The Day of Archaeology

On Tuesday, 30 July Lorna Richardson gave an extremely interesting talk entitled “The Day of Archaeology: using Internet technology to provide a window on the profession” to the Oxford Experience summer school.

The Day of Archaeology is a project that lets archaeologists post stories about a day in their work.  The purpose is to inform the general public about the sort of work that archaeologists do.

The main web site is at:

http://www.dayofarchaeology.com/

Looking through the posts shows how varied archaeological work can be.  Here are just a few of the more unusual posts:

The conservation of Pitt Rivers archaeological models

Burying a 400lb dead pig

Conserving a spearhead

Philip Graham (RCAHMS) –Western Isles

Uncovering the Mysteries of a Bronze Age Burial

Looking at crops and weeds from early medieval Galway, Ireland

Paisley Caves – a view from the microscope

Exhumation of Archbishop Clune

A love letter to my village

From Community Cheer to Painful Pathologies

Lyminge Archaeological Project: Anglo-Saxons in Kent

It's a Boy!

Christ Church celebrates the birth of the  royal baby by flying the Royal Standard of Henry VIII

As the world now knows, The Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to a baby boy at 16.25 BST on Monday. Kensington Palace announced the news of the birth just after 20:30 BST on 22 July 2013, and the news was confirmed by Buckingham Palace, shortly afterwards.  On Tuesday, Christ Church celebrated the event by flying the Royal Standard of Henry VIII above Tom Quad.

As Christ Church was founded in  Henry VIII 1546, the college retains the right to fly the Royal Standard of its founder.

On the left the Standard of Henry VIII - on the right the current Royal Standard

What’s New in 2014?

We have twenty-eight new courses for you on the programme for Oxford Experience 2014.

You can find the list of new courses here...

Monday, 15 July - Morris Dancing at Oxford Experience

The Charlbury Morris Side were dancing in Tom Quad this evening.  As always, the dancing, despite the heat, was superb and a great deal of fun was had by all.

At the end of the dance session, there was a general invitation for members of the audience to join in, and quite a few took part in the last dance of the Charlbury side.  The very last dance, however, was a Rapper Sword Dance which was danced by members of another Morris Side who were joined by Peter from the Charlbury side.

This ‘sword dance’ comes from the Northumberland mining country and actually uses double handled flexible blades that were once used to wipe the sweat from the pit-ponies.  It is a very complicated dance and after many elaborate contortions as the dancers move in and out of the circle of ‘swords’, it finishes with the ‘swords’ being held aloft in an interwoven pattern.

See more photos on our Facebook Site here...

You can find out more about the Charlbury Morris Side here... 

And, if you are interested in Cotswolds folk tradition and music, you can see the Morris Side at the Finstock Village Music Festival on YouTube here... 

Building a New Bleak House

Tonight (10 July) the author Lynn Shepard gave a talk about her novel “Tom All Alone’s” (American title “ The Solitary House”) which is set in the world of Charles Dickens’ “Bleak House”.

Those of you who were not lucky enough to be at the Oxford Experience to hear her might like to watch this short video in which she discusses her work and its relationship to “Bleak House”.

You can find the video here... 

Alice's Day at Christ Church

As part of the Oxford-wide Alice Day on Saturday 6^th July, there will be an exhibition of poetry and artwork in the library by local schoolchildren between 9am-4pm. 

Much of the poetry was inspired by a visit to Christ Church to see the places that the real Alice would have known, followed by a workshop with former Children’s Poet Laureate, Michael Rosen, at the Story Museum.

The exhibition takes its subject from the theme for Alice Day 2013: ‘Nonsense’.  

Admission is free to families and individuals carrying an Alice Day brochure (available from the Story Museum).  

For more information about Alice-related events taking place across Oxford on Saturday 6 July, please see:

www.storymuseum.org.uk/alicehttp://www.storymuseum.org.uk/alice

Independence Day

Yes, it’s the Fourth of July and one of our participants at the Oxford Experience decided to dress for the occasion.

The outfit was wonderful, but her shoes were the most amazing part: one being decorated with the stars and stripes, the other with the Union Jack.

“People asked me if I had to buy two pairs to get this effect”, she says, “but they came like that!

“The real joke is that they were made in France, and I bought them in Paris!”, she commented.