New community archaeology project in town associated with King Richard III receives funding

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archaeology, community, excavation, Leicestershire, news

ULAS News

A new community archaeology project that provides residents the opportunity to carry out excavations in order to learn more about their town’s history has received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

The Market Bosworth Society in partnership with the University of Leicester has been awarded a grant of £29,000 for their ‘Bosworth Links’ community archaeology project, it was announced today (10 May).

Over the next two years the Market Bosworth Society, supported by archaeologists from University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS), will investigate the history of their town, providing hundreds of opportunities for people to come together and get involved in an archaeological project that will uncover thousands of years of shared heritage on their doorsteps.

Volunteers digging archaeological test-pits with the University of Leicester. Credit: Charnwood Roots Project / University of Leicester

Nigel Palmer, Chairman of the Market Bosworth Society and the Bosworth Links steering committee said: “The…

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Largest archaeological excavation in Leicester in over a decade to open to public

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archaeology, England, excavation, Leicester, Leicestershire, news, Open Day, Places to Visit, Roman, Roman Britain

Excavation open to the public on Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 May. University of Leicester Archaeological Services are currently excavating the site of the former Stibbe factory, between Great Central Street and Highcross Street in central Leicester. The land is owned by Charles Street Buildings group, which has made the site available and financially supported […]

via Largest archaeological excavation in Leicester in over a decade to open to public — ULAS News

From the Ice Age to the Stone Age: Bouldnor Cliff

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archaeology, Bouldnor Cliff, education, ice age, Isle of Wight, Leicestershire, Loughborough, prehistory, stone age, WEA

In addition to our discussion of Star Carr, we also discussed the site of Bouldnor Cliff, near Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. Several videos are available on Youtube by the Maritime Archaeology Trust:

From the Ice Age to the Stone Age: Star Carr

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archaeology, education, ice age, Leicestershire, Loughborough, prehistory, Star Carr, stone age, WEA, Yorkshire

In yesterday’s session of ‘From the Ice Age to the Stone Age’ we discussed the Mesolithic in Britain and, in particular, the famous site of Star Carr in Yorkshire. The website linked here provides a number of photographs of the site and video clips discussing aspects of the excavation and the artefacts found.

In addition, this short video clip discusses the use and manufacture of frontlets or headdresses found at Star Carr and other Mesolithic sites through experimental archaeology:

This final video by Archaeosoup Productions provides a nice overview of the site:

From the Ice Age to the Stone Age: Swimming Reindeer

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archaeology, education, ice age, Leicestershire, Loughborough, prehistory, stone age, WEA

In our last session of ‘From the Ice Age to the Stone Age’ we discussed Palaeolithic art. A podcast about one such object, the Swimming Reindeer in the British Museum, part of the BBC Radio 4 series ‘A History of the World in 100 objects’ is available to listen to and download from the BBC website. This podcast tells the story of the Swimming Reindeer and its place in the history of art and religion with contributions from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and archaeologist Professor Steven Mithen.

From the Ice Age to the Stone Age: Neanderthals

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archaeology, education, ice age, Leicestershire, Loughborough, prehistory, stone age, WEA

In our last session, we looked at perhaps one of the most famous ancient hominids, Neanderthals. Those wishing to find out more about them, may want to check out the following additional podcasts and video clips:

• BBC Radio 4 ‘In Our Time’ episode on the Neanderthals (2010) with Simon Conway Morris, Professor of Evolutionary Palaeobiology at the University of Cambridge, Chris Stringer, Research Leader in Human Origins at the Natural History Museum and Visiting Professor at Royal Holloway, University of London, and Danielle Schreve, Reader in Physical Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London.
• Chris Stringer, Societies in Transition: The Neanderthal-Modern Human Transition (2009), University of Oxford podcasts.
• Planet Earth podcast: Neanderthal mammoth hunters in Jersey (2002)
• Svante Pääbo: DNA clues to our inner neanderthal (2011), TED talks.
  

From the Ice Age to the Stone Age: Happisburgh

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Britain, England, ice age, Leicestershire, Loughborough, prehistory, stone age, WEA

A series of footprints that were left by early humans around 900,000 years ago were discovered by a team of scientists led by the British Museum, Natural History Museum and Queen Mary University of London. The footprints left in ancient estuary muds were found at Happisburgh in Norfolk and are direct evidence of the earliest known humans in northern Europe. This video provides more information about the discovery.

From the Ice Age to the Stone Age: Boxgrove

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archaeology, Boxgrove, Britain, education, ice age, Leicestershire, Loughborough, prehistory, stone age, WEA

In the first session of ‘From the Ice Age to the Stone Age’, we examined the earliest evidence for hominins in Britain. One site that was mentioned as having significance to this story was Boxgrove in West Sussex. This short video clip from BBC’s 2002 documentary, ‘Apeman’, shows the refitting of flint fragments from that site.

Reading List: From the Ice Age to the Stone Age

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archaeology, Britain, education, ice age, Leicestershire, Loughborough, prehistory, stone age, WEA

Whilst it is not essential to do any background reading before the course begins, you may find it useful to do so. The reading list below contains books that you can read. You don’t have to read all of these and we don’t specify any that you must read. Instead, these are readings you can use to gain a preliminary understanding of topics, as well as to study in more depth those parts of the course you are particularly interested in. You may also want to take a look at magazines such as British Archaeology, World Archaeology and Current Archaeology.

Further suggestions about ways you can extend your understanding of topics through books, television etc may also be posted as appropriate here on the tutor’s personal blog, as well as on the WEA East Midlands Region History Space

Bahn, P. 2012. Cave Art: A Guide to the Decorated Ice Age Caves of Europe. Frances Lincoln Press.

Clottes, J. 2016. What Is Paleolithic Art?: Cave Paintings and the Dawn of Human Creativity. University of Chicago Press.

Cook, J. 2013. Ice Age art: arrival of the modern mind. British Museum Press.

Cunliffe, B. 2013. Britain Begins. Oxford University Press.

Darvill, T. 2010. Prehistoric Britain. Routledge.

Dinnis, R and Stringer, C. 2014. Britain: One Million Years of the Human Story. The Natural History Museum.

Gosden, C. 2003. Prehistory: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.

Milner, N et al. 2013. Star Carr: Life in Britain after the Ice Age. Council for British Archaeology.

Oliver, N. 2012. A History of Ancient Britain. W&N. (accompanies BBC TV documentary series of the same name. Documentary also available on DVD).

Oppenheimer, S. 2007. The Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective Story. Robinson.

Pettitt, P and White, M. 2012. The British Palaeolithic: Human Societies at the Edge of the Pleistocene World. Routledge.

Pryor, F. 2004. Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans. Harper Perennial.

Roberts, A. 2010. The Incredible Human Journey. Bloomsbury. (accompanies BBC TV documentary series of the same name. Documentary also available on DVD).

Stringer, C. 2006. Homo Britannicus: The Incredible Story of Human Life in Britain. Penguin.

Waddington, C. 2007. Mesolithic Settlement in the North Sea Basin: A Case Study from Howick, North-East England. Oxbow Books.

Reading List: The Celtic World

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archaeology, Celts, education, Iron Age, Leicestershire, North Kilworth, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, prehistory, WEA

Whilst it is not essential to do any background reading before the course begins, you may find it useful to do so. The reading list below contains books that you can read. You don’t have to read all of these and we don’t specify any that you must read. Instead, these are readings you can use to gain a preliminary understanding of topics, as well as to study in more depth those parts of the course you are particularly interested in. You may also want to take a look at magazines such as British Archaeology, World Archaeology and Current Archaeology.

Further suggestions about ways you can extend your understanding of topics through books, television etc may also be posted as appropriate on the tutor’s personal blog: https://archaeotutor.wordpress.com/, as well as on the WEA East Midlands Region History Space: https://weahistoryspace.wordpress.com/

Aldhouse-Green, M. 2015. The Celtic Myths: A Guide to the Ancient Gods and Legends. Thames and Hudson Ltd.

Aldhouse-Green, M and McDermid, V. 2015. Bog Bodies Uncovered: Solving Europe’s Ancient Mystery. Thames and Hudson Ltd.

Collis, J. 2003. The Celts: Origins, Myths & Inventions. The History Press.

Cunliffe, B. 2003. The Celts: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.

Cunliffe, B. 2013. Britain Begins. Oxford University Press.

Cunliffe, B and Koch, J. T (Eds). 2012. Celtic from the West: Alternative Perspectives from Archaeology, Genetics, Language and Literature. Oxbow Books.

Farley, J and Hunter, F. 2015. Celts: Art and Identity. British Museum Press.

Foster, J. 2002. Life and Death in the Iron Age. Ashmolean Museum.

Gosden, C, Crawford, S, and Ulmschneider, K (Eds). 2014. Celtic Art in Europe: Making Connections. Oxbow Books.

Haywood, J and Cunliffe, B.  2009. The Historical Atlas of the Celtic World. Thames and Hudson Ltd.

MacKillop, J. 2005. Myths and Legends of the Celts. Penguin Books Ltd.

Manco, J. 2015. Blood of the Celts: The New Ancestral Story. Thames and Hudson Ltd.

Pryor, F. 2004. Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland before the Romans. Harper Perennial.

Roberts, A. 2015. The Celts: Search for a Civilisation. Heron Books. (Accompanies BBC documentary ‘The Celts: Blood, Iron and Sacrifice’, which is available as a DVD).