Excavation of a Nazi Camp on British Soil – Dr Gillian Carr Report by Tom Meharg The UCD Archaeology society was delighted to host Dr Gillian Carr as our guest lecturer on the 20th October. Dr Carr is a Senior Lecturer and Academic Director in Archaeology at Cambridge University working primarily in the field of conflict archaeology. Dr Carr’s lecture focused on recent excavations of a Nazi Camp on the island of Jersey, one of the few places of German occupation on British soil. Through investigation of the Lager Wick camp and other remnants of the wartime past of Jersey aspects of the ..read more

The Irish Lithic Landscape Project: A raw material provenancing project integrating geochemical and petrographic analysis of material for prehistoric Ireland A report by Mary Cain On the 22nd of September, the UCD Archaeology Society welcomed its first guest speaker Dr. Killian Driscoll to present his current research he is conducting at UCD along with two of the college’s lecturers, Dr. Graeme Warren and Professor Gabriel Cooney. The aim of the research was to be able to analyse cretaceous flint from chalk deposits in Co. Antrim, and chert from Co. Sligo, taking geological samples from ea ..read more

  "Of Calendars and Kings: Gods, Temples and the Piciales and the Development of Archaii States in Hawaii"   Seminar by Professor Clive Ruggles, University of Leicester   Report By Claire Hyland The lecture given by Professor Clive Ruggles from the University of Leicester was on the topics of astroarchaeology in the prehistoric societies of Hawaii and Polynesia, the evolution of the Hawaiian Archaii states and how the stars and the natural Hawaiian landscape have influenced the orientation of various temples throughout Hawaii and Polynesia. Professor Ruggles has spent the last ..read more

"Living with Monuments: landscape inhabitation and monument creation in the Avebury landscape" Seminar by Dr Joshua Pollard, University of Southampton Report by Claire Hyland The lecture given by Dr. Joshua Pollard was on the topic of how landscapes and monuments interacted and functioned within human settlements and the role they played in human society from the Mesolithic to the Early Bronze Age in the Avebury landscape. The main area of interest in this lecture is the justly famous Avebury landscape which is famed for its plentiful and well-preserved monuments that range from the ..read more

“Dealing with Difference: Investigating Social Diversity in the Central European Neolithic” Seminar by Dr Penny Bickle, University of York  Report by Emily Mooney Last Thursday evening, the Archaeology Society was delighted to welcome Dr. Penny Bickle from the University of York, who gave a lecture entitled “Dealing with Difference: Investigating Social Diversity in the Central European Neolithic”. The lecture commenced with Dr. Bickle mentioning two of the projects that she has been involved in, and stating how there has been a relative tendency towards hesitation when it comes t ..read more

"Discovering the Northern Picts: Survey and Excavation in Northern Scotland" Seminar by Dr Gordon Noble, University of Aberdeen Report by Laura Cawley This seminar focused on fortifying rulership in Northern Britain, in relation to the Picts. The period in question was the transition of the Iron Age to the Early Medieval period. This seminar was informed by Dr. Gordon Noble’s research in the Northern Picts Project. The focus of this project is Eastern and Northern Scotland and the Picts people, with a particular focus on Early Medieval Scotland (circa 400-900 AD). At this time in Scotland ..read more

  "Violence Among Hunter-Gatherers"   Seminar by Dr Rick Schulting, University of Oxford   Report by Nicola Riordan Dr Rick Schulting from the University of Oxford came over on the 4th of February to give us a very interesting seminar. The seminar began with telling us that there is a debate among archaeologists as to the origin of warfare. Were hunter-gatherers engaged with warfare? Is there any evidence of even earlier warfare? When we think about hunter-gatherers, we generally think of much simpler, egalitarian, peaceful groups of people who shared the land as a community ..read more

"The Feast of Stonehenge and Beyond: Investigating Mobility in Late Neolithic Britain" Seminar by Dr Richard Madgwick, Cardiff University  Report by Ruaidhrí O Maolagáin The Feasting of Stonehenge and Beyond The late Neolithic in Britain and Ireland was a period from around 3000-2200 BC. This time is seen as a transitional period due to the new scale of labour mobilisation which lead to the building of Irish passage tombs such as Knowth and Dowth, and Maeshowe in Britain. After the construction of the passage tombs came the building of circles and henge enclosures and in England ..read more

"Cyborg Smiths: Bone, Stone, Metal and Memory in Early Medieval Britain" Inaugural Seminar by Professor Howard Williams, University of Chester Report by Emily Mooney The Archaeology Society was delighted to receive Professor Howard Williams of the University of Chester to present the topic of smithing in early medieval Britain for the annual Inaugural Seminar, which took place on Thursday, the 5th November 2015. Professor Williams' work focusing on death, memory and materiality in early medieval Europe has made a significant and influential impact in his field. The material for his lec ..read more

"'Eavedrip' Graves and the Treatment of Infant Burials in Early Christian England"  Seminar by Dr Elizabeth Craig-Atkins Report by Claire Hyland The lecture given by Dr. Elizabeth Craig-Atkins from the University of Sheffield was on the topic of infant burial customs in Early Christian England and how the Eave-Drip graves of infants may have been considered a form of posthumous baptism in a world of high infant mortality. Throughout Early Christian England, centered on the 7th-12th centuries, infant burials were often found clustered around the walls of churches. It has been sugges ..read more