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View our full conference programme of abstracts below. Click on the titles to read the abstract or watch videos of some of our speakers introducing their talks!
9:00am: Registration
9:30am: Welcome
9:45am: Session 1 (break 11:00am)
11:30am: Session 2 (lunch 12:45pm)
1:45pm: Session 3 (break 3:05pm)
3:20pm: Session 4
4:00-5:00pm: Wine reception
- Louise Rayner, Director, ASE: Archaeology South-East: a short history of 50 years
- David Rudling, Academic Director, Sussex School of Archaeology: The Field Archaeology Unit: the first 30 years (1974-2004)
Following his appointment to the Institute of Archaeology in London in the autumn of 1973, Peter Drewett undertook a survey of the major threats to the archaeological heritage of Sussex and in April 1974 established the Sussex Archaeological Field Unit comprising six staff. The two main aims of the Field Unit were to undertake state funded rescue archaeology in Sussex in a research context, and to provide practical training opportunities for Institute students by means of an annual Field Course and a programme of summer vacation excavations which could accommodate student volunteers.
When Peter left his part-time Unit Director’s role in 1993, the funding base was changing, the Unit having already expanded operations into Kent and elsewhere. There now occurred a major shift in funding from the state to the ‘polluter pays principle’, competitive tendering, and end of former unit territories. The Unit adapted, grew, and changed its name to Archaeology South-East.
- Matt Pope, Associate Professor, UCL Institute of Archaeology/ASE: A half century of shaping the early prehistory of the South-East
- Paul Garwood, Associate Professor, University of Birmingham: The Neolithic transformed: 50 years of Neolithic archaeology in South-East England
Our knowledge of the Neolithic in south-east England has been transformed in the last 50 years due to advances in investigative technologies, research initiatives, and developer-funded fieldwork at a scale that is paralleled in few other parts of Britain.
This paper surveys the changing landscape of South-East Neolithic studies, contemporary interpretative frameworks, and current and future directions in areas such as chronology, isotopic and aDNA research and bioarchaeology. A key theme throughout is the emergent picture of presence/absence and diversity of Neolithic activity across the region, built on a synthesis of the rich evidence generated by research-led and commercial fieldwork.
Sustaining recent advances will, however, face serious challenges in the light of academic and policy shifts, and long-term weaknesses in the articulation of academic, curatorial and commercial archaeology agendas. The future of the Neolithic in South-East England will be defined at least partly by how those interests are aligned.
- Hayley Nicholls, Project Officer, ASE: A burgeoning Bronze Age landscape: navigating the upland versus lowland bias of Sussex archaeology
Much of 20th century research into Sussex’s Later Bronze Age past focussed on extant remains on the South Downs. Ground breaking projects mapped and excavated hillforts, major enclosures, settlements, trackways, lynchetted field systems and funerary monuments. Some of these sites have since been lost entirely, others are no longer extant due to ploughing and agricultural activity. Some are scheduled, protected for future generations, but largely unexcavated and often poorly understood.
Conversely, post PPG16, a plethora of commercial archaeological projects, largely focussed in lowland Sussex have identified a comprehensive array of hitherto unknown Later Bronze Age sites including all the site types noted above. Whilst many of these sites have been extensively excavated, almost all are now preserved only by record.
How do we tie these disparate approaches and varied records together, and where does it leave us with our current understanding of Later Bronze Age society in Sussex?
- Angus Forshaw and Rob Cullum, Project Officers, ASE: The Only Way is Essex: exploring evolving landscapes and shifting settlements in East Anglia
Since becoming part of ASE in 2013, the Essex office have continued to undertake extensive archaeological investigations across East Anglia. This talk will draw on some recent discoveries from Essex, which, combined with previous work in the region, have contributed to a greater understanding of shifting settlement patterns and the changing use of landscapes over time. Significant finds and discoveries from the more recent projects will be discussed and placed in their wider contexts, shedding light on the complex interplay between people and place in the region.
- Melanie Giles, Professor, University of Manchester: The ‘dragonfly’ charioteer: a middle Iron Age weapons burial from the edge of the Yorkshire Wolds
One of the most spectacular Iron Age discoveries to be made in the UK in the last decade is that of the Mile Charioteer: an elderly man, laid in the box of a chariot that was wheeled whole into a grave pit, with its pony team still ‘in harness’: poised for flight into the afterlife. Excavated by MAP Archaeological Projects Ltd. (Stephens 2023), this burial provides a unique opportunity to explore the osteobiography of an individual and his pony team, with the object histories of the different materials buried with him: chariot wheels, linch pins and terrets, a delicate ‘dragonfly’ fibula and joints of roasted pork. The most spectacular object in the grave was a bronze-faced, ash shield, covered with insular Celtic art. This paper will argue these objects should be reconceptualised as weapons in their own right, on the basis of both their practical role in interpersonal conflict as well as their psychologically intimidating artwork. It will discuss aspects of its design and symbolism, linking this to martial values and ideals drawn from the Yorkshire landscape and its non-human communities. It will also compare its shape and materials with other organic shields from the UK and near Continent and explore the La Tène art affinities it shares with other iconic objects from both Scotland and Ireland, suggestive of an extensive network of craft and design ideas. Finally, the study will situate this elderly charioteer within the wider Middle-Late Iron Age ‘Arras’ communities in which he lived, and wider weapons burials from the UK, to re-evaluate how we might reconceptualise warrior identity and martial power and prowess.
- Michael Shapland, Senior Historic Buildings Specialist, ASE: The Lives and Deaths of Historic Buildings
I have spent the last twelve years at ASE visiting a dizzying array of historic buildings, from churches and country houses to pubs, caves, forts and windmills. I am often amongst the last people ever to visit these strange and charismatic spaces before they go, places that few members of the public will ever see. This talk will focus on some of the highlights from this work, as well as trying to grapple with what it means to capture the ‘spirit’ of an old building before it is lost forever.
- Elke Raemen and Sarah Wolferstan, Senior Specialists, ASE: Skittles and Alms: the material culture of two inns in 17th- and 18th-century Whitechapel, and its use to support engagement with local communities
Coming soon
- Martin Bell, Professor, University of Reading: Reflections on contributions, challenges and potential for the future
The talk will reflect on arrangements for archaeological excavations resulting from development before 1973 and the transformation which came about with formation of the Sussex Archaeological Field Unit. How that facilitated the publication of my own ongoing research and set in motion new research agendas in a widening regional context. Some of the areas in which the work of ASE has been transformational will be highlighted including Geoarchaeology and the Palaeolithic, the extension of archaeological evidence into many areas of the Weald, Buildings Archaeology, Romano-British rural settlement. Publications achievements will be highlighted along with a need to focus on unpublished sites from both pre-ASE and more recent times. Challenges for the future include changes to the planning system aimed at increasing housing and growth, financial pressures on local authorities and the administrative effects of amalgamations. Opportunities include greater integration of the research power of UCL in ASE projects, building the capacity and philosophy to deal with green developments eg managed realignment, Rewilding, habitat restoration at scale and nurturing partnerships with other organisations both heritage agencies and bodies and community groups.