Cauldrons on the move
Jamie Hood, British Museum As I wasn’t at the excavation of the Chiseldon cauldrons it was difficult to imagine that the nine or so blocks of soil sitting in plastic crates and wrapped in plaster...
View ArticleA charred seed…
Alexandra Baldwin, British Museum The two Chiseldon cauldrons we chose to work on first were found next to each other in the pit and had corroded together. My colleague Jamie Hood has been given the...
View ArticleOut in the cold
Alexandra Baldwin, British Museum When an email came round from Allison Marccucci at Wessex Archaeology calling for volunteers to go field walking at the Chiseldon cauldrons find spot my colleague...
View ArticlePiecing together the Chiseldon cauldrons puzzle
Alexandra Baldwin, British Museum As is often the case, the painstaking process of excavating the cauldron I’m working on has been more complex and time consuming than we initially thought. The...
View ArticlePutting the Chiseldon Cauldrons in context
Jody Joy, British Museum I am the curator responsible for the European Iron Age collection at the British Museum, and will be working with Alexandra Baldwin and Jamie Hood on the Chiseldon Cauldrons...
View ArticleManufacture, wear and repair of the Chiseldon Iron Age cauldrons
Jamie Hood and Alexandra Baldwin, British Museum With the Iron Age Chiseldon cauldrons excavated and cleaned to expose the metal surface we are beginning to see interesting technological features and...
View ArticleFrom the fields of Wiltshire to the banks of the Rhine
Alexandra Baldwin, British Museum Iron Age cauldrons are rare, so when an excavation in Basel, Switzerland uncovered two Iron Age cauldrons in 2010, collaborations between the British Museum and the...
View ArticleA unique form of decoration
Jamie Hood, British Museum As work on the Chiseldon Iron Age cauldrons progresses we are constantly making discoveries. Possibly the most exciting feature we have found so far is a decorated handle....
View ArticleRecording old cauldrons with new techniques
Stephen Crummy, archaeological illustrator, British Museum As illustrator in the Department of Prehistory and Europe at the British Museum, I am always looking for the best way to help our curators...
View ArticleA closer look at what the Chiseldon cauldrons are made of
Quanyu Wang, scientist, British Museum I am a scientist specialising in metalworking technology, particularly in relation to non-precious metals such as iron and copper-alloys. The scientific...
View ArticleA very versatile Roman oven
Sally Grainger, chef and author In my previous post about Roman cooking I described a type of oven used to bake and roast food about 2,000 years ago. Known as a clibanus it was a sophisticated piece of...
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