President’s Column

Because we live in a fast-changing world, societies like ours have to evolve. That we have a loyal and engaged membership, active and committed trustees, and sound finances because of the work of our Treasurer means that we are in a good position. But we cannot simply stand still.

In the next few months, the Society will be receiving plans for our short to medium term future which will have much more detail about what we can do with our resources, what we might be able to achieve, and how we can carry the Society forwards. These are being worked on by a group of people, some of whom have been active in the Society for many years, others who bring a blend of specialist and professional experience. In the next newsletter, I hope to set out some of their ideas and what we have achieved so far.

One thing is certain. We have a lot to do. Social media and a host of other things have made even once relatively calm spaces like that of archaeology more contentious than before. In particular, when issues relate to identity, there are immediate strong opinions, one side or another of a debate. A charitable society like the KAS shouldn’t be in the business of partisan politics. But it does need to speak and think about issues that, in the end, reach the domain of political argument more broadly. We hope to set out facts, findings, and ideas and then leave the scene before those other kinds of arguments start. The best we can hope for is that our work informs and constructively directs things. We can’t, and shouldn’t, be in the business of enforcing conclusions.

This is one reason why it is essential to take the opportunity given by more online events and activities to bring different perspectives into our work and debates. This is one of the most exciting new opportunities, one of the more positive outcomes of the last two years. In September, we will be hosting a speaker based in the US. In the past, it would have been difficult to imagine being able to pay for Professor Robyn Fleming to take a plane from her home in Boston, stay in the UK a few days, and then address us in person.

But thanks to Teams, we can now hear her speak.

In mid-September, she will have some important things to say when she addresses us. Her work is tremendous. She marries historical and archaeological records to create a fascinating new narrative of periods when, until recently, evidence has been scant. One of the many exciting things she points out in her new book about the transition from Roman occupation to what she calls the early Mediaeval period (but which is more often

Kerry Brown labelled `Anglo-Saxon’) is how rich the archaeological record is in information about women and children, and yet how little documentary evidence carries. A look at Marc Morris’s newly published history of post-5th century Britain illustrates this well. Each of his chapters is built around the story of a particular figure. All of them are men. To be fair, he does explain this at the beginning being down to lack of sufficient material to do it any other way. Even so, deploying archaeological evidence more might have meant he could have written at least something on Folkestone’s Saint Eanswythe, the subject of recent intense work in the county, or even Queen Ethelburga and the evidence of her life and work at Lyminge Church uncovered at another well- publicised dig in 2018-19 (for more see here: https:// geopaethas.com/category/anglo-saxon-church/).

We hope over the next year to host more talks offering interesting new perspectives, or at least ones that might add something slightly different which can add to our understanding and knowledge. One thing that is reassuring is that there is widespread interest in the history of this county, sometimes from people from far further afield than simply the UK. When there are too many divisions, real and imagined, I hope personally that this work can show how often what links us is far more powerful than the opposite. Thanks for your continuing support for our Society and the public benefit that we strive to deliver.

Best wishes,

Kerry Brown

President