30 April 2011

Please phone ARCH office to book in advance if not already attending Pathways into Past Alness sessions. Meet 10am at Alness Heritage Centre.

30 April 2011

The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 2011 Rhind Lecture series will be given by Dr Stuart Needham on ´Material and spiritual engagements; Britain and Ireland in the first age of metal´. Free and open to all, first come first seated. The lectures will be held in the Wolfson Lecture Theatre in the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Description:

Britain and Ireland abound with burials of the early metal age. Many individuals were accorded special treatment on death, interred in finely constructed chambers or deep graves or honoured by cremation and committal to the ground in highly ornamented pottery vessels. Distinctive or exotic grave goods may accompany the burial and the sites themselves came to be memorialised through the construction of impressive mounds and ring works. These conspicuous and pervasive archaeological contexts have come to define a funerary phenomenon and an era. They give the impression of a society totally preoccupied with the dead and their funerary passage and of a comprehensive burial policy. That funerary practices were endemic in most regions is inescapable, but how many people actually received formal burial, who were they and how were they presented in death? In addressing these questions, we will consider the purpose of this phenomenon and interpret anew the meanings of definable burial modes.

FRIDAY 29th April 2011
Lecture 1: Funerary conundrums (6pm)

SATURDAY 30th April 2011,
Lecture 2: Competing ethea of seniority (11am)

Lecture 3: Blunt instruments of power (2pm)

Lecture 4: Enriching the female persona (3:30pm)

SUNDAY 1st May 2011
Lecture 5: The centrality of axe heads (2pm)

Lecture 6: The exemplary dead (3:30pm)

Click here for abstracts of the lectures

30 April 2011

Community Dig at Nybster Broch on

26th April-8th May 2011
1st-13th August 2011

A community dig for all ages. Free and no experience required. Work for as long as you wish. For further information see www.aocarchaeology.com/nybster

For further information or to register contact Derek Edwards, Caithness Archaeological Trust on email@caithnessarchaeology.org.uk or 01593 731269

30 April 2011

The Nautical Archaeology Society is running an Introductory Course on nautical archaeology at the  Crannog Centre, Loch Tay on the 30th April.

The Introduction Course is a one day course which offers an introduction to nautical and underwater archaeology,  some basic archaeological principles and how to record and survey sites both underwater and on the foreshore, introducing some 2D survey methods.

The cost for this course is £55 and if you are a diver the day will conclude with a dive in the loch in order to practice the skills you will have learnt in an underwater environment. If you are not a diver then you will have further opportunities to practice the survey skills on dry land.

Acting as the first step on the training ladder with the NAS it will allow you to take part in other courses, programmes and fieldwork projects.

Group discounts are available, and under 16’s need to be accompanied by an adult. If you have any questions about the course contact Rachel Quick of the Nautical Archaeology Society

Tel: +44 (0) 23 92818419

Email: rachel@nauticalarchaeologysociety.org

Web: www.nauticalarchaeologysociety.org

30 April 2011

Digging Caithness Brochs: Then and Now

Talk by Dr Any Heald, Dr Graeme Cavers and Charlotte Douglas of AOC Archaeology Group

A talk about the investigations of brochs in the past, before the introduction of modern archaeological methods and standards.

30 April 2011

Site tour of the community excavations at Nybster Broch. Meet at Caithness Broch Centre, Auckengill. Please wear sturdy footwear and dress for the weather.