NHAS News & Events

Published 30 October 2016 | By Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews

From: Gil Burleigh
Sent: Saturday, October 8, 2016 12:39 PM
To: dianeburleigh
Cc: grb
Subject: NHAS News & Events

Wednesday 23rd November 2016: Dr. Kris Lockyear, University College London, will give a talk on “Mapping Verulamium” – the latest results of his now very extensive geophysical surveys at the Roman city of St. Albans in which some of our members assist. Letchworth Free Church small hall, 8pm.

Saturday 26th November: “Archaeology in Hertfordshire: Recent Research”, a Conference at Hitchin Town Hall, Brand Street, 9am – 5pm. Details attached. Speakers include:

1.40pm	Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews	Odd pots and foreigners: forgetting Romanitas, becoming Angelcynn
2.10pm	Gil Burleigh	118+ Tons of History: results from community test pitting and other fieldwork in Pirton: the origins and development of the Medieval village – latest results.

Tuesday 6th December: Members’ Christmas evening at Letchworth Free Church, 8pm. Our Field Officer will give the second part of his talk on “A Sacred Landscape around Iron Age and Roman Baldock”. This time on “The aerial perspective”. Wine, cheese, soft drinks, & nibbles, £3 per person.

Tuesday 31st January 2017, Lucas Room, North Hertfordshire Museum, Brand St, Hitchin, 8 pm: Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews will give a talk on recognising sub-Roman (‘Dark Age’) pottery in the archaeological record. Archaeologists have been misidentifying it for decades, and still do. Helen Ashworth was first to recognise it from our Baldock excavations in the mid-1980s. Keith has now completed a lot more research with an American colleague which will be published in America (!) in the new year:

“Odd pots and foreigners: forgetting Romanitas, becoming Angelcynn”.

Stop press: Dea Senuna: treasure, cult and ritual at Ashwell, Hertfordshire – main authors Ralph Jackson and Gilbert Burleigh – will be published by The British Museum as a Research Report in June 2017.

NB. Please note the various attachments giving details of exhibitions, talks, a conference on archaeology in Hertfordshire, and our Chairman’s letter about the situation at the new N Herts Museum in preparation, published recently in The Comet newspaper. The situation is actually worse than Diane’s letter states. We know now that not only are the dedicated and hard working museum staff and volunteers prevented from accessing their office by Hitchin Town Hall Ltd (a charity) and Hitchin Town Hall Finance Ltd (which wants NHDC, i.e. us community charge payers, to pay them a further £600,000 to allow the museum to operate as it should) , but also the education and local studies rooms. This means that school classes can’t be taught and students and others cannot use the local archives. In addition, the new lift for disabled access is out of bounds, as are the proposed entrance and foyer and cafe, and a large area of one of the galleries because of this action. Please question your district councillors about this unacceptable situation and please write more letters to councillors, the NHDC CEO, the press, and contact local radio and tv. If we want our new museum ever to open as it was designed to be, we’re going to have to fight for it. Thank you.
Update: Another excellent letter on this problem from our Member, Nigel Harper-Scott, was published in The Comet a couple of weeks ago. Keep them coming!

Please note this forthcoming conference in Hitchin Town Hall in November organised by Kris Lockyear and Welwyn Archaeological Society. See attachment and the web link for full details.

Conference
wp.me
Archaeology in Hertfordshire: Recent Research. The second “Archaeology in Hertfordshire: Recent Research” conference will be held on Saturday November 26th 2016 in Hitchin Town Hall, Brand Street…

Exhibitions at The British Museum:

Sunken cities
Egypt’s lost worlds

19 May – 27 November 2016

Supported by BP

Organised with the Hilti Foundation and
the Institut Européen d’Archéologie Sous-Marine

Members free
Book tickets

Submerged under the sea for over a thousand years, two lost cities of ancient Egypt were recently rediscovered. Their story is told for the first time in this blockbuster exhibition.

Vanished beneath the waters of the Mediterranean, the lost cities of Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus lay at the mouth of the Nile. Named after the Greek hero Heracles, Thonis-Heracleion was one of Egypt’s most important commercial centres for trade with the Mediterranean world and, with Canopus, was a major centre for the worship of the Egyptian gods. Their amazing discovery is transforming our understanding of the deep connections between the great ancient civilisations of Egypt and Greece.

Subscriptions

2016/17 Subscriptions became due on 1st June 2016. Please renew now. The Society cannot continue to function without all members’ subscriptions. In particular, lecturers fees and expenses and hall hire have to come from subscriptions. Lack of sufficient income from subscriptions may result in fewer lectures. It’s up to us members.

Outstanding subscriptions may be paid in person at any meeting when membership cards can usually be issued also. Otherwise subscription cheques may be posted to Diane Burleigh, NHAS, 10 Cromwell Way, Pirton, Hitchin, Herts SG5 3RD.

Please note 2016/17 Membership cards are now available and may be collected at any of our lectures.

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Non-members are welcome at any of our meetings. There will be a charge of £4 for entry.

Please renew your subscription otherwise you may be removed from our membership and circulation lists.

Thank you.

www.nharchsoc.org