Welcome to Issue 20 of The Post Hole, and thank you for reading! We have created what we hope is a very enjoyable and interesting journal for the start of the Spring Term. We have an interview with King's Manor researcher Matthew Williams and PhD student Ben Elliot. Matthew discusses diving and underwater archaeology in the Red Sea and Ben talks about his PhD research into antler use during the Mesolithic. As well as this, we have an article on how graveyard survey is performed, something that has been lost from the undergraduate curriculum for the past two years; and an insight into studying as a postgraduate at King's Manor.
For some light entertainment, we have also included an amusing guide to student etiquette in lectures and seminars! Who here has done the uniquely panther-like 'late walk' when entering a lecture that started ten minutes ago?
There is also lots of good news for the archaeology department. Navin Piplani has received the Glory of India Award for his contribution to conservation while at King's Manor as Director of Studies at the Centre for Conservation Studies. Two new lecturers have arrived: Sara Perry will be lecturing in cultural heritage management and Michelle Mundee will be lecturing in bioarchaeology, so a warm welcome is extended to them. Congratulations to Paul O'Higgins, Flora Gronning, Terry O'Connor and Michi Hofrieter whose papers were included in the Guardian's top ten biggest science stories of 2011. Paul and Flora have dated a jawbone fragment from Kent's Cavern to over 40,000 years ago showing a significant overlap of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals in Europe, whereas Terry and Michi's paper discusses the realism of horses in Palaeolithic cave paintings. This shows how strong the position of King's Manor is in archaeological research. We are very fortunate to be studying here. Finally, congratulations to Nicky Milner and the Star Carr team, not only for Star Carr being made a scheduled monument, but also for gaining a 1.5 million Euro research grant. No doubt this will lead to some extremely exciting new insights in the future.
Sadly, this is my last issue. I have very much enjoyed being involved in the Post Hole, but my dissertation commitments and lone parenting mean that I have serious time constraints and can no longer give the journal the time and attention that it needs.
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the issue. One last point: the Post Hole works on a limited budget and can only print 3 or 4 copies, so please return this issue to where you found it, so others can read it. The Post Hole has proven so popular it keeps vanishing! Thanks everyone for your continued support and readership, and as always, feel free to send us lots of articles!
Jenny
PS: Sorry there is no Theory 101 this issue, hopefully it will be back soon.
In addition to the above, I would like to thank Jenny for her hard work, ideas and enthusiasm over the last eight months and I speak for the entire Post Hole team in saying we are sorry to lose her and wish her well with her studies.
Mark
