What's Happening?
23
24
Lecture Programme
Autumn/Winter
23-24
The Society exists ‘to promote an active interest in archaeology’. This involves members in genuine educational effort, to grasp the widening range of archaeological activities, in time span, in site types, and in the application of new techniques. Our lecture programme aims to sustain this effort, as the list below reveals.
This year our meetings will be held in Lecture Theatre 2.03 in the John Percival Building, Column Road. This room has a smaller capacity (52 seats) than our previous home but we hope to be able to manage hybrid Zoom facilities from this location. All meetings are on Thursdays starting at 7:15pm. Members who wish to attend meetings in person should ensure that they arrive in good time, and those who have submitted an email address will be contacted with Zoom details shortly before each talk.
The John Percival Building can be accessed from Colum Road, turning onto Colum Drive. From Corbett Road, follow the path past the Arts and Social Studies Library. Parking is available in the car park (that now incurs a charge) which is accessed from Column Road by turning into Column Drive
Details on how to find the lecture theatre can be seen below.
5th October 2023
Fran Murphy MCIA
Head of DAT Archaeological Services, Dyfed Archaeological Trust
St Saviours Dominican Friary, Haverfordwest – the consequences of construction within a Medieval town.
In 2022 DAT Archaeological Services carried out a 7 month excavation below what was the old Ocky White department store building in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. The archaeologists revealed the remains of a well-used cemetery, a cemetery believed to be associated with the Dominican medieval friary of St. Saviour’s, whose exact location has until now never been ascertained. The remains of more than 300 burials were excavated by the team of archaeologists, as well as the first phases of St Saviours Friary, established in the early 13th century.
19th October
Prof. Vicki Cummings
School of Natural Sciences
University of Central Lancashire
New research on the Neolithic of the Northern
Isles of Orkney.
This lecture presents the results of recent work in the Northern Isles of Orkney. Over the past few years new excavations have explored two Neolithic sites on Sanday: an early Neolithic settlement at Cata Sand and, just a short distance away, the chambered tomb at Tresness. These excavations have provided important insights into life on the Northern Isles in the early Neolithic. We have new information on the first farmers to arrive in these islands, as well as evidence for wider, ongoing connections throughout the early Neolithic. These were not people living on the edge of the Neolithic world, but at the centre of a vibrant and successful archipelago well-suited to an agricultural lifestyle, and very much in touch with wider Neolithic communities.
2nd November
Madeleine Gray PhD, FRHistS, FSA, FRSA,
Professor Emerita of Ecclesiastical History, University of South Wales.
The fifteenth-century Herbert tombs in Tintern Abbey: fact, fiction or something in between?
We only know the tombs of William Herbert, earl of Pembroke, and his son William, earl of Huntingdon, from the drawings in a late seventeenth-century family history. Unfortunately, the author, Sir Thomas Herbert of Tintern, had form when it came to creative embroidery of the facts. His drawings cannot be completely accurate - but are they complete fiction, or do they have any basis in fact? And how far can we use them to add to our understanding of Wales during the Wars of the Roses?
16th November
Dr Tim Reynolds, Senior Lecturer, Department of History, Classics & Archaeology, Birkbeck, University of London.
Who Are You calling Neanderthal? Recent work at Shanidar cave, Iraqi Kurdistan.
Neanderthals have long suffered from being our nearest neighbours. They are a mirror we can hold up to judge how we think of ourselves and our ‘humanity’. Work at Shanidar in the 1950s challenged negative views of Neanderthals calling them ‘The First Flower people’ (Solecki 1971). It was said Neanderthals buried their dead respectfully with flowers. Since then Neanderthals have been found to contribute to Eurasian modern human DNA and lived as contemporaries with us for thousands of years. So where does this leave us, and our views on Neanderthal ‘humanity’? Recent work at Shanidar has been using modern science to explore the earlier claims for Neanderthal humanity.
30th November
Dr Andrew Shapland, Sir Arthur Evans Curator of Bronze Age and Classical Greece, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.
Putting Knossos on show.
Since its discovery in 1878 the palace of Knossos on Crete has become one of the most well-known archaeological sites in the world. In 2023 the Ashmolean’s exhibition Labyrinth: Knossos, Myth and Reality brought together finds made by Sir Arthur Evans and other archaeologists to show how Knossos has come to be understood today. This talk will place this exhibition in its wider context of the presentation of Knossos to the public, from Evans’s concrete reconstructions to developments in digital technology.
14th December (Zoom only)
Dr Rebecca Boyd, Senior Research Archaeologist, IAC Archaeology.
A Different Type of 'Viking': Life in Ireland's Viking-Age Towns.
The stereotypical 'Viking' is usually a hairy, male warrior, intent on destruction, pillaging and looting. But this is not the 'Viking' who is associated with the 10th, 11th and 12th century occupation in Viking-Age Dublin, Cork, and Waterford. In this lecture, we will explore the houses and streets of these Viking-Age towns and consider the lives and lifestyles of those who lived, worked and died in Viking-Age Ireland.
2024
11th January
Prof. Niall Sharples, Professor of Archaeology and Dr Oliver Davies,Senior Lecturer in Archaeology and Civic Mission, Co- director CAER Heritage Project, SHARE, Cardiff University.
The 'Trelai Dig 2022/23
An update on the site and findings.
25th January
Dr Rob Dinnis, Visiting Researcher, British Museum.
Early prehistoric occupation at Wogan Cavern, and why the site is so special
Recent test excavations at Wogan Cavern (Pembroke) have revealed impressive evidence for several early prehistoric occupations. Although only a small volume of deposits has so far been excavated it is already clearly a site of national and international significance. In this talk this recent work and discoveries are outlined, and the site’s importance is explained with reference to current gaps in our knowledge of the last Ice Age in Britain.
8th February
Dr Mark Lewis FSA, Curatorial Officer Roman Archaeology National Roman Legion Museum
and Evan Chapman, Senior Curator Archaeology, National Museum Cardiff.
Roman Houses XXVI & XXVII at Caerwent
An Amgueddfa Cymru – Caerwent Historic Trust – Shirenewton Local History Society – Caerwent Parish Church Community Excavation, Summer 2023.
Climate change has produced noticeably increasingly hot, dry, periods in Britain and elsewhere since the Millennium. At Caerwent, soil shrinkage and movement during the last decade began to expose a linear stone feature, at least 4.6m long, situated to the east of the medieval parish church’s chancel. Nobody connected with the church had any previous knowledge of its existence. Why did the feature not respect the Roman town grid or the alignment of the parish church? Why had it not been truncated by grave digging? This talk tells the story of a community research project to seek answers to these and other questions surrounding the history of this significant site.
22nd February
Dr Tim Young, Teaching Associate, SHARE, Cardiff University.
In search of the early medieval monastery of Llaniltud, ‘the most beautiful of places'
This presentation will provide an overview of current research on the important early medieval monastic centre at Llantwit Major (Llanilltud Fawr), traditionally associated with St Illtud, later his cult centre and a royal burial ground.
7th March
Annual General Meeting
Plan of second floor, John Percival Building
