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Editorial The Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity at Birmingham University is a large and diverse department, comprised of archaeologists, ancient historians, classicists, Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek studies, industrial archaeology and heritage management, and everything in between! This journal reflects the ethos of the Institute and has emerged from the belief that in such a wide-ranging department we could all learn something by looking beyond our disciplines and subject areas. There had been previous attempts to
produce a journal of this type, but these had never quite come to fruition.
This time, however, following the creation of the Institute, new strategic posts
within the department, and with several
successful interdisciplinary seminar series’ up and running, it was finally
accepted that our diversity was our greatest asset and that we should begin to promote this to the wider academic world.
The name Rosetta was chosen for the journal as it was felt that this best
reflected the diversity of the Institute. As an artefact of linguistic,
historical and archaeological significance, the Rosetta Stone demonstrates the
value of setting objects and ideas in a wider
context. The decision to publish
in electronic rather
than printed form seemed obvious. Initially,
this allows us to reach a wider audience, way beyond
traditional printed journals. The flexibility of the medium for display
also allows us to publish almost anything:
from traditional plans and photographs to GIS or movie files with no impact
on cost. This leads directly to the third benefit.
Rosetta is run entirely by a team of Birmingham postgraduates with
limited (i.e. no) funds. Hosting by the University provides a permanent
electronic archive of postgraduate and professional research and endeavour at
Birmingham. The
success of journals including Assemblage at Sheffield, now running for
eight years and counting, provided us with models from which to develop. However, as Assemblage
is primarily (although not exclusively) an archaeological journal we felt there
was a
niche that a diverse academic grouping, like that at Birmingham, might fill. Rosetta
is intended to give postgraduate students at Birmingham experience of organising and editing
an academic journal for a wider audience, with contributions from both graduates
and professionals.
The journal is divided into two sections. The first is a static
section of articles and book reviews reflecting a subset of the current state of
research at Birmingham and beyond. The
second is a more dynamic, updateable section with links to activities in the
fields including conferences and seminars. This
section will also house a forum, due to open later this year, for people to respond to
the published works, with the intention of creating a vibrant research
environment. As the journal
progresses we hope to include themed issues based on seminar series’ as well
as articles that represent every aspect of the Institute's activities.
We will also welcome external contributions for publication in future issues.
For further
information on this please contact us at rosetta@contacts.bham.ac.uk.
The first issue of Rosetta is dedicated
to the memory of Professor David
Keen, whose work at
Birmingham epitomised the inter-disciplinarity of the IAA. Helen Goodchild
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