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2015/2016 Lecture Programme |
The 2015/2016 season of lectures is held in the McDonald Institute seminar room, Division of Archaeology, Downing Street, Cambridge at 7.30 pm. This season's talks are:
7th October Prehistoric flintwork from the Cambridgeshire Fen Edge from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Early Bronze Age. An overview and handling session with Lawrence Billington.
Notes can be found in the members' update of December 2015.
4th November David Oates - Finding features on the flat Fen Edge using LIDAR. The influence of Fenland flooding on land use and settlement in Histon, Cambridgeshire, was explored using CAFG field-walking data and other evidence. Many possibilities for further investigation were revealed.
Notes can be found in the members' update of December 2015.
2nd December Jezz Davies - Excavations of HMS Colossus off the Isles of Scilly
HMS Colossus was lost in 1789 off the Isles of Scilly. Some salvage was carried out by the Royal Navy and local people at the time and some guns were recovered in 1833. In 1974 Roland Morris found part of the front of the ship and, working until 1983, found much of the ceramic collection of the Hamiltons (now in the British Museum). 2001 saw the chance find of the stern carving (on display in Tresco) and from 2001 to 2013 the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Maritime Archaeological Society carried out excavations, stabilisation trials, geophysical and debris field surveys and set out a diver trail. Finds included a working pulley block, a plane and a pot of glue. With English Heritage funding, in 2014 sediment monitoring was carried out and the diver trail extended. A shoe, a deadeye, buttons and rope were among the finds. Work continued in 2015, largely by volunteers, finding part of a gun carriage with the ship's name, a cannon ball, copper nails, leather, a lead window sash and lots of rope. It was possible to determine the use of much of the rope. Some finds were reburied and some sent for conservation. The findings are leading to further thoughts about the eventual fate of the ship.
13th January Mike Coles and Terry Dymott - Finds and structures from the Neolithic to the 19th Century. A review of 2015 Group fieldwork.
Details can be founds in the field officer's 2016 annual report and the members' update of April 2016.
3rd February Lawrence Smith (Research Fellow, McDonald Institute and CRA Wolfson College)- From Yellow Sea to Red Sea: Suakin, a late medieval Sudanese port
The Suakin Project is an archaeological and conservation project on the
Red Sea coast of Sudan. Suakin was the main port of Sudan from 15th to
century to the 1920s, important both for trade and for the Pilgrimage to Mecca. Archaeological work is directed towards establishing the history of architecturally and historically significant buildings, and
investigating evidence for the medieval town and the origins of the
settlement. The talk presented a summary of the main archaeological
results of the terrestrial excavations, concentrating on a
reconstruction of the trade of the port from 15th to 19th century.
During seven seasons from 2002, excavations have been carried out at four house-sites, the Governor’s residence and one of the two surviving
mosques. Some sites show evidence of sequential structures, and trenches near the early house of Beit al Pasha revealed occupation back to the 10th century. The reconstruction of trading contacts is based on
secondary historical evidence for the later phases of the port’s
existence, and on archaeological evidence for the earlier period.
Contacts for the latest period of the operation of the port and for the
earliest part of the period are also indicated by archaeological
evidence, particularly the pottery recovered from stratified contexts. This indicates trade with South East Asia and China. In addition wood, including teak, has come from South Asia. A bid is to be put forward for World Heritage status.
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