A team from the University of Sydney has now been excavating since 1995 at the site of an ancient theatre in the town of Paphos on the western coast of Cyprus.The theatre at Paphos in western Cyprus lies in the north-eastern corner of the ancient town, diagonally opposite the harbour. It seems to have been built early in the life of the town, in the last years of the fourth century BC.The theatre is only partially built into a hill and the rest was built up with an artificial earthen embankment on which stone seating was placed. To the south of the theatre a paved road was constructed parallel to the stage building in the third century AD, and excavation through part of it has revealed a series of closely-dated deposits which are proving to have far-reaching importance for the chronology of pottery and glass of the 3rd and 4th centuries

The Villa of Theseus is a very large Roman peristyle complex, named for the subject of one of its notable mosaic floors,which the excavators interpret as the official residence of the Roman governor. Begun in the second half of the second century A.D., it gradually expanded to become the largest building so far discovered in Cyprus, with more than 100 rooms and measuring over 120 x 80 m, organized as four wings around a large peristyle court. Finds include important examples of marble sculpture, dating from Late Hellenistic to early third century A.D. Major renovations, including new mosaics and repairs to the Theseus mosaic, took place in the fourth century A.D. It was abandoned by the end of the sixth century and reoccupied by squatters.

St Andrews Cathedral NO 516166 59 HS Augustinian cathedral priory Christian worship at this spot began around 800 AD when the Celtic “Culdees” (Companions of God) established a makeshift church at the harbour entrance. This was replaced with the church of St. Mary-on-the-Crag whose outline, outside the cathedral walls is still evident. It is probable that the relics of St. Andrew were kept at that site. The Bishopric was transferred from Abernethy in 908. Bishop Robert an Augustinian canon enlarged the reliquary church now known as St Rule’s as his new Cathedral church and established a priory of Augustinian canons to serve it. He also started the process of transferring power from the old Celtic religious house to the priory. The building was consecrated in 1318, but had to be rebuilt after a fire in 1380

The tower of this first Cathedral of St Andrew still dominates the St Andrews skyline. Beside it are the remains of the second Cathedral and the largest church in Scotland, the Augustinian Priory . The precinct walls are well preserved

Cawdor Castle

In 1454 King James II permitted the 6th Thane of Cawdor to build this Castle. Clan Campbell obtained control of the castle in 1511 by forcing the 12 year-old daughter of the 8th Thane to marry John, the younger son of Archibald Campbell . To assure his position as the next Thane, the ruthless John Campbell summarily disposed of various of his wife’s relatives. This was iniitially a simple tower-house, the upper storey, parapets and massive iron yett were added later in the 15th century. The ranges were added in the late 17th C. however having declared support for the Jacobites, the family wisely left for their Welsh estates for the best part of the next century

Rosslyn Chapel NT 275631 66 Rosslyn Chapel or the Collegiate Chapel of St Matthew as it was to have been known was founded in 1446 by Sir William St Clair. The building you see today is only part of what was intended to be a larger cruciform building with a tower at its centre. Though incomplete it still took 40 years to build. When Sir William died in 1484 the rest of the building was never realised although the foundation of the nave has been found to extend over 90 feet during excavations. What was built however is extraordinary………….. Rosslyn Chapel is unique for the beauty of its carvings and also for the air of mystery that surrounds it. It doesnt conform to contemporary architecture at all. There are also Pagan symbols and Rosslyn has the largest number of “Green men” found in any medieval building.

The carvings themselves including the famous “Apprentice Pillar” are full of symbolism. Many of the biblical stories are portrayed and there are frequent references to the Knights Templar and Freemasonary. The official Rosslyn Chapel website is at : http://www.rosslynchapel.org.uk/

The Portable Antiquities scheme operates through a network of locally based ‘Finds Liaison Officers’, who can offer identification and recording services as well as advise on how to conserve archaeological finds and how to tell if what you have found may be classed as treasure . Since the scheme came into operation, over 100,000 objects, which may otherwise have gone unrecorded, have been examined by Finds Liaison Officers across England and Wales

Each county of England and Wales now has an F.L.O. whose role it is to identify the objects for the finder and then to record them, thus making the information available to both academics and the general public through means of a website. Contrary to popular belief, objects recorded under the Portable Antiquities Scheme are returned to the finder. It is this unawareness of museum practice in regard to personal finds that the Finds Liaison Officer is attempting to overcome..

It is essential for them to record as much information about the find as possible – when the object was made, what it is made of, how it is decorated, whether it is broken, what it was used for.

Your local FLO will be able to offer you a wide range of services:

• indentifying your finds – either personally or after consulting a specialist
• recording your finds on the Finds Database
• giving you advice on conservation and storage
• giving you advice on the Treasure Act
• telling you about the importance of your find for the understanding of our history
• if you would find it useful, they will pass you a copy of the information they have recorded

They deal with huge quantities of finds from the Palaeolithic period onwards – Many of the objects fall into particular categories and are easily identified through their similarity with published examples, but unusual or unique objects are also well represented.

They have regular meetings and training days on artefacts of different periods.

The very least you should do is reference finds to specific fields – But Recording findspots accurately (using a Ordnance Survey map or hand-held Global Positioning System (GPS) device) whilst in the field are really what counts when recording your archaeological finds.

This is a great link for understanding NGR ref’s, click on this then when you get to the OS site, click on the help link lower down the page.

http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/freefun/nationalgrid/nghelp1.html

http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/freefun/nationalgrid/nationalgrid.pdf

There’s a facility on the Streetmap.co.uk website that lets you convert OS and Landranger to Lats and Longs and vice versa. To get to it you have to go onto the site, type in say your postcode or OS co ords, it will come up with a map. The facility can then be accessed by pressing the click here to convert link lower down the page.

How to plot a National Grid Reference

Images of Wisley Church, Surrey

This is a Norman Church which still preserves its completely rural character. It remains as a complete Norman building without additions of aisles, chapels or towers but with a later roof, bellcotes, porch and furnishings.