Editorial Issue 58- April 2021

Dedication

This issue is dedicated to Dr Don Henson, one of the most incredible lecturers here at the Department of Archaeology who recently passed away after a short illness.  We all at the department have lots of stories we can tell of how he influenced, encouraged, and made us smile in the darkest of times, and I for one am thankful to have known him.

He was my UG supervisor who was the first person I met in the department at the open day.  I was a nervous extra mature student to be, and I was terrified.  After we got over the confusion of me being old enough to be my cohorts’ grandmother, he made us all laugh and showed us what an archaeology degree would bring to us. And over the past four years he has helped guide me and many others in being the best that we could.

His dancing will forever be remembered at department balls, along with his love of real ale and his foraging for lunchtime additives in the border around Kings Manor.

Cheers Don for all that you did for us.

 

Carol Leyland

Editor in Chief

 

Editorial

Hello all, welcome to Issue 58 of Post Hole and my final term here at York.  It has been a hard road at times but has gone so fast. I had hoped that by now life would have returned to more like normal, but sadly not.  I have yet to meet in person any of my cohort, and studying at home, although possible, it is definitely harder than doing it in person.  I think those that are studying, taking whatever subject at this time, are doing a sterling job and if we can do this, we can do anything.

Hopefully, we will soon be able to meet up with our friends and family again more freely and enjoy life outside a little more.

This issue has been a labour of love for us all, with extra stress and all round and energy levels definitely being lower, however we have pulled together a really interesting issue for you which includes four prehistory papers and two from the Viking Age.

The issues contributors are:-

Prehistory

Freya Bates – York University - DNA and Diets: A review of the potential and contribution of ancient genetics to our understanding of the past human diet

Emma Brooks – York University - What can the Acheulean bifaces of Kokiselei 4 tell us about early hominin development?

Luisa Taylor – York University - Season of the Social: Exploring the Influence of the Environment on Palaeolithic Sociality

Hector Wheeler – Durham University - Big Ideas: investigating the origins of large art forms and how it utilises the cognitive pathways of rituals to get us to thinking big

Viking Age

Ben Hume -  York University - The Viking Great Army in 9^th Century Derbyshire: The Significance of the River Trent and Site Intervisibility

Jessica Nutt – Aberdeen University - The Lost History of Viking Wales

I hope that you enjoy these submissions and if you wish to submit something for our next issue then please email submissions@theposthole.org or if you have any queries.

Many Thanks

Carol Leyland

Editor in Chief