Day: March 7, 2010
Citanda: Dynasty of Priestesses
Very interesting feature:
Roman Quern Stone
A ROMAN quern stone discovered near Chaigley has sparked excitement in archaeological circles.
The stone was taken into Ribchester Roman Museum’s ‘Finds Day’ on Saturday by a local woman and Curator Patrick Tostevin says it was definitely “the highlight of the day.”
“It is the sort of object that would suggest there might be some sort of hitherto undiscovered Roman settlement in the area,” said Patrick. “It was an absolutely wonderful day and I was delighted with the response we had. A steady stream of people brought in a variety of different objects from coins to Chinese terracotta.
“The highlight of this was the Roman quern stone found near Chaigley, discovered in a ditch and which was in the possession of a woman who wanted to have it identified.”
He says the stone measures 370mm in diameter and is made of local millstone grit, adding: “We know that they used to import quern stones, but this a locally made one and is a very interesting find.”
The quern stone has now been loaned to the museum and Patrick says it will hopefully go on display in a couple of months time. The museum’s next ‘Finds Day’ is on Saturday, May 8.
Another Program in Peril
The incipit of a piece in Inside Higher Education … I suspect the situation at Centenary College is rather more common than we might know:
In this era of financial turmoil in higher education, many arts and humanities programs have found themselves in the cross hairs of budget cutters. Some proposed cuts have quickly attracted national or even international opposition. Think of all the outrage, for example, about Brandeis University’s plan (since put on hold) to sell off its noted collection of modern art, or of the budget cuts that for a time endangered the future of the Louisiana State University Press.
In both of those cases, and many others, prominent academics and scholarly associations organized petitions, lobbied key decision makers and shouted to anyone who would listen that these cuts simply could not be made. Thousands of students in California are expected to rally across the state today to protest various cuts to California’s colleges and universities.
But there are also a lot of people and programs this year that are being eliminated with hardly any attention at all. These programs are on hit lists precisely because they are small, because they are not famous and thus they don’t have thousands of supporters organizing petition drives and rallies.
Stephen Clark has since 1988 been the only classics professor at Centenary College, a liberal arts institution in Louisiana. This week, the college decided to eliminate the Latin program, which has been the focus of his career as a tenured professor. While there is an appeals process, the college earlier indicated that tenured professors in departments that are closed would probably lose their jobs.
At Centenary, much of the discussion about which programs to eliminate focused on size, and Clark makes no claims that Latin classrooms are packed. Enrollments of five to seven students are good for upper division courses and most years there are only a few majors, sometimes just one.
more …
Roman Road Survey
ARCHAEOLOGISTS are surveying a newly-discovered Roman road.
The history of the road, which runs from Winchester to Chichester, is to be investigated and people are invited to get involved in a field visit.
People wanting to get a closer look at the ancient road should attend a workshop on Saturday March 20, held at the Milburys Pub in Beauworth, Hampshire.
The meeting starts at 11am with lunch at the pub. A field visit will follow in the afternoon.
Dr Richard Whaley, of North East Hants Archaeological Society, said: ‘The route to Chichester runs through this pub on to Exton and along the south face of Winchester Hill.
‘It is running through hilly country, and shows substantial engineering. Because of the hilly country, it runs in short straight lengths, which is probably the reason it has not been recognised before.
‘Indeed, for much of the way it is a well preserved terrace lying beside modern minor roads, tracks and footpaths.’
Some sections of the road are still to be discovered.
… all meetings should begin at a pub, no?
rogueclassicism 