Oakham Castle Community Archaeology Dig: An Introduction — ULAS News

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archaeology, community, excavation, medieval, news, Places to Visit, Rutland

Welcome to the Oakham Castle Community Archaeology Dig. This is our first post of several about the upcoming excavation, so come back to discover more about what we find as the excavation progresses. What are we doing? Well, over two weeks at the end of April 2018, University of Leicester Archaeological Services in partnership with […]

via Oakham Castle Community Archaeology Dig: An Introduction — ULAS News

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Food and Drink in the Past: Trade

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archaeology, education, food and drink, Leicestershire, Loughborough, medieval, post-medieval, prehistory, WEA

In our last session, we discussed the importance of trade to what ends up on our plate. This short animation from TED-ed explains the significance of the Silk Road to the global exchange of goods and ideas.

We looked at some of the food stuffs that results from this exchange, one of which was chocolate. Chocolate was considered a great Georgian luxury, with only the most fashionable drinking the rich, dark delight. George I and George II enjoyed it so much they had their own private chocolate maker preparing the King’s chocolate in a private kitchen in Hampton Court Palace.

There is also an interesting cook-along for that most luxurious of Georgian chocolate drink, Chocolate Port:

Food and Drink in the Past: Feasting

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archaeology, education, food and drink, Leicestershire, Loughborough, medieval, post-medieval, WEA

In our last session we looked at luxury and feasting as it related to food and drink, examining how this can be seen in different time periods and places, one of which was medieval and Tudor England. This video clip from Historic Royal Palaces shows Henry VIII’s kitchens at Hampton Court Palace. These are the largest surviving Renaissance kitchens in Europe. Occupying nearly one third of the ground floor of the Palace, 36,000 square feet, they have become internationally famous as the home of Tudor food.

Those who are interested in Tudor food may also enjoy watching Historic Royal Palace’s cookalong videos on Youtube including this one about how to make Sauge – a truly Tudor way to finish up those Christmas dinner leftovers:

Meanwhile those who are interested in celebratory food in the Victorian era may be interested in English Heritage’s series of videos on Youtube about ‘The Victorian Way’ including this one on how to make a Christmas cake:

Food and Drink in the Past: Hunter-Gatherers

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archaeology, education, food and drink, Leicestershire, Loughborough, medieval, post-medieval, prehistory, stone age, WEA

In the last session we listened to a short podcast called ‘Chasing Down Dinner’ produced by PBS Nova.  This interviewed Dan Lieberman, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University, to discover why evolving an ability to run long distances might have been key to survival for early humans.

We also looked at how the conception of hunting from a necessary survival skill changed to one relating to social status through time. If you are interested in reading more about this topic, you may wish to check out the links below:

– Hunter-Gatherer (Wikipedia)
– Why ‘Bushman banter’ was crucial to hunter-gatherers’ evolutionary success (Guardian)
– What a hunter-gatherer diet does to the body in just three days (CNN)
– Hunting (Wikipedia)
– Medieval Hunting (Wikipedia)
– Medieval and Renaissance Hunting (Victoria and Albert Museum)

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)