Strategy Wrestle: Helen Vs Iron Age Settlement
Added 2021-08-29 15:42:06 +0000 UTCIn the concluding half of their strategy wrestle session, Helen and Tim turn to the Iron Age Settlement in Cornwall. The conversation swiftly meanders slightly off piste as they treat us to a fascinating debate on trade in the ancient world and the purpose of fogous.
We hope to shed light on both these subjects very soon, when Time Team descends upon the mysterious Cornish site...
Comments
The biggest problem with Fogues being used for food storage, is that they are very damp/wet inside, and this is not conducive with the long term storage of food stuffs, wether you are talking about vegetables or meats, smoked or otherwise, because you have to keep these things dry, or they spoil quickly.
Jon Knight
2021-09-18 19:43:37 +0000 UTCSurely Helen is wrong about bartering, firstly, because the ancient British didn’t actually write things down, it means that every deal was made verbally. And secondly, surely if you are trading your tin ore, or tin ingots for anything at all, then you are bartering aren’t you? Which is also borne out, by the fact that the ancient British/Cornish, didn’t have a lot of faith in coins except for burying them as an offering of some kind. Until later in history, when they started to produce their own, but they still bartered with pieces of hack silver and gold, well into the tenth century, which is shown by the decent amounts of buried hack silver and gold which is found all over Europe.
Jon Knight
2021-09-18 19:20:42 +0000 UTCIf you see some of the work now from tintagel and one older TT episode you’ll see olive oil fine wares etc
Sam Batstone
2021-09-04 17:57:03 +0000 UTCAbsolutely love being able to listen to these conversations. Feels like back when TT started and I would learn more with each episode.
Zoe Propper
2021-09-04 08:47:46 +0000 UTC@18:45 Tim answers an earlier puzzle that he and Helen raised. . . He said "as Julius Caesar noted you can trade wine for almost anything." The idea that trust should be involved is ridiculous, there are just too many thieves, fly-by-nights, and con-men in the world.
Chris Hutton
2021-08-31 18:39:20 +0000 UTC(Which is also how languages are learned, cultural exchange occurs.)
Matthew Adams
2021-08-31 12:08:50 +0000 UTCI have often assumed that the "trust" is a combination of projection of power (we leave powerful people with you to make sure you fulfil your obligations) and what are later called "hostages" (we leave the relatives of powerful people with you so you know we will fulfil our obligations).
Matthew Adams
2021-08-31 12:07:56 +0000 UTCThe questions Prof. Helen Geake is asking about why the roman villa was built there is important. Was there an iron age settlement near Broughton? Sometimes i worry that time team do not always look at the wider picture. It is good that someone on the team is asking these questions.
Kathryn Heap
2021-08-31 10:56:12 +0000 UTCIt's a good thought IMO, Caesar also frequently writes about hostage exchanges connected to trust and it certainly seems that was not at all a novel idea in 50 BC.
Jakub Jůzl
2021-08-30 17:36:00 +0000 UTCProfessor Geake, thank you! Your "deep dive" insights and speculations about MOTIVATION in our Lived Histories is so timely. In our world of chaotic tensions, we have no idea of the mental or psychological attitudes of Ancient Communities' Motivations, Choices, Agreements, Placing a template of ordinary daily life on the archaeological or archival evidences suggests radically different ways of Living Life, treating Death, and what function Imagination and Curiosity might have played in the journeys or homeplaces of our so-distant relatives. THANK YOU!!!
Martha Berryman
2021-08-30 15:50:34 +0000 UTCI think your notion of hostage taking/leaving might be dead on accurate.
Eggs Ackley
2021-08-30 01:22:37 +0000 UTCOn the subject of trust in true, could they have used a hostage situation, where people were left in various places to ensure the return of the traders? It would make sense, and could also be a vehicle for learning, plus dissemination of ideas. I have always though tat ancient peoples were far more adventurous, and widely traveled. There is a lot we do not now, and a lot we probably never can for sure.
Stephen Gent
2021-08-29 23:45:00 +0000 UTCToo short! Which means I enjoyed listening to the conversation … thank you both! Is there any way to tell if the fogou was built in one go, or in stages over time? I still vote for it to have been a multi-purpose facility.
Robert Wise
2021-08-29 19:49:09 +0000 UTCWe use the term ‘social licence’ now, what did that look like then? How did they establish trust and trusting relationships?
Gill Palmer
2021-08-29 19:46:29 +0000 UTCSo incredibly exciting - specially that idea of trust coming before credit and coin, and the networks - just so fascinating now as we deal with issues of trust in a digital age.
Gill Palmer
2021-08-29 19:33:38 +0000 UTCGreat chat! They started to talk about trade but never completed it. What did the people of Cornwall get for their tin and clay, etc.?
John Matthew IV
2021-08-29 19:21:00 +0000 UTCAs always with Helen - a fascinating conversation and she always makes some very good points often looking at the subject from a new and what i call a 'helicopter' view which i find very refreshing. thanks to you both!
Christopher Ledger
2021-08-29 17:10:46 +0000 UTC
