"The Red Lady" and lots of lovely maps

The last half of the academic week broke out of the six hour lecture days that I've enjoyed [wink] so much so far.  Wednesday our class journeyed to Cardiff (I know its less that its only about an hour from Bristol, but somehow knowing that it was in Wales made the short minibus ride more exciting) to see "The Red Lady," which I should have mentioned earlier is actually a male skeleton.  This particular skeleton is special/of archaeological significance because its one ofher burial is the first of its kind that has been found in England.  I wish I could say that I was able to get a photo, but no cameras were allowed inside the gallery.  I did take a picture of the 

Friday was completely dedicated to understanding how to read and process ordinance survey maps from the UK.  Although very necessary to my understanding of this discipline, I have to say it was not one of my favorite lectures so far.  The afternoon activity of breaking into groups and attempting to plot the "lost" Royal Fort that was originally situated on part of our campus was a bit more fun... kinda like searching for buried treasure, but having to figure out how to read the map first.  After we all had our go at it, our professor and a fellow student who had examined the study in undergrad showed us their theories about where the fort actually stood... needless to say none of the groups had it just right.  But it is all just theory so who knows?  [Smile].

More archaeological adventures to come.  Next week we head to Avebury, a place similar to Stonehenge except on a slightly bigger scale and older.  Click on the links to learn more.  (The first is from what I can gather a "fan site" but appears to have great photos and may actually be pretty accurate on the history/archaeology.  The second is the official link through the National Trust website in case of discrepancies.) 

Just, Margaret