Hands-on Training
Learn about the role of prehistoric lithics in archaeology, their identification, assemblage analysis and recording, interpretation, report writing and best practices in fieldwork.
Workshops can be tailored to specific interests and ages including schoolchildren, local history and archaeology societies, community projects, students and commercial archaeologists- Extensive teaching materials include replica assemblages − Early Mesolithic, Late Mesolithic, Early Neolithic and Late Neolithic to Bronze Age, plus pottery typical of later prehistoric periods
- Modules are based on the audience’s needs and experience – from inquisitive beginners to practitioners who want more in-depth guidance
“Each year Elmet Archaeological Services host a series of inexpensive workshops on specialist topics for a broad audience – students, general interest and beginners, community and vocational practitioners. We were delighted with Spencer’s day workshop on prehistoric lithics. It is one thing to know your subject as a specialist but quite another to communicate that with enthusiasm and clarity.
Spencer exudes passion and experience with an easy delivery style that places ancient technology, and archaeological best practices, into a period-based human narrative – plus valuable hands-on exercises using skillfully-crafted replica assemblages and artefacts.”
– Christine Rawson, Managing Director, Elmet Archaeological Services
Key Topics
Natural or human? | The nature of flint and chert, how to tell if it has been used or worked- Signatures in stone | Technology of knapping, nomenclature, attributes, form, function and symbolism
- Keyholes to the past | Key lithic indicators and changes through time, material culture associations and typologies
- Lithics matter | Important research questions, things we know and things we don’t, occupied spaces, human mobility and exchange
- From field to archive | Good practices in field-walking and excavation, how to approach assemblage analysis and recording, cataloguing, principles of illustration, photography and archive preparation
If your group or organisation, whether commercial or community non-profit, is interested in receiving training − for example, as part of your staff Continuous Professional Development (CPD) − please get in touch with me at TimeVista Archaeology to discuss opportunities.
