involved much rifling through Catalogues and many hours sitting atthe ‘haughty table’ nthe British ary, Fora more chaste read, cee Wolfgang Leppiann, Pompeil in Fact ‘and Fiction (1980), There are als, ofcourse, the outwardly gentecl and inwardly sleazy Victorian novela actin Pompei: Eaward Bulwer Lytton, ‘The Last Daye of Pompeii, republished in 1979, and Theophile 207