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The Yorkshire Archaeological & Historical Society

Since 1863

For everyone interested in Yorkshire's past

  1. Sections
  2. Prehistory Research
  3. Section programme

Programme 2025: Key events

Prehistory Research Section events:

2025
March

Saturday 22nd March 2025 at Swarthmore Education Centre
AGM preceded by a TALK at 2pm from Clive Waddington:
‘How Britain became an island: the Storegga Slide tsunami and Mesolithic catastrophe’

The recognition of the combined impacts of the ‘8.2kyr Event’ and the Storegga Slid tsunami around c.8175 cal BC had a profound effect on what was a north-west peninsula of Continental Europe and the Doggerland embayment. The impacts of these natural events on the geography, climate, flora, fauna, fish and human populations was extreme. This talk will bring together a wide range of data to document these pivotal events and discuss the research that has led to the recognition of these catastrophic impacts on what appears to have been a thriving Mesolithic world, and the beginning of our island story.
 
Biography
Clive is a well-known archaeologist who has published widely on prehistoric Britain as well as some later periods. He achieved his PhD from the Universities of Durham (Archaeology) and Newcastle (Geography) where he focused on geoarchaeology and landscape archaeology in north-east England. His research interests include landscape archaeology, Stone Age archaeology, rock art, field methods and prehistoric material culture. He founded, and is the Managing Director of, Archaeological Research Services Ltd following spells working in academia, for the public and third sectors and in commercial archaeology. He has appeared on numerous TV and radio programmes and lectures regularly for academic, professional and public audiences.

Saturday 29th March 2025: AERIAL ARCHAEOLOGY CONFERENCE in SHEFFIELD - Exploring Archaeological Landscapes: Celebrating the legacy of Derrick Riley and William Arnold
Baker:
A day conference focussing on two significant aerial photographers, and the evolving aerial  archaeology techniques and research inspired by them.
To be held in the Creative Lounge, The Workstation, Paternoster Row, Sheffield S1 2BX
For the programme and to book a place see https://sites.google.com/site/hunterarchaeologicalsociety/news

Possible Archaeological Events for Your Diary:

N/A

Guest Lectures (open to all) 

Bradford University: School Archaeological and Forensic Science guest lectures series.

Lectures start at 5.30pm in Richmond Building (room E59) and as a webinar.

Please note - Your E-Mail Address:

The majority of members now receive their notices and newsflashes electronically. If your contact details have changed, please let me know, so that our address list remains up-to-date. If you wish to change the way you receive your section information, please drop me a line - either by email, or by post: John Cruse, 26 Logan Street, Market Harborough, Leicestershire, LE16 9AR

Above programme updated 23rd February 2025

 

 

FULLY BOOKED - Annual joint meeting of the Prehistory Research Section and The Prehistoric Society.

  • Posted On: 22 June 2023
Saturday 2nd September 2023
Annual joint meeting of the Prehistory Research Section and The Prehistoric Society. 2pm - 3:15pm 

THIS EVENT IS NOW FULLY BOOKED

Thoresby Room, Leeds City Museum, Millennium Square, Leeds LS2 8BH

This meeting is open to members and the general public. See attached flyer.

Register for a free ticket in advance via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/prehistoric-henges-in-yorkshire-beyond-a-talk-by-dr-alex-gibson-tickets-647131737447

Dr. Alex Gibson, a leading expert, who in 2022 was awarded the Grahame Clark Medal for his significant contributions to the study of British prehistory, especially the Neolithic and
Bronze Age, will talk about ‘Prehistoric henges in Yorkshire and beyond: recent research’.

Henge monuments are enigmatic circular monuments dating from the Late Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age, approximately 3000 – 1500 BC. They are part of a growing fixation with circularity as witnessed by contemporary circles of stone and wood as well as circular burial monuments. Generally with internal ditches, these monuments are unsuited to defence, none have produced evidence for settlement, and they are presumed (probably correctly) to be sites for the acting of religious or ritual ceremonies. These ritual enclosures vary considerably in size and complexity and their functions are difficult to determine. Recent research is suggesting that some sites had a long history of use and modification and what we see now is more or less the final stage of a monument that has been visited for several centuries. Some have had timber or stone elements, some occur in groups, some have single entrances, others may have two or four. Some are slight, others, like Avebury, are truly monumental. With the Thornborough Henges now being taken into public ownership, and with recent research and excavation in Wharfedale, this talk will be a journey from Orkney to Wessex and will look at new dating evidence, recent excavations, the reinterpretation of antiquarian records, the possibility of human sacrifice and to what extent the Yorkshire henges fit the emerging national trends.

Any enquiries to info.prehist@yahs.org.uk

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