Roman Exeter, an update on the last research

Berkeley House Berkeley House, Dix's Field, Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom

Berkeley House, Exeter and on-line via Zoom John Salvatore  PLEASE NOTE THE VENUE FOR ALL WINTER MEETINGS THIS YEAR IS BERKELEY HOUSE John has completed a book on Roman Exeter for the Archaeopress Roman Britain series due to be published in 2024. He will present some of the research for the book including new work

The Development of Exeter’s Cathedral Close

Berkeley House and online

Speaker John Allan. In recent years John Allan and Bob Higham have been collaborating in a piece of research reconsidering the development of Cathedral Close; their works builds on previous historical studies, which extend back over a century, and on archaeological work of the past 50 years. They conclude that elements of the Late Saxon

The Forgotten Stone Circles of Stanton Drew

Berkeley House and online

Speaker Susan Greaney The three stone circles and associated cove at Stanton Drew in Somerset have never been excavated, although geophysical survey has shown that each of the circles contained an elaborate timber structure and the complex remains entirely unique. Drawing on recent geophysical surveys and aerial photograph analysis, Sue will explore the site in

Illuminating our Lantern Crosses

Zoom

Speakers: Anne Preston-Jones and Andrew Langdon The lecture will look at the overall development of Cornish crosses, to provide a context for the late medieval lantern crosses. Their architecture and geology will be described before focussing on the iconography of the carved images. Finally, a discussion of iconoclasm, concealment and survival of the lantern crosses

Dendrochronology in Devon, an overview

Zoom

Speaker Cathy Tyers Since the 1980s numerous sites in Devon from the last millennium have been successfully dated, producing a strong local network of dendrochronological reference data for the 12th to early 21st centuries. Cathy Tyers is part of Historic England's Scientific Dating team and summarised recent work in Exeter for Exeter: A place in

Paul Bidwell and the Roman North

Zoom

Speaker Nick Hodgson Leaving the south-west for Hadrian's Wall in 1980, Paul Bidwell went on to transform the study of Rome's northern frontier. He also literally transformed the urban landscapes of Tyneside by reconstructing Roman buildings at the forts of South Shields and Wallsend. Nick Hodgson co-directed work at both sites, and will describe both

‘By 1330 … nearly every line was drawn’; New Light on Devon’s Landscape History, 70 years after W. G. Hoskins

Zoom

W. G. Hoskin's seminal book Devon was published in 1954. It suggested the pattern of the county's historic landscape was established by the later Middle Ages. Recent research using innovative geoarchaeological methods has enabled new analyses of Devon's historic field boundaries, showing that the medieval field pattern which survives today first developed several centuries earlier

Project Ancient Tin: Did British tin sources and trade make Bronze Age Europe?

Zoom

Joint Lecture with Cornwall Archaeological Society In c. 2200 BC, Britain and Ireland were the first regions in Europe to completely switch over from copper to Bronze metal, typically with around 10% tin. This change spread across the rest of Bronze Age Europe and the Mediterranean over the following centuries. There has long been speculation

The impact of prehistoric agriculture on the climate of Europe

Zoom

Joint meeting with the Prehistoric Society Speaker: Ralph Fyfe This lecture will tie together three threads. First, it will present the archaeological evidence for the spread of prehistoric farming across the European continent, and the nature of that early agriculture. Second, it will consider the consequences of prehistoric agricultural land use on land cover change

Developments in Geophysical Survey

Zoom

Speaker Neil Linford A geophysicist employed by Historic England, Neil uses a range of techniques to investigate sites throughout England. His talk will provide a summary of recent geophysical survey work by the HE Geophysics team covering a range of sites including a Devon priory, a Cornish henge, a lost Norman keep and Tudor water

WINTER MEETINGS

Monthly throughout the winter

LECTURE COURSES

PUBLICATIONS

The Society publishes its Proceedings, a volume of articles about Devon's archaeology, annually as well as three newsletters each year and occasional papers.

These are distributed free to members

FIELD VISITS

To archaeological sites and excavations, in Devon and beyond; general spring to autumn