RISING FROM THE ASHES: INVISIBLE ARCHAEOLOGICAL HISTORIES BROUGHT TO LIFE
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 13/02/2021

The Society of Antiquaries of London was established as a Learned Society in 1717 and was granted a Royal Charter in 1751 with the aim of “The encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries.” The society covers a wide range of disciplines and encourages interdisciplinarity through its library, collections and meetings. The collections of the Society include over 45,000 artefacts comprising archaeology, numismatics, heraldry, material culture, fine and decorative arts and objects that illustrate the history of the society itself. The collections are therefore an invaluablesource for the study of the history of the Society of Antiquaries and the role it played in the development of many disciplines including archaeology. In the nineteenth century the Society was involved in early recording of archaeological sites including megalithic structures throughout Britain and elsewhere and commissioned surveys and accounts of these sites for publication. Money was raised to publish the work through public subscription. However as they were about to go to press there was a catastrophic fire at the printers and many of the drawings were destroyed. The project lost momentum and was never brought to fruition. The Society was not prepared at the time to finance further work. Many of the originals of the drawings do survive in various institutions but still remain invisible to the archaeological record as they have never been published. This paper will address the issue of material in archaeological collections such as these nineteenth century surveys that have archaeological as well as intrinsic value but have never been in the public domain. Some of these drawings relate to major sites in British archaeology such as Stonehenge and Avebury and are therefore very important in the archaeological record.


Author(s): Sebire, Heather (English Heritage)