Key Archaeological Sites of Britain- a new archaeology course for January 2014

Oh I'm so excited to be planning my course starting in January! It's good to have "thinking time" where I can soak my brain in thoughts of all the lovely sites we have in our Isles.  The hardest thing is to narrow down some of the best archaeological sites we have.

After trying to avoid it for reasons of obviousness I have decided it is better to be straightforward and chronological- so I will cover sites starting at the Palaeolithic onwards, but I'll also try to theme each week.  And have activities where I can. And a couple of site visits.....  And the aim will be to look at the "biggy" sites: Happisburgh, Boxgrove, Stonehenge, Maiden Castle, Hadrian's Wall, Sutton Hoo,  Medieval London etc with some accompanying sites or site types: Bronze Age art, Hillforts hillforts hillforts (I like them!), Roman villas, more quietly domestic sites and evidence, industrial sites, sites with evidence of hidden cultures or people, sites of conflict.......   Hmm what else?  Things will crop up as we go along- and I have asked students and prospective students to contact me with what they would like to see- so please do!  Email me, leave a comment, but do contact me. And if you aren't sure whether to sign up- do it!! I'll do my very best to ensure you enjoy the course and get the most out of it.

New Course! How shall I pick the sites covered?

I'm really excited about my new course starting in January- it's called Key Archaeological Sites of Britain and it's being held at the City Lit near Holborn London on Mondays 10.15- 12.15 starting on 12th Jan.

So now I'm thinking about, and writing about, some of the most important sites of the British Isles and thinking - what makes a site "key"? Significant in terms of major social change? Ones which illustrate big themes like settling down, farming, warfare, death and burial, ritual? The ones which we can look at to try to see how ordinary people lived? Firsts- like earliest burial site found, earliest urban settlements, first signs of the industrial revolution etc?  Just designated sites:  and the more designated the better?

I suspect I'll be picking a number of sites simply because they have loads of stunning looking evidence and are still visible and accessible for visits; but I really want to try to delve into lesser known sites that nevertheless reveal knowledge that we can't gain from elsewhere. 

At the moment (and for a while) I've been fired up about "navvy camps" temporary (but were potentially used for a decade or so) settlements that arose around major infrastructure projects like new railways and reservoirs. The remains tend to be somewhat ephemeral but are still to be seen around the country- and my own house in Walthamstow was built on the site of one which was, by what I've heard, miserable, damp, and impoverished.

I've just visited the beautiful area around the Ribblehead viaduct, on the Settle to Carlisle railway. Hundreds are known to have died during its construction: men, women and children who worked at the site, and lived in local camps.  Now people travel from far away to photograph the viaduct and enjoy a ride on this  picturesque part of the line,  and many may not know of the cost to life, or indeed think about the interaction of these transient workers with the local villagers and economies.  I want to examine these less glamorous sites on my course too: I wonder what other ones I can include?

The little church at Chapel le Dale has 200 burials of men, women and children who died during the construction of the Settle to Carlisle railway. There is also a memorial to the railway workers inside the church.

If you are interested drop me a line!  jillhummerstone@googlemail.com or to sign up for the course contact City Lit on 020 7492 2652.