A Time Scale for Archaeologists

( 241 ) A TIME SCALE FOR ARCH^OLOGISTS. Some remarks on the suggested standard method of indicating the dates of buildings by colour or hatching proposed in the Report of the Research Committee of the Society of Archaeologists for the year 1931. BY ENGINEER-CAPTAIN J. B. HEWITT, B.N. ABOIL3EOLOGISTS wUl heartUy approve of the principle of a Standard Time Scale, as tending towards the simplification of interpreting drawings, plans, etc. There are, however, a few points in the method proposed in the above Report which are deserving of scrutiny, and perhaps of modification. CoLorjBS. The colours suggested are the so-called Primary colours, Red, YeUow and Blue, and their associated Secondary colours, Orange, Green and Purple, to which have been added Brown (a tertiary colour composed of aU three Primaries) and Black. The Primaries and Secondaries above-named are the colours into which the spectrum is usuaUy divided in the foUowing order : Red, Orange, YeUow, Green, Blue, Violet (or Purple), and the word spectrum generaUy evokes a mental image of a rainbow, a band of colours more or less broad, with Red at one side of the band and Purple at the other, the remaining colours forming a sequence in the order cited. There is in this " band " of colours, oocupying space or width, the embryo of a scale, in which space may be related to time, the various colours representing various periods, and the whole representing a flow of time from one end of the band to the other. It so happens that the sequence of colours adopted in the Report is the same as that of the spectrum, with the exception that Red and Orange are interchanged, thus destroying the complete analogy with the rainbow and deranging the mental image of a colour time scale evoked by it. It is suggested that the Committee's Time Scale should therefore be modified in this respect, and the colour Orange 22 242 A TIME SCALE FOR ARCHAEOLOGISTS. ™vp0kl ixmbjovt) ixmqs ru*>ift'3qrz>fhjy -*°1"U jxqrnrfm? clxa^ •pgfvuotttf: iirrjfhtj hj-wj wiuuojj' 1 V 1 <0 •§ -a J-3 Ml 8 1 PI! O ft. 1 O' A TIME SCALE FOR ARCHAEOLOGISTS. 243 placed in a position between Red and YeUow, as in the spectrum. There would then be a Time Scale based on a conception which is inherent in the minds of aU who are not colour-blind. This scale could be reconstituted from first principles, and it would involve no tax upon the memory or reference to any authority, which is surely a manUest advantage. In the suggested Scale, a colour is aUotted to each century, commencing with Black for the " Dark Ages " and progressing through the Spectrum from the Purple end to the Red end, YeUow representing the beginning of the Renaissance. It is further suggested that a sub-division of the centuries might conveniently be made by using a fuU tone of each colour for the first haU, and a pale tone for the second haU of each century (see specimen Scale on page 242). HATCHING. The colours used in the Committee's Time Scale are not only those of the spectrum, but they are, with the single exception of Brown, also the tinctures used in heraldry. Heraldry is a subject with which most archaeologists and antiquaries are conversant, and it is somewhat surprising that the Committee appear to have overlooked the convention, now some three centuries old, which related the heraldic tinctures with special forms of hatching. If the Committee's recommendations are adopted, there wUl then be two conventions when there seems to be reaUy no need to have more than one. It is suggested therefore that the hatchings relating to the colours should be according to the heraldic convention,, with, however, some modifications, which are put forward as helping to simphfy the memorization and drawing. In heraldry, Orange (or Tawney) is a tincture not often encountered, and a change in its representation would not cause much inconvenience. Moreover, cross-hatching is rather a nuisance to a draftsman. So instead of the crossed horizontal and sloping lines of the heraldic convention, it is suggested that Orange, which is a secondary colour arising 244 A TIME SCALE FOR ARCHAEOLOGISTS. from a blend of Red and YeUow, should be represented by a combination of the hatchings for Gules (Red) and Or (YeUow), that is, by vertical hnes alternating with dotted or pecked lines, as shown in the specimen scale on page 242. SimUarly, Brown, which as a tincture does not occur in heraldry but which may be considered as a combination of Purple and YeUow, might be indicated by lines sloping downwards from right to left (for Purpure), alternating with dotted, or pecked, hnes (for Or), in the manner shown in the specimen scale. Grey, which is only diluted Black, might be represented by crosses, a hatching which is reaUy only the cross-hatching for sable, hghtened by the erasure of alternate lines. Summarizing, U these suggestions be adopted, there would be a sequence of colours and hatchings which would be easy to memorize for those who are unacquainted with heraldry, and which would obviate the necessity of memorizing a new convention, for those who already know the heraldic convention. A specimen Time Scale is shown in which the above suggestions have been incorporated, showing how the colours and hatchings might be aUocated, and to which has been added the approximate periods of the various styles of architecture. It wiU be noted that cross-hatchings have been avoided, with the exception of those indicating Black and Grey. There are several reasons for this : (a) From a draftsman's point of view, crosshatchings are a nuisance, entailing covering the same area twice. (b) A combination of vertical or horizontal lines with sloping lines has an ungainly appearance, and moreover the significance of these hatchings is apt to be overlooked and perhaps taken as representing Black. (c) Close, cross-hatching is prone to blotching and blurring in reproduction by photogravure, etc. A TIME SCALE FOR ARCHAEOLOGISTS. 245 (d) Cross-hatching for Black is a heraldic convention, but in general a sohd wash wiU be used. (e) The crosses representing Grey would usuaUy be put in by freehand, and so would not entaU going over the same area twice. It may be that the Research Committee had very good reasons for aUocating the particular colours and hatchings in the way they have done. If so, it would be very interesting U the reasons were pubhshed, for they would help in the process of memorization which must be gone through by antiquaries for the full benefit to be derived from the scheme. If, however, it has so happened that the colours and their hatchings were selected more or less fortuitously, then the existing relationship between tinctures and hatchings in heraldry is obviously preferable to a new and quite arbitrary relationship. If that premise be accepted and a modification of the Committee's Time Scale be considered desirable in that respect, then the sooner the modification is made before that system has become too widely adopted the better, and, U the change be made, then the other suggestions might be considered also.