The annual academic overhaul has arrived and The Post Hole team is awash with new characters, big ideas and even higher ambitions. Exciting as these attributes are, I first feel as though I should congratulate the 2013-14 team of archaeologists, headed by Emily Taylor. The last academic year saw the introduction of the ‘Digging Through the Profession’ interview series, which was both successful and helpful for those just starting out in archaeology or perhaps ready to take a different path. The series so far features interviews with various specialists, ranging from a bead specialist (Marilee Wood) through to a landscape surveyor (David Roberts). All of these interviews, including other ‘Special Feature Interviews’, are available to read online at https://www.theposthole.org/read/interviews. We hope to continue this feature over the next academic year, so if you would like to be involved and share the secrets of your profession email editor [at] theposthole.org to get more information.
The previous team also launched the first ever Image Competition run by The Post Hole. The competition was tight, with an incredible 46 entries. I hope to continue engaging our readers with this healthy competition, and with that in mind we have launched a new image competition, this time on the theme of EXCAVATION. We would love to receive your images from the last summer season and the winning photograph, drawing or reconstruction will feature as a front cover of an upcoming issue. The winner will also receive a complimentary A3 poster for The Post Hole featuring their image. To be in with a chance email your images to design [at] theposthole.org or upload via our website.
One of the big successes this summer is the redesign of The Post Hole’s website. We are immensely grateful to Pat Gibbs, who has spent a great deal of his time perfecting the redesign, making the site more accessible and visually engaging for our readers. This reworking has meant that the unique interview series and The Post Hole’s image gallery can now be found under the new TPHExtra tab. Some additional features can also be found on this page, including ‘Letters to the Editor’ and ‘TPH meets York Seminars’. TPHExtra provides various ways for you, our readers, to get involved and get to know prestigious archaeologists via exclusive interviews. I urge you to make the most of these features, share your images with a global audience and email your letters concerning archaeological news and views to editor [at] theposthole.org, to be published under this new tab.
The Post Hole ‘TPH meets York Seminars’ was mentioned briefly above, but I wish to expand on this further. Throughout the academic year, the York Seminars team invites well known and influential archaeologists to visit King's Manor and speak about their current research. These events continue to be incredibly successful and popular with staff, students and members of the general public. We are collaborating with the York Seminars team in order to disperse this information further, and reach out to those unable to attend the York Seminars in person. This feature will include a synopsis of the talk and an exclusive interview with the speaker. I can proudly announce that the first interview for ‘TPH meets York Seminars’ will be with prehistorian Paul Pettitt and shall be released shortly.
With that, the 6th editorial team of The Post Hole can now introduce the articles featured in our first Issue (40). Callum Scott has conducted an investigation into postprocessualism, which features as our first article of Issue 40. Here he considers the scientific nature of this archaeological theory, whilst also examining the Hermeneutic spiral.
The second entry comes from David Altoft, who has conducted an interview with Richard Bradley (a recently retired Professor from the University of Reading). Bradley talks about the beginnings of his career in archaeology and how it has changed over the past 30 years.
Freya Lawson-Jones is the author of our third entry, which gives an insightful summary of the recent excavations at Hendraburnick ‘quoit’. The article also incorporates some thought-provoking interpretations stemming from discussion with other participants and site directors.
The next article comes from Samuel Marsh, who has used three case studies to outline interesting and useful ways of analysing and interpreting historic buildings. Marsh is well-read and presents a balanced paper for Issue 40.
Nefeli Piree Iliou has written an article about the Temple of Roma and Augustus. Iliou investigates the architecture and the topographical context of the temple to assess the symbolic Roman power present.
Don’t forget to send your opinions or related comments concerning these five articles as a ‘Letter to the Editor’, simply email editor [at] theposthole.org. We always love reading your submissions here at The Post Hole, so continue sending your work to submissions [at] theposthole.org. Any queries should also be directed to this email address. So, with this issue we bid a fond farewell to the previous team and wish them all the best for the future, whilst positively looking forward to the next stimulating academic year.
All the best,
Eleanor Green
Editor-in-Chief
editor [at] theposthole.org
