To whet your appetite for week 4 on Hadrian’s Wall: Life on the Roman Frontier, which is all about ritual and religion on the Roman Wall, Ian talks here about one of his favourite pieces in the Great North Museum, in Newcastle upon Tyne. He he is introducing Sattada an (almost) forgotten goddess on Rome’s British Frontier.
We’ll also be meeting Lindsay Allason-Jones OBE again this week. Here she is talking about one of her favourite pieces, some personal hygiene tools.
This week we’ll meet Dr Andrew Birley again, Director of Excavations from The Vindolanda Trust, and we’ll also meet Frances McIntosh, Curator of Roman Collections, English Heritage. Here they both are talking about some of their favourite objects (click on the picture for the video).
Dr Andrew Birley http://youtu.be/uEqt9bvHGGs |
Frances McIntosh http://youtu.be/VsBcU9OWoqs |
Both little videos really bring to life what is might have been life in Roman times around Hadrian’s Wall. Week 3 of Hadrian’s Wall: Life on the Roman Frontier concentrates on frontier communities.
“In week 3 we will deepen our understanding of the complexities of provincial society. We will look beyond the soldiers to consider the wider communities of which they were a part, we will encounter a range of non-combatants and we will try to seek out some of the ‘native’ populations living in the larger frontier area.”
Professor Ian Haynes, Lead Educator, ‘Hadrian’s Wall: Life on the Roman Frontier’
It isn’t too late to sign up – you could work with us from week 3 and then go back to the previous weeks later…..
Do you know someone who has fallen? A friend? Family member? Someone you care for?
Our second free online course with FutureLearn starts on 24 November, but you can sign up now.
The Lead Educators, Professor Julia Newton, Dean for Clinical Medicine and Clinical Professor of Ageing and Medicine, and Dr James Frith, Academic Clinical Lecturer in Ageing, both based in the Institute for Ageing and Health, Newcastle University have worked with Voice North in the development of this engaging and empowering course, designed for the people who have fallen, their, family, friends and carers rather than professionals.
Please spread the word and this flyer – share it widely – we want our course to get to as many people as possible.
Do you have a staff/waiting room where you could put one up?
There is a trailer which gives a really good idea of what you can expect over the four weeks the course runs.
If you are on social media, share the link www.futurelearn.com/courses/falls and use #FLFalls
We were delighted to chat to David Heslop, the City Archaeologist for Newcastle upon Tyne (known affectionately to it’s residents as “the Toon”). David’s written widely on the archaeology of Newcastle, and the reconstruction picture you see in our week 3 text is taken from his book with Zoe McAuley Digging Deeper: The Origin’s of Newcastle and Gateshead. We chatted about how archaeological evidence is uncovered and preserved during the development of new buildings; what we do and don’t know about the course of the wall through the city centre and about what has changed and what has stayed the same.
For me Newcastle Quayside is never going to seem the same! David explained how this artificially flat area was created through land reclamation in the medieval period. The River Tyne is tidal in city and, of course, safe quayside spots were essential as trade expanded. Once you hear this, of course it becomes obvious – you can begin to see the how the steep descents to quayside bars mirror the drops to the original banks of the river in the Roman town.
We experimented with merging David’s picture with one from the Northumbria University’s Virtual NewcastleGateshead project. You can see the results of our photoshop efforts in the YouTube video above. How do you think we got on?
For those interested in browsing through the region’s records of Roman evidence do pay a visit to Sitelines (Tyne and Wear’s Historic Environment Record).
Introducing Dr James Gerrard who contributes to week 2 of our free online course Hadrian’s Wall: Life on the Roman Frontier. This video was shot in the Great North Museum: Hancock, Newcastle upon Tyne which is right next door to Newcastle University, and where many of the objects in the Roman collections of both the University and The Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne are housed.
James will be talking about vessels for food and drink in the second week of the course, and here he talks about his favourite piece in the Hadrian Gallery at the Great North Museum – a large olive oil amphora with the letters QMCCCAS stamped on the handle.
A special discussion featuring Professor Ian Haynes, Lead Educator www.futurelearn.com/courses/hadrians-wall and Professor of Archaeology, Newcastle University, together with leading world experts Professor David Breeze (Visiting Professor, Newcastle University), Dr Sue Stallibrass (English Heritage Regional Science Advisor, NW England) and Dr Nick Hodgson (Principal Keeper of Archaeology: Strategic Project Management, Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums) examining why Hadrian’s Wall might have been built.
As we draw near the end of week one of Hadrian’s Wall: Life on the Roman Frontier we thought you might like to delve a little deeper into why the Wall might have been built, with the views of four eminent experts in this fascinating discussion to help you reflect a little more on this fascinating topic.
Have their ideas changed your own thoughts at all?
Celebrity chef John Crouch cooked us some Roman inspired food for our free online course Hadrian’s Wall: Life on the Roman Frontier which starts on Monday.
John very kindly said we could share his recipes. Why not try cooking one of them this weekend?
ROMAN CABBAGE SALAD
(KRAMBE)
1 white cabbage
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons clear honey
a bunch of fresh coriander leaves
a sprig of fresh rue
1 teaspoon asafoetida powder
salt (optional)
Thinly slice the cabbage as for a coleslaw and arrange in a salad bowl. Combine the vinegar with the honey in a cup. Finely chop the coriander and rue and add to the honeyed vinegar. Season with salt if you wish, although the dressing is strong enough not to need it. Stir the asafoetida into the dressing and pour over the cabbage. Toss before
serving.
HARE SERVED IN ITS OWN GRAVY
1½kg (3lb) hare
seasoning
1 tablespoon olive oil
250ml (½pt) chicken stock
65ml (1/8pt) reduced chicken stock
2 teaspoons chives
1 teaspoon coriander
pinch of aniseed
sauce
¼ teaspoon ground pepper
1 teaspoon celery or lovage seed
½ teaspoon cumin
pinch of fennel
1 teaspoon mint
pinch of rosemary
1 small onion, chopped
2 teaspoons honey
125ml (¼pt) stewing pan juices
125ml (¼pt) boiled red wine
1 teaspoon white wine or cider vinegar
flour
pepper
In a stewing pot, put the olive oil, stock, chives, coriander, and aniseed. Cut up the hare into pieces and add to the pot. Cover, bring to a boil, and cook the hare for about 1 hour over low heat.
For the sauce, in a mortar grind the pepper, celery or lovage seed, cumin, coriander seeds, fennel, mint, and a pinch of rosemary. Add the onion, and combine with the honey, liquid from the hare pan, boiled wine, and vinegar.
Uncover the hare, add the sauce to the stewing pan, and cook for a further 30 minutes. Thicken the sauce with flour, and serve the meat drenched in sauce. Sprinkle with pepper at the table.
NETTLE QUICHE
200g (8oz) nettles
butter
100g (4oz) fresh mushrooms, sliced
200g (8oz) cheese, grated
1 medium onion, sliced in rings
100g (4oz) flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon fish-pickle
3 eggs
350ml (12floz) cream
1 teaspoon coriander
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pick a basket of young spring nettles and steam in a covered pan for 30 minutes. Take 200g (8oz) of nettles, drain and chop. Arrange in a buttered quiche dish. Cover with layers of mushrooms, cheese, and onion. Now blend the flour, salt, fish-pickle, well beaten eggs, cream, coriander, and pepper. Pour the mixture over the dry ingredients in the quiche dish. Bake in a 200°C (400°F/Gas Mark 4) oven for 35 to 40 minutes, and serve hot with a sprinkling of pepper. Alternatively, chill and serve cold.
We’ll share some more recipes with you as we get nearer to the visualisation of a Roman banquet at Arbeia Roman Fort, South Shields.
Have a great weekend.
Everyone knows someone who has fallen…..
Newcastle University’s second free online course opened for signups yesterday – see www.futurelearn.com/courses/falls
Whether you have been affected by falls yourself or care for someone who has, this course will help you understand what you can do to prevent falls and also what you can do if you have experienced a fall.
We have consulted with Voice North during the development of the course, to ensure that the course will appeal to people who have fallen. As well the knowledge and experience of as Professor Julia Newton and Dr James Frith, the course Lead Educators, our Meet the Experts series includes work with the award winning Falls and Syncope Service (FASS) at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary – the largest unit of its kind in Europe, recognised internationally for its innovative work in the field of falls and blackouts.
As the course page went live, and the signup button appeared, James was in Durham with our film crew, making a video about human and primate skeletons.
We were very lucky to receive a presentation form Audrey Waters. On her blog, Audrey describes herself as “… an education writer, a recovering academic, a serial dropout, a rabble-rouser, and ed-tech’s Cassandra”.
The presentation focused on the role of virtual learning environments in shaping pedagogy, and the need to break down and open up the walls that such environments have built up.
Link to slides and audio of the talk (Recap)
This practice based workshop was the first of four that is focused on helping you improve your teaching practice with hands on support.
We aimed to help attendees develop skills in the following three areas:
Pre-production and storyboard slides (pdf)
See also: JISC Digital Media InfoKit on pre-production
Many thanks to Hugh Kelly of Swingbridge Media for stepping in at the last minute and expertly facilitating this session with really good feedback!
See also: JISC Digital Media InfoKit on production
See JISC Digital Media Guide: Free software
We are very lucky to have an excellent video production team at the University. see Digital Media Team: who we are and what we do (pdf file) and their web pages for more information.
Feedback from the session:
I feel a bit more confident using video. Plus, it will allow me to make more informed decisions about how to use video in teaching. I would NEVER have been brave enough to even open the video editing software- wouldn’t have know where to look. I now plan on giving both the shooting and editing of video a try.
…the fact that the Uni is supporting an initiative like this is phenomenal. This is one of the few times I have felt that what I need as an academic is being listened to and addressed. Great session and I look forward to more of them.
