Blick Mead – Exploring the first place in the Stonehenge landscape

Tue 21 November 2023

Wolfson College

Overview:
The Stonehenge landscape is one of the most famous prehistoric places in the world, but much about its origins remains a mystery and little attention has been paid to what preceded, and may have influenced, its later ritual character. The discovery of a uniquely long-lived Mesolithic site at Blick Mead, c. 2.5km from Stonehenge, is set to transform the situation. Blick Mead, the oldest occupation site in the Stonehenge area, was the likely place where the communities who built the first monuments at Stonehenge lived. The discoveries made there in recent years have contributed significantly to a new understanding of the initial settlement patterns and practices in the Stonehenge landscape. This talk will chart the story of the excavations.

Speaker:
Professor David Jacques FSA?field of research explores the use of the Stonehenge landscape in the Mesolithic and early Neolithic periods (8500BC-4000BC). Since 2005, he has been the Project Director of the Blick Mead archaeological site. In 2013 he was elected a Fellow of the Society of the Antiquaries (FSA) in recognition of the importance of the Blick Mead discoveries.
In 2010, he won an Open University Teaching Prize for his work and the ways he involved that with his students learning. His project at Stonehenge won?Current Archaeology?Magazine?‘Research Project of the Year 2018’.?In 2023 he was awarded?‘Archaeologist of the Year’?by the same publication. The Blick Mead team’s work has featured in BBC and National Geographic documentaries, and has been extensively reported in the press.

Details:
This is a hybrid event, which will take place in-person in the Gatsby Room (Chancellor's Centre) and also on Zoom.
If you would like to attend online, please register for the Zoom link: https://wolfson-cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcsdOutrT4oGNbHcOqKbiUjsqr2JgEVnFDM#/registration
Refreshments will be available for the in-person audience.

The Wolfson Humanities Society organises regular talks spanning a wide range of topics. Every Tuesday during term time.

Access:
This event will take place in Gatsby Room on the first floor of the Chancellor's Centre. It has step-free access with a lift and there is an accessible toilet located each floor of the building.

Cost: Free