Kevin Greene

V. Gordon Childe and the vocabulary of revolutionary change

Because Childe wrote extensively for non-archaeologists and the public his Neolithic and Urban Revolutions have continued to influence historians in general - and historians of technology in particular - into the 1990s. This paper examines their influence, while noting significant changes in Childes terminology and use of analogy between 1928 and 1957.

Fiona Seeley & James Drummond-Murray. Roman pottery production in the Walbrook valley: Excavations at 20-28 Moorgate, City of London, 1998-2000 (MoLAS Monograph 25). xviii+222 pages, 186 bw 1-901992-55-1 paperback £28.95.

Seeley and Drummond-Murray’s monograph creates a vivid impression of potters and glass workers making a living in a muddy industrial zone beside the Walbrook (a tributary of the Thames) in an atmosphere thick with furnace smoke and the smell of waste generated by local leather workers and butchers. The excavation was one of many rescue operations in this busy part of London whose technical difficulties are well illustrated on pages 2-3. The reason for publishing this particular site as an impressive Museum of London Archaeology Service monograph – rather than creating an archive report – was evidence for the manufacture of a considerable amount of pottery used in early Roman London, previously thought to have been brought in from well-known kilns in Hertfordshire and Middlesex (Verulamium region and Brockley Hill). Evidence of glassmaking was also found, including parts of a furnace for melting recycled cullet (p. 147-55). The whole book shows the value of integrating all illustrations and drawings into the main text. Discussion of the potters’ workshop is brought to life in a painting (in colour, on p.139) that includes firewood, buildings containing shelves of pottery, a kiln, and a potter adding characteristic incised motifs to a London-ware bowl. It is set within an interpretive discussion that incorporates specialist information from technical appendices in an exemplary manner. The report is also unusual in having a comprehensive index which will lead the curious from the word ‘ritual’ to a horse skull placed in an abandoned kiln and the skeleton of a lap-dog found in a well. The presentation of data and interpretation in an attractive but authoritative book, accessible to specialists and general readers, illustrates the value of good relations with MEPC and CgMs (developer and archaeological consultant) and Cazenove (occupier of the new building).