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The Yorkshire Archaeological & Historical Society

Since 1863

For everyone interested in Yorkshire's past

Programme 2025: Key events


Prehistory Research Section events:

2025

May - Saturday 17th May 2025 - Members' Morning. Talks at 11am - 12.30pm

Venue: Conservatory Room at St George’s Centre, 60 Great George Street, LEEDS, LS1 3DL https://stgeorgescentreleeds.org.uk/
Entrance through the gates to the left of St George's Church steps.

To help plan the room space, it will be helpful to know numbers attending the talks, please reply to info.prehist@yahs.org.uk

Simon Campbell-Skelling
‘Prehistory under siege: The threatened prehistoric landscape of North West Leeds’
Clayton Wood and its neighbour, tiny Iveson Wood, are relatively little known woodlands in North West Leeds. Not only are they important environmental sites but also contain rare urban survivals of Bronze Age and later prehistoric settlements and field systems. There are two known scheduled sites in the area but also suggestions of a wider prehistoric landscape extending far beyond the boundaries of the scheduled areas. Worryingly, both the scheduled sites and the wider area face significant threats from development and damage by the public. This talk will focus on what is known of the site, what evidence there is for wider prehistoric settlement and suggestions for further research.

Paula Ware
‘Small Sites with Exceptional Results: How commercial archaeology contributes to archaeological research’
The talk will illustrate with examples of sites throughout Yorkshire where archaeological excavation has contributed to our understanding and with collaboration with academic institutions provided results of regional, national and international significance. Many of the sites were originally not considered more than ‘standard rural sites’ but it is often the earlier deposits that provide the compelling evidence that leads us to reconsider many aspects of Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age societies. The advancement of scientific dating and DNA analysis provides us with tighter chronologies and insights into movement of populations.

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 22 April 2025

 

 

September joint meeting of the Prehistory Research Section and The Prehistoric Society in collaboration with Leeds City Museum.

  • Posted On: 13 July 2024
September joint meeting of the Prehistory Research Section and The Prehistoric Society in collaboration with Leeds City Museum.

Saturday 7th September 2024, 2 pm – 3.15 pm 

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

Annual joint meeting of the Prehistory Research Section and Historical Society and The Prehistoric Society in collaboration with Leeds City Museum.

In-person talk open to all:

Jake Rowland: ‘Beyond Symbols of Power: Life in Middle Neolithic grave goods in Eastern Yorkshire’ 

Jake Rowland is a PhD student at the University of Southampton working on reconstructing the life histories of Middle Neolithic grave goods. His research integrates technological, contextual and use-wear analysis to explore prehistoric technology, materiality, depositional practices and the relationships between people and objects.

The round barrows, flat graves and mortuary features of Eastern Yorkshire have yielded some of the largest and most elaborate Neolithic grave assemblages ever found in Britain. From the extraordinary array of axeheads, knives and arrowheads from Duggleby Howe, Whitegrounds and Ayton East Field, to more unusual objects; worked boar tusks, antler ‘maceheads’ and jet beads and ‘belt sliders’. But what were these objects used for? How did they function in Neolithic society? And what do their lives tells us about the people they were interred with and the communities that deposited them?  This talk presents new evidence that challenges many of the previously held assumptions about these objects and places them within their broader context in Middle Neolithic Britain.

Booking required - book your free place:

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/leeds/leeds-city-museum/archaeology-talk-beyond-symbols-of-power-life-in-middle-neolithic-grave-goods-in-eastern-yorkshire/2024-09-07/14:00/t-avmkrgr

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

See attached flyer.