‘Exploring Landscape Archaeology’ course

Community Archaeology Nottinghamshire, Community Archaeology Derbyshire, Community Archaeology Leicestershire, Community Archaeology East Midlands, Mercian Archaeological     Services Community Archaeology for Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Sherwood Forest,     Leicestershire and the East Midlands. Community Archaeology Nottinghamshire, Community     Archaeology East Midlands, Community Archaeology Leicestershire. Archaeological

email: info@mercian-as.co.uk

This 5-day Landscape Archaeology course combines class-room lectures, practical workshops (using computer-based applications), field visits, and site tours of the landscape to give an immersive learning experience, introducing students to the wide and exciting field of landscape archaeology.

The course uses the legendary landscape of Sherwood Forest as the main case study, with site visits to the Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve and other local historic landscape locations, and also includes examples from around the UK and the wider world, to enable students to experience the subject first-hand and to begin seeing the landscape in a new way.

Take your skills to the next level by joining our week long

‘Exploring Landscape Archaeology’ Course 2021

at King’s Clipstone, and around Sherwood Forest

Price £250 per person

This course is suitable for all levels from beginner to experienced archaeologist .

For those wishing to develop their skills, for students and post-graduates seeking to fulfil the experience requirements of their courses… for those wishing to pursue a career in archaeology, or improve their knowledge to give them the edge at work… for those looking to acquire cross-transferable skills… for volunteer wishing to raise their game, impress their friends, and increase their enjoyment of archaeology and heritage through a greater skill set and knowledge base…. through to people simply wishing to learn for the love of learning…

Everyone is welcome… no previous knowledge or experience is required…

As well as offering the best in archaeological training and support, the ‘Exploring Landscape Archaeology’ course 2021 is tailored towards enabling attendees to fulfil requirements in the Archaeological Skills Passport.

Indoor training will take place at the Tin Tabernacle, King John’s Palace. Kings Clipstone. The outdoor elements will take place around the landscape of Sherwood Forest including the Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve.

The course introduces many of the methods available for examining, recording and viewing the landscape, and for reconstructing historic landscapes, including:

• topographic survey,
• geophysical survey,
• LiDAR and landscapes,
• multi-spectral data,
• historic mapping analysis,
• aerial photography,
• archaeoastronomy, and the relationship of landscapes to skyscapes.

The above will cover the theory and methodology of the various techniques above. Geophysical and topographic survey will not be undertaken on this course (please see Topographic survey courses and geophysical survey training courses if this is required). Delegates will get to work with Historic mapping data, aerial photographs, and LiDAR data sets.

The physical landscape is explored including:

• the geological formations (and geological history), |
• soils,
• topography,
• rivers,
• and in particular the resultant impact these physical aspects have on subsequent settlement patterns and land-use.
  
  
  

The cultural or human landscape is then studied in relation to this underlying physical landscape, including:

• settlement patterns,
• toponymic survey (place-name studies) and what place-names reveal of the physical and cultural landscape.
• Villagescapes and daily life,
• geology and the built environment,
• agricultural practices (pastoral and arable),
• the importance of different plants and their uses, and the impact on the landscape (focusing on Sherwood Forest).

2021 Dates:

Week of

24th - 28th May 2021

Field trips identify features in the landscape as studied in the classroom and discusses how landscapes can be reconstructed from this evidence.

The course then looks at different layers of the imaged or human landscape:

• political and administrative (including Viking assembly, hunting, and Forest law as local case studies),
• human landscapes and experience,
• philosophy and landscape,
• art, poetry, literature and landscape,
• skyscapes and monuments,
• semiotics (the signs, language and symbols) of landscape,
• allegory and landscape (literary, religious and cultural - case studies include Clipstone and the Designed medieval landscape),
• legendary landscapes (including Robin Hood).

The course then looks at some of the ways archaeologists attempt to understand the subjective human experience of landscapes in the past including:

• callisthenics, and
• phenomenology of landscape

The course is located at King John's Palace in Sherwood Forest, and includes site visits to the Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve and surrounding landscape.

Archaeological GIS training:

Delegates will work with survey data and learn how to create maps, vector layers and geo-reference raster images, as well as create and work with 3D models.

A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyse, manage, and present spatial or geographic data.

Archaeologists use GIS for many things including creating maps, analysing landscapes, understanding archaeological sites, creating 3D models, viewshed analysis, presenting survey data and more.

GIS is a great way to integrate data from projects and can be used to analyse that data as well as present it in the form of maps for publication.

The images to the left include GIS being used in building analysis, surveying, map work, and the displaying of geophysical survey data.

As well as all the above you will learn about the history and archaeology of Sherwood Forest, and also about the designed royal hunting landscape and Palace at its heart. Mercian Archaeological Services CIC run the Sherwood Forest Archaeology Project and are at the leading edge of research into this landscape of legends…

Your course tutor will be :

Andy Gaunt MA, BSc, CertHE, FGS
Company Director and Archaeologist, Landscape Archaeology, GIS, Survey and Geomatics.

Andy is recognised for his expert and unrivalled knowledge of the landscape, history, archaeology and heritage of the Sherwood Forest landscape., and has research interests in medieval archaeology, the medieval landscape; settlement, elite and designed landscapes, medieval forests, parkland and hunting landscapes, medieval hunting, medieval romance literature and chivalry, and the medieval legends of Robin Hood.

He has spent many years investigating the settlement and landscape of Clipstone and Sherwood Forest in the Medieval period. Notably, he identified medieval Clipstone as a designed hunting and Arthurian romance landscape.

He has published a number of papers on Sherwood Forest and Community Archaeology.

As a Landscape Archaeologist he is particularly interested in landscape analysis, philosophical and theoretical landscape archaeology, historical and cultural geography, geological history, skyscape archaeology, horizon astronomy, archaeoastronomy, geophysical survey, topographic survey, geographic information systems (GIS), virtual reality and reconstructions. He also strives to understand how people experienced the landscape in the past.

Andy’s has made a number of TV appearances as an expert on Sherwood Forest, including in the UK on the BBC, Channel Four (Walking Through History, and site consultancy for Time Team), and Channel Five (Digging up Britain’s Past), as well as internationally including a number of appearances for ARTE ((France & Germany) giving expert commentary on Walter Scott and D H Lawrence and their relationships to Sherwood Forest). He has been interviewed a number of times on BBC Radio 4 including the ‘Making History’ show, and has provided consultancy for BBC Radio 3.

He has also been interviewed in magazines and for newspapers including in the United States, and UK.

*Please note that while aspects of this course will be in-depth, attendance on the course will not qualify delegates to work as a Landscape Archaeologist; no matter how high the quality of tuition a week long course cannot substitute for the years of experience, training and knowledge required.

About King John’s Palace and Sherwood Forest

The classroom elements of the course are based at King John’s Palace in Kings Clipstone, Sherwood Forest- and teaching will include a study of the royal hunting lodge and palatial enclosure of the King’s Houses, now known as King John’s Palace, and the designed landscape that surrounded it.

King John’s Palace was the Royal Heart of Sherwood Forest in the Medieval period.

The site was visited by all 8 kings from Henry II to Richard II, with King John possibly holding a proto-parliament there in the early 13th century and Edward I holding Parliament there in 1290.

Recent archaeological work by Mercian Archaeological Services CIC has helped to reveal the size and importance of the site, and has also interpreted the surrounding lordship as a ‘designed’ medieval romantic hunting landscape.

The palace was sat at the heart of medieval Sherwood Forest and provided amenities for hunting, royal retreat, and the entertaining of foreign royalty and important members of society.

The landscape of Clipstone was identified by the course tutor as a designed romance landscape from the medieval period.

Ancient track way through the Forest

The Major Oak legendary hideaway of Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest

The Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve

The Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve is the legendary home of Robin Hood, and his secret hideaway the 1000 year old major Oak.

It is also home to over 900 ancient oak trees, beautiful wildlife and extensive lowland heath.

This ancient landscape of wood-pasture will be explored though field trips and classroom learning.

The development of that landscape over the centuries will be teased out from historic mapping and documents, and will be combined with seeing the results of archaeological investigations undertaken over many year by Mercian.

Delegates will wander the ancient woods and visit archeological earthworks, and then working with mapping and other techniques will explore how this landscape was formed.

This will then form the back drop to understanding how people have used the landscape and how they have imagined this landscape over the years.

The course is designed to demonstrate how much there is to see hear think of, and learn in a landscape, and what tools are available for understanding landscapes in the past and present.

The course aims to change how delegates think of landscapes in the future.

As part of the course attendees will learn all about Sherwood Forest, Robin Hood, outlaws, foresters, the landscape of Sherwood Forest in medieval times, the forest law, courts, offences and judiciary, the Palace at Clipstone, monasteries, chapels and hermitages, hunting parks, Nottingham Castle, Sheriffs and much more about life in Medieval Sherwood Forest…

All included as part of the course.

Important information:

• On-site toilet facilities are provided.
• Please note lunch is not provided.
• Accommodation is not included.
• Please note that this course includes a number of site visits which require delegates to walk for a number of miles at a time, so please contact to discuss any limiting factors with regard to you undertaking the course There are aspects of the course that are less physically challenging. Please contact us if you have any issues.
• Delegates will be required to bring a laptop in order to take part directly in GIS and computer-based elements of the course.

Thank you

Please note we do not provide accommodation. We can provide a list of local accommodation from camping to hotels- but it is the responsibility of the individual booking on to the field school to organise their own accommodation.

Any list provided should not be seen as a recommendation by Mercian Archaeological Services CIC.

To pay by cheque or bank transfer, please contact us below stating which week you wish to attend and how you wish to pay.

or If you require more information before booking please contact us via our email:

info@mercian-as.co.uk

Payment options

You can book your place for the ‘Exploring Landscape Archaeology’ 2021 course via a number of ways:

• You can pay for your place in full online via the ‘buy now’ option below for the required week. This includes a £250 non-refundable deposit.
• You can pay a £250 non-refundable deposit via the second  ‘buy now’ option below for the required week. This will reserve your place until we receive your full payment which is required 2 weeks prior to the commencement of the course. You can pay by cheque in FULL or £250 deposit. In order to pay this way please contact us first via the contact box below stating “field School” in the  ‘type of enquiry box’ in order to ensure your place is reserved before sending a cheque. We will then be able to arrange where the cheque is sent to. Please tell us which week you wish to book on, and that you wish to pay by cheque, in the comments box provided.
• You can pay by direct bank transfer in FULL for £250 or for the £120 deposit. In order to pay this way please contact us first email stating “Exploring landscape archaeology 2021” in the title. Please tell us that you wish to book on the course, and that you wish to pay by bank transfer.

PLEASE NOTE:

By booking a place on the field school you are agreeing to abide by Mercian Archaeological Services CIC’s TERMS and CONDITIONS and by our CODE of CONDUCT.  

Click here to view full terms and conditions including our health and safety policy

Post-excavation fieldschool booking form- choose your week, and your payment option below and click “Buy Now”

Booking:

Places are limited so please book promptly to avoid disappointment.

‘Exploring Landscape Archaeology’ 2021 Week: 24th - 28th May 2021

Book your place by paying in FULL £250:

Or

Pay £120 non-refundable DEPOSIT to reserve your place:

Pay OUTSTANDING BALANCE £100:

If you are coming to our Landscape Archaeology course and you are new to Sherwood Forest why not stay a while and have a look at some of the other things there are to do in this landscape of legends…

Community Archaeology Nottinghamshire, Excavation, Research, Volunteering, Community Archaeology Derbyshire, Training, Social, Learning, Community Archaeology Leicestershire, Heritage, Involvement, Belonging, Knowledge sharing, Community Archaeology Lincolnshire, Topographic Survey, Talks and Presentations, Outreach, Archaeology Projects , Open Days, Schools, Finds Processing, Day Schools, Field Schools, Young People, Archaeology and History of Sherwood Forest, Pottery Research, Medieval, Roman, Prehistoric, Community Interest Company, Community Archaeology Nottinghamshire.

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