Scotland’s World Heritage Site Bucket List

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archaeology, Edinburgh, Heritage, medieval, Orkney, Places to Visit, post-medieval, prehistory, Properties, Roman, Roman Britain, Scotland, stone age

Heading to Scotland for your holidays this year? If so, and if you’re interested in archaeology and heritage, then you may be interested in the new Bucket List Challenge launched by Dig It 2017 which encourages people to visit Scotland’s six UNESCO World Heritage Sites, which between them cover over 5,000 years of history from stone to steel. Check out their website for more information.

Leicester Branch Open Day! – only 1 day to go — WEA Leicester Branch

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archaeology, education, Leicester, Leicestershire, medieval, Richard III, WEA

LEICESTER BRANCH OPEN DAY at WEA 101 Hinckley Road, Leicester LE3 0TD Thursday 8th September 2016 10am – 4pm Come and find out what’s on offer and try some free sample sessions which will include: My Bard 10.00am-12.00pm Mandarin 10.00am-12.00pm Family History 10.00am-12.00pm Arts and Craft 1.00pm-3.00pm Richard III 1.00pm-3.00pm Using Social Media 1.00pm-3.00pm Tutors […]

via Leicester Branch Open Day! – only 1 day to go — WEA Leicester Branch

Reading List: Richard III – His Life and Death

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archaeology, education, Leicester, Leicestershire, Loughborough, Lowdham, medieval, Nottinghamshire, Richard III, 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 this blog, as well as on the WEA East Midlands Region History Space.

Ashdown-Hill, J. 2013. The Last Days of Richard III and the fate of his DNA. The History Press.

Kennedy, M, Foxhall, L and Greyfriars Research Team. 2015. The Bones of a King: Richard III Rediscovered. Wiley-Blackwell.

Langley, P and Jones, M. 2014. The King’s Grave: The Search for Richard III. John Murray Publishing.

Morris, M and Buckley, R. 2013. Richard III: The King Under the Car Park: The Story of the Search for England’s Last Plantagenet King. University of Leicester School of Archaeology and Ancient History.

Pitts, M. 2014. Digging for Richard III: How Archaeology Found the King. Thames and Hudson Ltd.

Also available on DVD: Richard III: The King in the Carpark + Richard III: The Unseen Story.

Exhibition: Valhalla – Life and Death in Viking Britain

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archaeology, medieval, Places to Visit, Shrewsbury, Viking

8th February – 4th June 2016
Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery

A new exhibition – Valhalla – Life and Death in Viking Britain – will open on 8th February at Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery.

The exhibition will give an insight into the lives of the Vikings in Britain and will feature artefacts and human skeletons that have been discovered at burial sites. Research on show will include recent evidence discovered about their beliefs in the afterlife and how Vikings commemorated and celebrated their dead. The exhibition will also include objects from working and domestic life, replica objects from boat burials and skeletal remains.

The exhibition will also showcase the Hungate and Coppergate excavations from York as specific case studies, although Shropshire’s own Viking history will also be central to the exhibition. Visitors will be able to learn the story of Hastein, an adventurer who travelled up the River Severn as far as Welshpool and is known to have raided as far afield as southern Europe and north Africa.

Lindisfarne Archaeology Project

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archaeology, excavation, Lindisfarne, medieval, news, Northumbria, Saxon

Those of you who have taken the Anglo-Saxons course may be interested in following the details of a new archaeological project due to get underway shortly. Dr David Petts and Durham University are are about to start a new series of excavations on Lindisfarne, having previously undertaken geophysical survey there. One of their aims is to find out more about the Anglo-Saxon monastery on the island.

The Norman World: Krak des Chevaliers and Qal’at Salah El-Din

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archaeology, Crusades, medieval, Middle East, Normans, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, WEA

Krak des Chevaliers and Qal’at Salah El-Din are considered by UNESCO to represent the most significant examples illustrating the exchange of influences and documenting the evolution of fortified architecture in the Near East during the time of the Crusades (11th – 13th centuries). The Krak des Chevaliers was built by the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem from 1142 to 1271. With further construction by the Mamluks in the late 13th century, it ranks among the best-preserved examples of the Crusader castles. The Qal’at Salah El-Din (Fortress of Saladin), even though partly in ruins, represents an outstanding example of this type of fortification, both in terms of the quality of construction and the survival of historical stratigraphy. It retains features from its Byzantine beginnings in the 10th century, the Frankish transformations in the late 12th century and fortifications added by the Ayyubid dynasty (late 12th to mid-13th century).

This short clip from the ‘Battle Castle’ documentary by Dan Snow discusses the reconstruction of Krak des Chevaliers following an earthquake.

Those wishing to follow this subject up may also wish to take a look at:

– Crac des Chevaliers and Qal’at Salah El-Din (UNESCO World Heritage List)
– Krak des Chevaliers (Wikipedia)
– Citadel of Salah Ed-Din (Wikipedia)

The Norman World: Timeline of the First Crusade

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archaeology, Crusades, medieval, Middle East, Normans, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, WEA

March 1095	Byzantium delegation asks for Urban’s help against the Turks
November 1095	Pope Urban II preaches the First Crusade
Spring 1096	People’s Crusade leaves; 3 armies don’t make it past Hungary
August 1st 1096	Peter the Hermit and Walter Sansavoir reach Constantinople
August 15th 1096	Official start of First Crusade as set by Pope Urban II
October 6th 1096	Armies under Peter and Walter destroyed at Nicaea by Kilij Arslan
Autumn 1096	Leaders (and armies) of the official First Crusade arrive at staggered times at Constantinople. Alexius I Comnenus asks for and receives oaths of fealty and promises to return lands formerly under Byzantine control
April 1097	Crusaders cross the Bosphorus
June 19th 1097	Nicaea surrenders
June 16th – 28th 1097	Crusaders head into Asia Minor
July 1st 1097	Turks under Kilij Arslan unsuccessfully attack the crusaders at Dorlyaeum
October 21st 1097	Crusaders reach Antioch
February 6th 1098	Baldwin reaches Edessa whose prince is Thoros
March 10th 1098	Baldwin takes control of Edessa. Start of the first Latin settlement in the East
June 5th 1098	Muslim army under Kerbogha arrives and besieges the crusaders in Antioch
June 14th 1098	Crusaders believe they have found the Holy Lance
June 28th 1098	Crusaders attack besiegers and win; they then decide to wait out the summer before continuing
August 1st 1098	Adhémar of Le Puy dies, exacerbating crusaders’ leadership problems
July 15th 1099	Crusaders seize and sack Jerusalem
July 19th 1099	Pope Urban II dies, never hearing news of capture of Jerusalem
July 22nd 1099	Godfrey elected ruler of settlement at Jerusalem

The Norman World: The Castle

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archaeology, education, medieval, Normans, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, WEA

Normans are perhaps most noted for their castles. As we discussed last week, these are typically of a motte-and-bailey style. Those wishing to follow this subject up may also wish to take a look at:

– Motte-and-bailey castle (Wikipedia)
– Motte and Bailey Castle (Durham World Heritage Site)
– Interactive Map of Castles in England (Historic UK)
– Norman Castles in Northern Ireland (Department of the Environment)
– The Castle in the Lordship of Ireland 1177 – 1310 (The Irish Story)

The Anglo-Saxons: Lyminge Archaeological Project

Tags

archaeology, Britain, England, excavation, Kent, medieval, Saxon

Lyminge, Kent, is a picturesque village which has long been known as a site of an Anglo-Saxon royal monastery. Archaeological research now demonstrates that Lyminge is one of the best preserved monastic sites in Kent, a region where Christianity first gained a foothold in Anglo-Saxon England.

Excavations started in 2008 and are taking place on Tayne Field at the very centre of the village. This film caught up with the team in 2014 – during the final year of excavations. The film offers a chance to see the foundations of a sequence of spectacular Anglo-Saxon feasting halls and dwellings that the team has discovered.

In this film Dr Gabor Thomas also takes us through some of the beautiful artefacts and very rare fragments of early Angle Saxon glass that have been discovered and he tells us about the significance of these items to our understanding of the site. He also guides us through an extensive public engagement programme which really sets this archaeology project apart.

The Anglo-Saxons

Tags

archaeology, education, Leicestershire, Loughborough, medieval, Saxon, WEA

There are already a number of resources on this blog which may be of interest to those of you on the Anglo-Saxons course. Just click on the word Saxon in the left hand menu and you will bring up all those entries that have been tagged as being related to the Anglo-Saxons. These include several video clips which you may wish to watch, as well as links to additional information on topics we cover during the course.