FACE - AN M A MAITLAND NOVEL first 250-ish

The girl sensed the moment when their intentions changed. It was the tone of their voices that made her increase her stride. But her need to not lose face made sure she wouldn’t let the half-hearted excuses spew out. Of course, she could turn back and head for the school building and see if anyone was still hanging about. Some teacher. One of the cleaning team who should be knee-deep in the toilets by now. Or, the single black eyes that filmed the corners where the accidental injuries were most likely to happen. It wasn’t that she needed protection. Just because, then someone would know who she’d been with after school. She wouldn’t let her show fear. Common sense was weakness when she had to do the daily walk to school with these boys. And, there was no way out of it. They'd asked. She'd said Yes. And, one way or another, everyone was going to know what happened.

            She figured she could handle it. They were three, so it wasn’t like she could fight it.

            The playing field behind the old building was edged with trees, the short thick ones with thorns that ripped liked filed acrylics or light tap from a styling comb. The contractors had laid an orange plastic path to save their vans from sinking into the mud but the rain and the heavy moving equipment had shown that right. It was cold, but not so cold the rain had eased off. The dark grey clouds weren’t troubled by white and the rain was persistent. It was the heavy rain that washed out any thoughts she’d had about maybe legging it. Being labelled spineless, and worse. If all they had was outdoors then whatever happened would be quick. She pulled up the collar of her blazer, pushed her hands deep into the pockets, and rolled her hips as she walked. Then she followed the orange brick road to the mobile office the building crew had dropped into the school field where they were digging foundations for the new building.

MILLET A MAITLAND: On Fleam Dyke

This is a dull bit - there's more drama,
and more archaeology,
in other places.
photo: John Sutton CCL

MY CREDENTIALS:

Born: Millet Arnold Maitland, England

Physical Characteristics: 5’11’’, black hair, watery blue eyes, glasses, wiry build

Education: with the aid of a scholarship, I attended Penville College, Cambridge University, read for a Masters of Ancient History degree  Forcibly removed after completing studies, I joined every dig I could find until the money ran out. Later, I pursued a teaching career teaching in a range of secondary schools

Former Occupation: For two terms each year I worked as a teacher: Middle and Secondary School experience

In the summer term, I threw myself into archaeological digs: I excavated sites in various counties/countries sometimes when political situations could make an archaeologist look for danger money. The past – like a child - has to be saved, it can’t save itself.

Present Occupation: Supply teacher – no school refused although danger money is often demanded.

SELECTING AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIG SITE FOR 2013 

If I don't stick with my original plan to put a pin in the centre of my map of the Roman Roads of Derbyshire and request permission to dig there, I'm probably going to end up in Cambridgeshire. I'm not saying where.

I'm researching, and narrowing down my options.

There's a high bank and ditched barrier running from Balsham to Fulbourn. In the past, before all the wear and tear, it was massive. Fleam Dyke.

The name Fleam may derive from the Old English for “flight” or “fugitive”. This kind-of confuses me. Does anyone ever build a barrier  to help people escape more easily? No. I don't think I fall into the camp that thinks it's more about imprisoning them either. Planning to run away? Let me stick out my fleam and trip you up. If you build a ditch and a wall, the chances are you're planning to keep somebody out. Obviously, if I was able to dig at the site and found stakes pointing inwards instead of out, I'd change my mind and believe the defence wasn't built to keep trouble out of the wuffing kingdom of Norfolk and Suffolk.

Today, Fleam Dyke is a footpath. Less visibly, it’s a parish boundary. I would say the presence of Fleam Dyke makes the area monumentally important.

Mutlow Hill, a Bronze Age round barrow, that butts along the edge of the earthwork was important long before any Anglo-Saxon decided it would make a better place for a wall rather than a meeting place.

As if 4,000 year old cremated burials weren’t enough,  rare third century BC Greek coins were found close to the burial mound.

Unsurprisingly, those canny Romans planted a temple on Mutlow Hill. It perched way up there, on the top of a hill, overlooking key junction of several routeways including the Icknield Way.

Historians have been studying this part of Cambridgeshire for a long time - in short bursts -although slightly longer in duration than a Time Team visit. The investigations in 1921-2 established that the construction was post-Roman, that no causeway had been left for access along the Icknield Way, and that an Anglo-Saxon estate charter of 974 mentions the Dyke as part of its boundary.

Scientific techniques helped with the analysis. Fleam Dyke had more than three distinct building phases. The shells of buried snails showed that the defences had been built on gazed grassland and disturbed ground. And, interestingly, a fourth century Roman coin was also found beneath the bank.

Reference: Malim T et al 1997 ‘New Evidence on the Cambridgeshire Dykes and Worsted Street Roman Road’. Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian SocietyVol. 85, pp. 27 – 122.

I FIND THAT MOST THINGS THAT ARE UNREASONABLY HIGH. OR IMPOSSIBLE LOW, ARE TOTALLY IRRESISTIBLE. WHAT DO YOU FIND IRRESISTIBLE?