LECTURES
	Every year from October to May the Institute presents a series of lectures by visiting speakers on the latest developments within its areas of interest.
	Lecture Programme 2007–2008
	2007
	10 October	Investigating the silver of the Iceni by Megan Dennis
		The silver objects of Late Iron Age and Early Roman East Anglia are beautiful, exotic and intriguing. Appearing suddenly in the first century BC, silver was rapidly adopted by the local tribes later known as the Iceni. They incorporated the material into the existing artistic portfolio of local craftsmen. Torcs, coins, brooches and vessels were imported and produced in this alluring metal for over one hundred years. Their manufacture ceased abruptly with the Roman defeat of Boudica's rebellion.
		Where did the silver come from? Why was it suddenly introduced? How did the Iceni develop their own artistic Celtic styles expressed through these new objects? By combining metallurgical analysis, archaeological interpretation and art historical examination archaeologists can, for the first time, reveal the secrets of Icenian silver. Using integrated approaches, new questions are posed and old interpretations overturned.
	14 November	Recent excavations within the Stonehenge World Heritage Site by Professor Mike Parker-Pearson
		Since 2003 a long-term project of survey and excavation has been investigating the purpose and context of Stonehenge. Excavations are coming to completion on the large Late Neolithic settlement at Durrington Walls, where they have revealed house floors, middens and a ceremonial avenue which led from the River Avon to the great timber monument known as the Southern Circle (first discovered in 1967). Other investigations within the World Heritage Site are casting new light on monuments such as Woodhenge, the Stonehenge Cursus and the Cuckoo Stone, as well as Stonehenge itself.
	12 December	The Cleatham Anglo-Saxon cemetery: the pots interrupted by Kevin Leahy BA PhD FSA MIFA
		The Cleatham cemetery was excavated during the 1980s in advance of its destruction by ploughing. Over 1200 cremations and 62 inhumations were found making it the third largest Anglo-Saxon cemetery in England. This cemetery is important for a number of reasons; it was in use over the whole of the early Anglo-Saxon period, starting at the time of the earliest settlement and continuing through to include 'Final Phase' graves of the seventh century. There was a large amount of intercutting of urns which allowed them to be sequenced on stratigraphic grounds. A detailed analysis of the cemetery has now been completed providing some important insights into the early Anglo-Saxon period.
	2008
	9 January	Isambard Kingdom Brunel, architect by Steven Brindle
		Isambard Kingdom Brunel was an engineer and innovator ‘par excellence’. He is, perhaps, best known for the creation of the Great Western Railway, a series of famous bridges, dock engineering and two remarkable iron steamships, but he was also an important architect. Steven Brindle is uniquely qualified to talk on this subject, having undertaken many years of research on Brunel and being the author of an outstanding biography of Brunel and an acclaimed book on Paddington Station, its history and architecture.
	13 February	The rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate: the castle gatehouses of Edward I and beyond by Jeremy Ashbee
		The re-appraisal of the pioneering work of Arnold Taylor on the royal castles in Wales has accelerated since his death in 2002. Several of these castles, notably Harlech and Beaumaris, contain monstrous twin-towered gatehouses, but as the research of architectural historians has shown, this form has a long pedigree in England and Wales and cannot be seen as an invention of Edward I’s master of the works, James of St George. This paper examines the phenomenon of the giant gatehouses, before, during and in the generation after Edward I: where they came from, why they were built as they were, and who really lived inside them.
	12 March	Ritual and dress in the Wessex Bronze Age by Ann Woodward
		Studies of exotic finds from Beaker and ‘Wessex Series’ burials have invoked the existence of chiefs, warriors and merchants, but these traditional interpretations are now being questioned. A new project is investigating Early Bronze Age gravegoods, particularly with regard to their possible use as components of ritual costume or sets of special equipment. A team of archaeologists and scientists is studying the sources and function of artefacts using microscopic and chemical analysis, and exploring the incidence of heirlooms through studies of wear and fragmentation. Preliminary results will be presented, relating to items made from gold, jet, amber, animal bone and stone.
	9 April	The Silchester Insula IX Town Life Project: from client kingdom to civitas by Professor Mike Fulford
		After eleven seasons, the excavation of insula ix has defined the occupation of the late first century AD. Against the background of the work of previous seasons, the lecture will focus on the character of the later first century occupation which is richly represented in the archaeological record, and the implications the preliminary results have for understanding Calleva's transition from the status of ‘capital’ of a client kingdom to that of a civitas.
	14 May	President's Lecture From Haddock to Fisher: building the Royal Navy’s overseas bases by Jonathan Coad MA FSA
		By the end of the seventeenth century, warships of the Royal Navy were routinely venturing far beyond their traditional northern European waters. Such distant operations brought new problems in their wake. Protracted voyages, especially in hot climates led to high rates of illness and mortality among sailors, while warships themselves needed maintenance and repair. Replenishment of victuals, ammunition and other stores had to be arranged. The solution adopted was to create overseas bases and shore facilities. This paper looks at the construction, operation and architecture of these in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
	Meetings are held in the Rooms of the Society of Antiquaries of London, Burlington House, Piccadilly at 5.00 pm preceded by tea and biscuits at 4.30 pm.