Lecture Series 2022/2023

Lecture Series 2022/2023

Below are the details of the lectures we offered for our 2023/2024 series.  

USAS 2022/2023 Lectures

Wednesday 19th April 2023, 7.30pm

THE HOLLEYMAN ARCHAEOLOGY LECTURE 2023 

The Sussex Landscape in the Mesolithic and Neolithic

Speaker: Professor Martin Bell (University of Reading)

The landscape of Mesolithic and Neolithic Sussex  (11500- 6000 years ago) especially the South Downs will be reviewed using evidence from land snails, pollen, charcoals and animal bones. The open and scrubby landscapes of the late glacial were followed by colonisation by successive woodland species. We will consider whether concentrations of Mesolithic sites eg on the Greensand reflect areas of more open woodland and evidence that Mesolithic communities burnt woods to create more open conditions.  The rather patchy environmental evidence we have for the chalk in the Neolithic indicates flint mine and then causewayed camp construction in wooded landscapes but some tombs in more open areas. The scale of Neolithic clearance for crop growing and animal husbandry will be considered.  The South Downs evidence will be contrasted with other areas of chalk in Wessex and Stonehenge where more open conditions may have obtained in the Neolithic. The extent of former closed woodland, and the origins of the species rich chalk downland turf are relevant to current debates on nature conservation, rewilding and forest development. 

Wednesday 15th March 2023, 7.30pm

Secrets of the High Woods - South Downs Heritage Revealed

Speaker: Anne Bone (Retired Heritage Lead officer, South Downs National Park Authority)

The archaeology of most of the South Downs National Park has been revealed on the open downland and been studied for many decades. Yet in western Sussex the cover of woods and forest has kept its archaeological evidence hidden. The “Secrets of the High Woods” project of the South Downs National Park Authority used both the relatively new technology of Lidar with traditional fieldwork, archive research and people’s memories to start to uncover this heritage. The talk will share the exciting discoveries made and the questions raised. 

Wednesday 15th February 2023, 7.30pm

With a Mag[netometer] on Roman Farne Street

Speaker: David Staveley (Archaeological geophysicist)

It has been many years since Ivan Margary mapped out the Roman roads in Sussex.  While he is also known for his work cataloguing Roman roads across the country, Sussex is his home territory, where he carried out his most detailed research. While he was blessed with a relatively undamaged landscape compared to today, we now have the benefit of modern technologies, such as geophysics and LiDAR. This talk details the sections of road and the roadside settlements that have been found along the Roman road from Hardham, on Stane Street, to the Roman fort at Pevensey.

David is a computer programmer by day and in his spare time is an archaeological geophysicist, whose main research interest is the study of Roman roads and roadside settlements in Sussex.

Wednesday 18th January 2023, 7.30pm

Understanding the 'Near Lewes' Bronze Age Hoard

Speaker: Dr Jaime Kaminski (Sussex Archaeological Society)

The Near Lewes Hoard is one of the most important and spectacular prehistoric finds to have been discovered in Sussex in recent decades. Buried on a hilltop near the town during the Middle Bronze Age ‘ornament horizon’, the hoard included nearly 80 complete and fragmented objects which had been carefully placed in a ceramic vessel. The work of highly skilled crafts people, these artefacts include both local and continental traditions.

Discovered in March 2011, the Near Lewes Hoard was acquired by the Sussex Archaeological Society in 2014. This presentation looks at the results of research that has been conducted on the artefacts since that time and how this influences our understanding of Bronze Age artefacts in the ornament horizon.

Jaime is the editor of the Sussex Archaeological Collections, the annual journal of the Sussex Archaeological Society. His academic research strongly focuses on the archaeology and history of Sussex. He also has a deep interest in the production and deposition of Bronze Age metalwork. Jaime is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS), a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA). 

Wednesday 16th November 2022, 7.30pm

THE SALLY CHRISTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY LECTURE 2022 

Culture and Society at Lullingstone Roman Villa

Speaker: Caroline Mackenzie MA (Lecturer, Classics Tutor and Writer)

Caroline will take us on a tour of Lullingstone Roman Villa (Kent), including the landscape, buildings, wall art and mosaics. The lecture will paint a picture of what life might have been like for the inhabitants of the villa in the late third and fourth centuries AD. The villa has an unusual amount of well-preserved evidence for its interior decoration and architecture, all of which suggests that the inhabitants used domestic space to assert their status and cultural identity. In this lecture we shall explore the landscape setting and ask whether property location was as important a factor in the time of Roman Britain as it is today. We shall also investigate Lullingstone’s celebrated mosaics - why were these scenes chosen and what impact did they have on various visitors to the villa? Comparison with some contemporary Romano-British villas will allow us to assess whether Lullingstone is what we would expect, or whether it is exceptional. 

Caroline read Classics at Cambridge and after practising as a solicitor in London for over a decade she pursued a teaching career, first as a law lecturer and then as a Head of Classics. Caroline is the author of three books: Culture and Society at Lullingstone Roman Villa (Archaeopress, 2019), A Latin Lexicon: an Illustrated Compendium of Latin words and English Derivatives (Archaeopress, 2020) and Pocket GCSE Latin Etymological Lexicon (Bloomsbury, 2022). She has lectured extensively including for English Heritage for whom she delivered a study day with a private tour of Lullingstone Roman Villa. Her website is: www.carolinetutor.co.uk 

Wednesday 19th October 2022, 7.30pm

Imagining Roman Britain from the South Downs to Hadrian’s Wall: The Life & Works of Rosemary Sutcliff (1920-1992)  

Speaker: Dr David Walsh (Lecturer in Roman Archaeology, Newcastle University)

Rosemary Sutcliff (1920-1992) was one of the most prolific and successful British writers of historical fiction in the 20th century. The settings for Sutcliff's works spanned from prehistory to the Civil War, but she is best remembered for her many novels and short stories set in Roman Britain, including 'The Eagle of the Ninth', which has been adapted for radio, TV and film. In this lecture, David Walsh will trace how Sutcliff's portrayal of Roman Britain developed and how this reflected contemporary issues: World War II, the decline of the British Empire, and transformations within British society.

David will also discuss into the Sutcliff's own remarkable life and how it impacted on her work: her Still's Disease which left her severely disabled from a young age; her father's naval career which meant he was frequently absent; her mother's struggles with mental illness; her time spent as a painter of miniatures; and the tremendous influence that the works of Rudyard Kipling had on her.

Wednesday 21st September 2022, 7.30pm

The Afterlife of Roman Britain: Reuse and Recycling in Early Medieval England 

Speaker: Richard Best (Canterbury Christ Church University)

The Roman period in Britain is defined by an unprecedented increase in the production of recognisable objects, materials, spaces, and places. However, much of this material culture survived beyond its initial Roman usage and deposition and found itself in the hands of different communities who lived in Post-Roman Britain. Drawing on examples from a wide range of settlement sites and funerary contexts from across England, this lecture will demonstrate that Roman material was actively reused and recycled and that such reuse was a dynamic practice which facilitated interactions between the Anglo-Saxon present and the Roman past. It will be considered how this practice changed over the 5th to 7th centuries, particularly in response to the commencement of the Christian conversion in AD 597, and how this process imbued material and places with social and personal significance - moving them beyond the realm of scrap and enigmatic ruins into an active resource that could be leveraged and used by a broad spectrum of society for various purposes.