Celebrating Carlisle's Heritage

Friday 7 to Sunday 9 March Three day conference

Thirty Years of Archaeological ExcavationThis three day conference offers an in depth examination of over thirty years of excavation in Carlisle, putting discoveries into context and digging deep into Carlisle's Heritage. Lectures will cover aspects from pre-Roman landscapes, technology and production, and Carlisle Castle, through to every day life in the medieval period, 18th century suburbia and Carlisle's industrial past.Tickets: £80 including sherry reception, two lunches and a three course evening meal.

For a full conference brochure click here or call 01228 618700

Moving Pictures Come to London: Lecture at All Hallows by the Tower

Wednesday 23^rd April at 2.00pm

I would  like to invite you to a talk we are having here at All Hallows on Wednesday 23^rd April at 2.00pm. Allan Eyres, a film historian who has published extensively on early cinema in London, will be speaking about early London film and showing footage of the City and Tower Hill area. The talk will accompany an exhibition on ‘Moving Pictures Come to London: The First Decades 1894-1914.’ Please contact me at the address below for further information, and to book a place.

Free Group Guided Tours at All Hallows by the Tower

Led by qualified City of London Guides, our heritage tours take groups back in time to the foundations of All Hallows in 675AD. Discover the chilling connections between the oldest church in the City and the Tower of London, from where the beheaded bodies of the infamous were brought. Find out the stories that link Archbishop Laud, Samuel Pepys, William Penn, John Quincy Adams, , Albert Schweitzer and Tubby Clayton. See our rare Grinling Gibbons font cover, Roman pavement, Saxon arch, Medieval brasses and the staircase that Samuel Pepys climbed to watch the Great Fire of London in 1666. Visit our fascinating Crypt Museum that contains Shackleton’s Crow’s Nest, archaeological artefacts and a Knights Templar alter. Tours in the church, and walking tours on a variety of themes, take place throughout the year and can be booked on the number below.

Please do not hesitate to contact me for further information and I look forward to hearing from you.

Helen Elletson - Curator and Education Officer - Email: helen@ahbtt.org.uk

http://www.ahbtt.org.uk

Workshop on 'Looking to the Future of Medieval Archaeology'

May 3rd, 2008 ( Institute of Archaeology , University College London)

In 2007 the Society for Medieval Archaeology celebrated its 50 th anniversary with a series of events that reflected on progress over that period. It is now time to look to the future, and this will be the subject of a special workshop to be held at University College London on Saturday May 3rd 2008 . The aim of this workshop is to highlight the opportunities and challenges facing medieval archaeology over the coming decade, considering the various ways in which medieval archaeology in the future might build on the achievements of the last 50 years to allow this relatively new discipline to capitalise ever more effectively on its unique potential, linking, as it does, artefact and text, the ancient world and the modern, and lost and living monuments and evidence.

Particular themes to be addressed will include maximising the impact of development-led fieldwork; priorities for academic research; interdisciplinary integration; digital technology and the dissemination of results; and new challenges and opportunities in public outreach.

Follow these links to see a conference programme and booking form.

Post Roman Early Medieval Archaeology Student Symposium (PREMASS)

May 22nd - 23rd 2008 (Please note the date change!)
Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter

This symposium follows on from the successful EMASS at Cardiff in 2007.The title has changed for 2008 following discussion in 2007 on the problematic label associated with the early medieval period. In order to encourage a broader range of papers discussing research from the Post Roman to the Early Medieval period it has been renamed PREMASS.

The Post Roman Early Medieval Archaeology Student Symposium will create a constructive forum for researchers to express, discuss and explore new research and ideas in an interactive environment. The symposium will explicitly aim to cross traditional period/institutional/theoretical divides to allow discussion between researchers of diverse expertise and perspectives. This symposium will aim to provide a forum for researchers to present ideas and thoughts informally without the pressure of producing complete research ready for publication.

Sessions will consist of 20-minute papers followed by open discussion and debate chaired by leading specialists in each field. As wide as possible a range of topics will be selected, and papers may cover all areas of Post Roman and Early Medieval research and discourse. Academics, professionals and undergraduates are invited to attend and give support and comments. Poster presentations are welcome from those unable to attend or speak on the day.

As wide as possible a range of topics will be selected, and papers may cover all areas of Post Roman and Early Medieval research and discourse. However, it is our intention in 2008 to structure the sessions on particular themes in order to encourage the development of ideas highlighted in the last symposium.

Papers relating to the following themes will be particularly welcome:

• Material Culture
• Archaeological Theory

The programme will follow in 2008.

The conference fee is £25. Included in the registration fee is a buffet lunch on both days, tea and coffee, conference literature and bookstalls, and a guided tour around archaeological features of Exeter followed by a reception at the Devon and Exeter Institute.

For all enquiries and to submit abstracts of 250 words, please contact Imogen Wood: iw206@ex.ac.uk

Please send in your registration forms by April 18th 2008.

The deadline for abstracts is 31st March 2008.

• Download the PREMASS Poster ·
• Download the Registration Form  ·
• Conference Venue ·
• Accommodation in Exeter ·

Maritime Studies of the Viking and Medieval World

Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland: 31 May – 4 June, 2008

A conference jointly organized by the Orkney Heritage Society, the Orkney Archaeological Trust and the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge

This conference seeks to place Viking Age and medieval Orkney in its European setting by bringing together scholars studying island and coastal societies of the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, the Irish Sea and the North Atlantic. Its emphasis is on how small-scale societies dominated by the sea developed both strong ‘international’ connections and distinctive local identities. It focuses on a pivotal time in the creation of the social, economic and political landscape of Europe – when small-scale maritime polities had a disproportionate impact on the course of world history.

For more information, registration and details of travel and accommodation click here.

The Archaeology of Post-Medieval Religion

12th-14th September 2008 , Norwich

The Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology and the Society for Church Archaeology are pleased to announce a forthcoming joint conference on the archaeology of religion in Britain from 1580 to 1900.

The joint SPMA/SMA (2001) conference 'The Archaeology of Reformation, 1480-1580' demonstrated the huge potential for the study of landscapes, buildings and material culture for understanding complex religious change.

The 2008 joint conference, which will be held from the 12th-14th September in Norwich , seeks to extend these insights to explore the development of religious ideologies and practices in the post-medieval world. The seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were a period of profound religious and cultural change; of sustained theological debate and violent religious conflict. Beyond the upheavals of the Reformation, traditional religious spaces, objects and symbols were transformed and incorporated in the service of a distinctive and vibrant Protestant culture. At the same time this period saw the fragmentation of the Christian community, as new denominations, sects and religious groups emerged to challenge the hegemony of the established Church.

Proposals are sought for 20-minute papers dealing with any aspect of the archaeology of religious institutions, communities and identities in Britain in the period 1580-1900. 'Archaeology' in this context is held to include any aspect of the spatial and material context of religious belief and identity, and may incorporate the study of rural and urban landscapes, buildings, monuments, objects, rituals, practices and representations. Themes and issues of particular interest are:

* The practice of Anglican religion in the period 1580-1900, in
urban and rural communities, in different countries and regions, in
various types of religious institution

* The impact of theological and political debates on the physical
context of religious life, such as between Arminianism and Puritanism in
the seventeenth century

* The emergence, spread, and distinctive identities of
Nonconformist communities, in landscapes, buildings, monuments and
burial practices

* The activities and identities of independent and non-Protestant
religious groups, and the development of religious pluralism

* Post-medieval burial practices and strategies of commemoration

* The legacy of folk beliefs, ritual practices and witchcraft in
this period

Proposals for papers on these or other related topics are welcomed from established academics, PhD students, professional archaeologists, those involved in heritage management and independent researchers. The aim of
the conference is to highlight the rich diversity of religious life in post-medieval Britain , to explore the potential of physical evidence for the study of religious belief and practice in this period, and to work towards a research agenda for understanding the growth and development of religious communities and identities in the post-medieval world.

The conference venue will be The Maid's Head Hotel, Tombland, in the centre of Norwich opposite the Cathedral. The conference programme will include the opportunity to visit many of the churches, nonconformist
chapels and other religious buildings for which the city is famous.

Please send abstracts of c.300 words to Dr Chris King at cnk4@leicester.ac.uk by the end of December 2008. Papers may be considered for publication in the journal of one or other of the two societies, subject to refereeing.

For further information and booking forms, please visit www.spma.org.uk or www.britarch.ac.uk/socchurcharchaeol/

Alternatively, contact the conference organiser: Dr Chris King , School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH Tel: 0116 252 2175 cnk4@le.ac.uk

Follow this link for a printable pamphlet: The Archaeology of Post-Medieval Religion

AGM

1st December

London