Skip to main content

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

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

 

 

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

Categories: Pre History
Tags:
Return to list
Members Login

Quick Links