City dig unearthes Roman treasures

[Viggen]

A NEW housing development in the centre of Worcester is to retain a sense of history after archaeologists unearthed Roman treasures during an excavation. In August a four week dig was carried out in The Butts by the Birmingham Archaeology unit -part of the University of Birmingham - and sponsored by Miller Homes who plan to build apartments on the land.

 

full article at Worcester Standard

[jugurtha]

Always glad to read about the new founds, many of them in Britain ... the ancient lands of which I'll be roaming in RV. Afterwards however I always get overwhelmed by two conflicting feelings: sheer happiness and total dispair.

 

Sheer happiness because it has become obvious that during the last 5 years British government is on the offensive in the field of unearthing its cultural heritage and proudly presenting it to the world. I felt the movement coming when about ten years ago people in Britain were worrying about the knowledge their children and young people had about their history: it was shamefully modest to say the least. Britons, being one of the proudest people to walk the earth, found that their offspring had no interest whatsoever in what lay in the past. Scholars and politicians sat together and thought about a plan to make history appealing instead of apallling, quietly hoping for a revival of national pride. The result was the busload of historical programmes on the BBC we've come to love and hate. Love because finally we can choose to watch something interesting instead of running away from Reality TV, hate because of the lack of depth many of us are craving for. But what the hey, in the end things have changed for the better.

 

Total dispair because one starts to wonder why they don't deliver that kind of effort in other countries. How much insight in history are we being deprived of because some government simply "cannot afford" to spend more money in order to do this? I guess you all know the feeling: "I sure hope I live long enough for mankind to achieve that, for historians to fill in that blank". I mean, we only live that long!!! Or do we really have to wait until our children too are empty-headed enough to sound the alarm? Well, let me tell you people, it's already happening so get to it!

 

- JUG