Events archive

See below for a list of past Prehistoric Society events.

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Lecture

Cotswold-Severn long barrows in the light of recent work

Joint Devon Archaeological Society event
Professor Timothy Darvill, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, Bournemouth University

This lecture looks at the history of study and widely held understandings of this fascinating group of monuments in the light of on-going excavations at the Sisters Long Barrow near Cirencester.

 

Lecture

Connecting tools and materials in the Dutch Late Neolithic through use-wear analysis and experiments

Joint Society of Antiquaries of Scotland lecture
Prof. Annelou van Gijn (Leiden University)

Archaeological artefacts are frequently studied in isolation and not as part of a toolkit. This lecture will show how a combination of use-wear analysis and experimental archaeology reveals the interconnectivities between different tools and activities, showing details about past human life that otherwise remain hidden. 

Lecture

Piece Offerings: the Destruction and Deposition of Metalwork in Bronze Age Britain

Joint Cornwall Archaeological Society lecture
Dr Matthew G. Knight (National Museums Scotland)

The destruction and deposition of Bronze Age metalwork took many forms. Weapons were decommissioned and thrown into rivers; axes were fragmented and piled in hoards; and ornaments were crushed, contorted and placed in certain landscapes. But what did these practices mean to the people involved?

Lecture

An Alternative to Agriculture: Mobility and Persistence in Northern New Mexico

Prof. Lindsay M. Montgomery (University of Arizona)

The Taos Plateau in Northern New Mexico is an expansive landscape that contains a rich material archive of 10,000 years of human use. As discussed by archaeologist Sarah Schlanger, the sustained use of particular places is often a result of their unique ecological characteristics as well as their history of prior use. Rather than a cycle of intensive occupation followed by dispersion and migration, human engagements with the Plateau landscape are perhaps better understood as a series of visitations, which vary in duration and frequency over time in response to changing ecological, economic, and social conditions.  In this talk, I will discuss how human mobility systems shaped and were shaped by different features of the Plateau landscape, including playas, mountains, and the Rio Grande Gorge itself. Throughout this discussion, I will draw on an Indigenizing approach centered on persistence in order to challenge archaeological modes of inquiry that focus on why people, practices, and places change. 

Image caption/credit: Twentieth-Century Stone Fireplace at Cerro de la Olla, Taos Plateau, New Mexico. © Lindsay M. Montgomery.

 

Lecture

Recent discoveries of archaeological canoes in Aotearoa New Zealand: conservation, analysis of sailing technology and the implications for prehistoric voyaging in the Pacific.

Prof. Richard Flay, Dr Dilys Johns and Prof. Geoff Irwin (University of Auckland)

The recent discovery and conservation of the waterlogged remains of several canoes, including an early complex and carved sailing canoe of East Polynesian type, provides an opportunity to examine ancient sailing technology and to address the question of how islands like New Zealand were settled

Lecture

Panel discussion: Are Genes Deep History?

Partnered event as part of the Being Human Festival, Queen Mary University of London
Various

Panel discussion chaired by Mike Pitts (Archaeologist, editor and writer), involving:

  • Dr Tom Booth (Crick Institute)
  • Prof. Joanna Brück (UCD)
  • Subhadra Das (writer, historian, curator and comedian)
  • Dr Adam Rutherford (UCL)
  • Prof. Chris Stringer (Natural History Museum)

 

Lecture

People and Places in Bronze Age Britain/Ireland

Joint Norwich and Norfolk Archaeological Society lecture
Dr Robert Johnston (Sheffield University)

This lecture will be a blended, online and in person, event: those who wish to attend should contact Publicity@nnas.info for the zoom link.

Lecture

Human-ecodynamics and the rise of monumentality in the Central Andes

PS Global Pasts lecture
Professor Ana Cecilia Mauricio (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú)

Monumental architecture is worldwide associated with complex social organizations that have large populations, social stratification, development of agriculture, and religious systems.

Lecture

Early Humans in the English Channel Region: La Cotte de St Brelade, Boxgrove & other La Mancheland sites

Joint CAS lecture
Dr Matt Pope (UCL)

In this talk Dr Matt Pope will draw on the result of recent research in the Channel island, the northern French coast and Southern England to frame the early prehistory of ‘La Mancheland’. 

Lecture

Hot stone technology at Bucklers Park, Crowthorne, Berkshire: The use and re-use of a persistent place during the Bronze and Iron Ages

Joint Welwyn Arch Soc lecture
Helen Chittock (AOC Archaeology) and Rob Masefield (RPS)

Further details and booking information for this lecture will be available shortly...