Online Courses in Archaeology

University of Oxford Online Courses in Archaeology

Cave paintings, castles and pyramids, Neanderthals, Romans and Vikings - archaeology is about the excitement of discovery, finding out about our ancestors, exploring landscape through time, piecing together puzzles of the past from material remains.

These courses enable you to experience all this through online archaeological resources based on primary evidence from excavations and artefacts and from complex scientific processes and current thinking. Together with guided reading, discussion and activities you can experience how archaeologists work today to increase our knowledge of people and societies from the past.

The following courses are available:

• Archaeology in Practice


• Archaeology of the Bible Lands


• Exploring Roman Britain


• Greek Mythology


• Origins of Human Behaviour


• Pompeii and the Cities of the Roman World


• Ritual and Religion in Prehistory


• Vikings: Raiders, Traders and Settlers

Beaker reconstructions by Karen Nichols

The two artist’s reconstructions are an impression of how the person may have looked during their life, and when placed in the grave. We know that the skeleton was that of an adult aged 35 or over and that they were placed in a crouched position, resting on their right side, facing east with their head towards the south – a rite that tends to be reserved for females at this time. Although the skull could be lifted in a soil block the bone was too degraded to attempt any form of accurate facial reconstruction – the face is that of the female artist! 

We have made the decision that the beads, along with an absence of more typical male grave goods, indicate a probable female burial. However, this assumption could be wrong as a number of beads have been found with men. This issue is further complicated as such items could represent gender and/or could be gifts from female mourners.  

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Extracting the Past

Phil Harding flint knapping

Have you been reading about rare Neolithic houses and a Beaker burial containing a ‘prehistoric princess’ recently? These discoveries were made during our excavations at Kingsmead Quarry, Horton. 

 

Saturday 27th April 2013, we are holding a FREE open day to showcase some of the amazing finds from these excavations. The event will be held in Wraysbury Village Hall, Berkshire (TW19 5NA) 10.30 am to 3.30 pm. 

 

The exhibition is open to all and explores the discoveries from the site as we present the hidden past beneath Horton’s landscape and uncover the imprints left by farming and ritual activity.

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Bronze Age treasure returns to Milford Haven

A Bronze Age treasure, unearthed in Steynton seven years ago, is set to return to its rightful place in Milford Haven Museum this summer.

The 3,400-year-old wooden trough, discovered by workmen laying a gas pipeline near St Botolphs in August 2006, will finally return to Milford Haven following years of preservation by the York Archaeological Trust.

Work on the site was suspended for weeks in 2006 when the Bronze Age relic, at first believed to be a canoe, was recovered from land in Tierson Farm. At the time, a fragment of the oak structure was radiocarbon-dated at about 1420 BC.

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Urgeschichte zum Anfassen

Innenhof des neuen Archäoparks Vogelherd (Abb.: Archäopark Vogelherd)

Nachdem die ältesten bekannten Kunstwerke der Menschheit durch Wissenschaftler der Tübinger Universität entdeckt wurden, ist es der Universität Tübingen ein Anliegen, die interessierte Öffentlichkeit an den daraus resultierenden Erkenntnissen und Einblicken in die Urgeschichte teilhaben zu lassen. Dem entsprechend hat sich Professor Nicholas Conard seit seinen faszinierenden Entdeckungen in der Vogelherdhöhle im Lonetal um eine auch populärwissenschaftliche Aufbereitung und Präsentation der Funde bemüht.

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Ancient Europeans Mysteriously Vanished 4,500 Years Ago

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DNA taken from ancient European skeletons reveals that the genetic makeup of Europe mysteriously transformed about 4,500 years ago, new research suggests. Here, a skeleton, not used in the study, but from the same time period, that was excavated from a grave in Sweden. CREDIT: Göran Burenhult View full size image

The genetic lineage of Europe mysteriously transformed about 4,500 years ago, new research suggests.

The findings, detailed today (April 23) in the journal Nature Communications, were drawn from several skeletons unearthed in central Europe that were up to 7,500 years old.

"What is intriguing is that the genetic markers of this first pan-European culture, which was clearly very successful, were then suddenly replaced around 4,500 years ago, and we don't know why," said study co-author Alan Cooper, of the University of Adelaide Australian Center for Ancient DNA, in a statement. "Something major happened, and the hunt is now on to find out what that was."

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Posted with Blogsy

Beaker burial

Archaeological excavations at CEMEX’s Kingsmead Quarry in Berkshire not far from Windsor have revealed a rare 'Beaker' burial of 'Copper Age' date (2500-2200 BC). Found within the grave were some of Britain’s earliest gold ornaments (five tubular beads), along with 29 bead fragments of amber and 30 beads of black lignite.

The burial contained the possible remains of a woman who was at least 35 years old. At the time of her burial, she wore a necklace containing small tubular sheet gold beads and black disc beads of lignite - a material similar to jet. A number of larger perforated amber buttons/fasteners were also found in a row along her body, which may indicate that she was wearing clothing, perhaps of patterned woven wool, at the time of her burial. Further lignite beads from near her hands suggest that she wore a bracelet. 

The woman’s burial represents an unusual and important find as only a small number of Beaker burials from Britain contain gold ornaments, and most are associated with male skeletons. It would appear that their religious beliefs dictate that most men were buried in a crouched position with the head resting to the north and facing east. With women the body position is often reversed with the head to the south.

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Prehistoric Metalwork Discovered at Iron Age Site, Along With Gaming Pieces

Archaeologists from the University of Leicester in the UK have uncovered one of the biggest groups of Iron Age metal artefacts to be found in the region -- in addition to finding dice and gaming pieces.

A dig at a prehistoric monument, an Iron Age hillfort at Burrough Hill, near Melton Mowbray, has given archaeologists a remarkable insight into the people who lived there over 2000 years ago.

Both staff and students from the University's School of Archaeology and Ancient History and University of Leicester Archaeological Services are involved in the project, now in its fourth year.

About 100 pieces, including iron spearheads, knives, brooches and a reaping hook, as well as decorative bronze fittings from buckets and trim from an Iron Age shield, have been found.

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Tracing our footsteps: archaeology in the digital age

Human ancestors that walked the earth left few traces of their passage. Some of their footprints have lithified, or turned to stone, but some survive to this day, unlithified, in soft sediment such as silt. These fragile records of ancient footprints pose a sizable challenge to archaeologists today: how do you preserve the ephemeral? According to new research published in PLOS ONE, the answer may be to “record and digitally rescue” these footprint sites.

The authors explored two methods in this study: digital photogrammetry, where researchers strategically photograph an object in order to derive measurements; and optical laser scanning, where light is used to measure the object’s physical properties. To begin, the authors filled trays with mixtures of sand, cement, and plaster and instructed a participant to walk through these samples. Four wooden 1 cm cubes were then placed beside a select number of footprints and photographs were taken. A laser scanner was then used to measure the same footprints. This simple procedure was also replicated outside of the lab, at a beach in North West England.

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Rescue digs in Portugal ahead of dam construction

Archaeological works that have been going on for two years in the region of the Lower Sabor River in north-eastern Portugal have turned up unique finds dating back millions of years, a source told Lusa News Agency.

Archaeologists have documented over 100 sites dating from the Upper Palaeolithic
to the present day in the Sabor valley [Credit: Portugal News]

“We are finishing the field work at more than 100 sites dating from the Stone Age to modern day, said archaeologist Rita Gaspar.

Gaspar told reporters there were three exceptional sites in the Sabor valley, where works would continue for a few more months and others that were already closing down.

At one of the sites, archaeologists found thousands of stones with graven images belonging to what they called “moveable rock art”.

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4,000 year old gold-adorned skeleton found near Windsor

Archaeologists, excavating near the Royal Borough, have discovered the 4400 year old gold-adorned skeleton of an upper class woman who was almost certainly a member of the local ruling elite. She is the earliest known woman adorned with such treasures ever found in Britain.

Excavations at Kingsmead Quarry [Credit: Wessex Archaeology]

The individual, aged around 40, was buried, wearing a necklace of folded sheet gold, amber and lignite beads, just a century or two after the construction of Stonehenge some 60 miles to the south-west. Even the buttons, thought to have been used to secure the upper part of her now long-vanished burial garment, were made of amber. She also appears to have worn a bracelet of lignite beads.

The archaeologist in charge of the excavation, Gareth Chaffey of Wessex Archaeology, believes that she may have been a person of power – perhaps even the prehistoric equivalent of a princess or queen.

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UK dig reveals 'sizeable' amount of Iron Age artefacts

Ancient metal artefacts found at a Leicestershire site could go on permanent display, archaeologists say.

Ancient human remains have also been found at the site, a former Iron Age fort [Credit: BBC]

The dig at Burrough Hill, near Melton Mowbray, has uncovered one of the biggest collections of Iron Age metalwork found in the East Midlands.

The finds include spears, knives, iron brooches, reaping hooks and the decorative bronze trim from a shield. Burrough Hill is the site of an Iron Age fort but no major excavation had taken place there since the 1970s.

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Mesolithic artefacts found at Stonehenge

An excavation funded with redundancy money shows Stonehenge was a settlement 3,000 years before it was built.

New archaeological evidence from Amesbury in Wiltshire reveals traces of human settlement 3,000 years before Stonehenge was even built [Credit: Christopher Jones/Telegraph]

The archaeological dig, a mile from the stones, has revealed that people have occupied the area since 7,500BC.

The findings, uncovered by volunteers on a shoestring budget, are 5,000 years earlier than previously thought.

Dr Josh Pollard, from Southampton University, said the team had "found the community who put the first monument up at Stonehenge".

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Norfolk Broads: Bronze Age evidence 'everywhere'

 

  Ben Robinson said hundreds of archaeological sites on the Norfolk Broads could be revaluated

Proof of Bronze Age activity can be found throughout the whole of the Norfolk Broads, archaeologists claim.

The Middle Bronze Age field system at Ormesby St Michael in 2010 is not unique to the area, Nick Gilmour said.

Mr Gilmour, who will feature in The Flying Archaeologist on BBC One, said aerial photos suggest clear signs of life well before the Broads were dug.

"The more you look the more you start seeing Bronze Age everywhere," he will say on the programme, at 19:30 BST.

Mr Gilmour was involved with the discovery of the complex field systems, which date back to about 1,500 BC.

It was previously thought the systems had not existed further east than the Cambridgeshire Fens.


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Vespasian’s Camp: Cradle of Stonehenge

Salisbury Plain is renowned for its spectacular Neolithic monuments, but decades of research have found few traces of earlier activity in the Stonehenge landscape. Now the discovery of the plain’s oldest residential site has uncovered evidence of 9,000 years of ritual and domestic activity, beginning three millennia before Stonehenge was built, as David Jacques, Tom Phillips, and Tom Lyons explained.

About a mile east of Stonehenge, an impressive promontory rises out of Salisbury Plain to around 95m above sea level. Situated close to the Avenue and Bluestonehenge (CA 237), commanding extensive views over the river Avon, and surrounded at all points of the compass by important prehistoric and historic sites and monuments, this spot might be expected to have held pivotal cultural significance for the plain’s early inhabitants for its location alone. But until our small-scale Open University excavations began in 2005, the Iron Age fortifications cresting the hill had received little archaeological attention.


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Stonehenge occupied 5,000 years earlier than thought

New archaeological evidence from Amesbury in Wiltshire reveals traces of human settlement 3,000 years before Stonehenge was even built

An excavation funded with redundancy money shows Stonehenge was a settlement 3,000 years before it was built.

The archaeological dig, a mile from the stones, has revealed that people have occupied the area since 7,500BC.

The findings, uncovered by volunteers on a shoestring budget, are 5,000 years earlier than previously thought.


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Funding cuts threaten North-Rhine Westphalia's cultural heritage

North-Rhine Westphalia's unique cultural heritage is under threat. Massive cutbacks in public funding of cultural heritage have been announced. 

Reconstruction of a Neanderthal man and woman from
the Neanderthal Museum [Credit: Wiki Commons]

The German Society for Pre- and Protohistory has started an online-petition to urge the government to rethink their plans. 

In Germany the petition has already become an overwhelming success with 16.000 signees and surprisingly wide resonance in the press within three weeks.

For more information and to sign the petition click here

Stonehenge project compares Neolithic building methods

An experiment is under way in Wiltshire to find out more about Neolithic building methods. Using archaeological evidence unearthed from nearby Durrington Walls, three structures are being built at Old Sarum Castle, near Salisbury.

The project aims to recreate the buildings which may have existed
in Neolithic times [Credit: Ancient Technology Centre]

The English Heritage project aims to discover what was the most efficient way of building with locally-sourced materials.

The final reconstructions will be built at Stonehenge later this year. They will be put up outside the new visitor centre.

The experiment is part of a £27m English Heritage scheme looking at how the setting of the ancient monument can be improved.

The recreated Neolithic buildings will form part of an "interactive and experiential" external exhibition at the 3,500-year-old World Heritage site.

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Iron Age warriors point to glories of Gaul

Cecile Paresys stands next to the bones of two Gauls, on a site in Bucheres, near Troyes, on April 11, 2013 (AFP, Francois Nascimbeni)

BUCHERES, France — In a muddy field located between a motorway and a meander of the Seine southeast of Paris, French archaeologists have uncovered an Iron Age graveyard that they believe will shed light on the great yet enigmatic civilisation of Gaul.

The site, earmarked for a warehouse project on the outskirts of Troyes, is yielding a stunning array of finds, including five Celtic warriors, whose weapons and adornments attest to membership of a powerful but long-lost elite.

Archaeologist Emilie Millet is crouched at one of 14 burial sites that have been uncovered in recent weeks.

At her feet are the remains of a tall warrior, complete with a 70-centimetre (28-inch) iron sword still in its scabbard.

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A flair for imperfections

The axe from Hundvåg is damaged by a succession of failed strokes in both edge and body, suggesting that it was sculpted by an unskilled knapper, probably a child. Credit: Terje Tveit, Archeological Museum, UiS 

To most people, a useless flint axe is just that. To archaeologist Sigrid Alræk Dugstad, it is a source of information about Stone Age children.

Whereas arrowheads, axes and other formal tools have traditionally received a lot of attention in research, the archaeologist Sigrid Alræk Dugstad now concentrates on what is at the bottom of the hierarchy, namely the production debris and the unfinished and discarded products. 

In the article "Early child caught knapping: A novice early Mesolithic flintknapper in southwestern Norway," she has turned upside down the hierarchy of objects from the Early Stone Age. 

"A succession of failed strokes, terminating in many hinge and step fractures, indicates that axe was made by a novice flintknapper, probably a child," Dugstad says.

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Study backs 'hobbit' island dwarfism theory

How an ancient human species may have shrunk as a result of island dwarfism

A diminutive species of human whose remains were found on the Indonesian island of Flores could have shrunk as a result of island dwarfism as it adapted to its environment.

A study of the remains of the creature, nicknamed the "hobbit", shows that it is possible for it to have been a dwarf version of an early human species.

The hobbit co-existed with our species until 12,000 years ago.

The research has been published in the Royal Society's Proceedings B Journal.

Since its discovery in 2003, researchers have struggled to explain the origins of these metre high, tiny-brained people, known scientifically asHomo floresiensis.

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Gaul warriors unearthed at 2,300-year-old site

French archaeologists have unearthed the graves of several Gaul warriors dating back around 2300 years, at the site of a huge business park development near the city of Troyes in central France.

One of the 2300 year old graves unearthed near the city of Troyes [Credit: The Local]

Archaeologists from the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap) have been carrying out excavations at the site near Buchères over the course of recent years.

But even they were surprised by their latest discovery at the 260-hectare site, which is set to become the Aube Logistical Park.

Around 30 graves dating back to between 260 and 325 BC were identified at the site, with around half being excavated, revealing the remains of Gaul warriors, with weapons and shields in hand. Women are buried alongside them.

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Scientists Find Groundbreaking New Surprises in Examination of Early Human Ancestor

It dominated science headlines when the news was first released. The discovery of the remains of a new species of ancient hominin (human ancestor) revealed a candidate that sported a mosaic of features both ape-like and human -- an unprecedented 2-million-year-old hybrid called Australopithecus sediba (Au. sediba). First stumbled upon in 2008 by Professor Lee Berger of the University of the Witwatersrand and his then 9-year-old son Matthew at the fossil bearing site of Malapa in South Africa, the finds, consisting of remarkably complete skeletal remains as well as other well-preserved fauna and flora, instantly became the subject of perhaps the most intense and thoroughly studied hominin fossils ever documented.

The team, led by Berger and composed of South African and international scientists from the Evolutionary Studies Institute (ESI) at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and 16 other global institutions (totalling more than 100 researchers from around the world), recently examined the anatomy of Au. sediba based on its skeletons catalogued as "MH1" (a juvenile skeleton) and "MH2" (an adult female skeleton), as well as an adult isolated tibia catalogued as "MH4". The scientists have now completed what amounts to the second 2-year installment of a series of studies begun approximately four years ago, and the efforts of their research have resulted in additional new surprises. Dispersed among six separate studies, these latest examinations have determined in essence how the hominin walked, chewed and moved:

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Ötzi the Iceman Needed a Dentist

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Otzi the iceman, an astonishingly preserved Neolithic mummy found in the Alps in 1991, shows evidence of severe gum disease and cavities (shown in red). CREDIT: UZH View full size image

Ötzi the Iceman could have used a dentist. The amazingly preserved Neolithic mummy found in the Italian Alps had tooth decay, gum disease and dental trauma, new research suggests.

The new findings, published Tuesday (April 9) in the European Journal of Oral Sciences, suggest that theIceman mummy's grain-heavy diet took a toll on his dental health.

"It's surprising how bad condition he is in," said study co-author Frank Ruhli, a paleopathologist at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. "We have the whole range of disease pathologies you can imagine." [Album: What Otzi the Iceman Looked Like]

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Pottery reveals Ice Age hunter-gatherers' taste for fish

Hunter-gatherers living in glacial conditions produced pots for cooking fish, according to the findings of a pioneering new study led by the University of York which reports the earliest direct evidence for the use of ceramic vessels.

An Incipient Jomon pot from Kubodera-minami, Niigata Prefecture, Japan
ca. 15,000 years old [Credit: Tokamchi City Museum]

Scientists from the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden and Japan carried out chemical analysis of food residues in pottery up to 15,000 years old from the late glacial period, the oldest pottery so far investigated. It is the first study to directly address the often posed question "why humans made pots?" Theresearch is published in Nature.

The research team was able to determine the use of a range of hunter-gatherer "Jōmon" ceramic vessels through chemical analysis of organic compounds extracted from charred surface deposits. The samples analysed are some of the earliest found in Japan, a country recognised to be one of the first centres for ceramic innovation, and date to the end of the Late Pleistocene -- a time when humans were adjusting to changing climates and new environments.

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Team reconstructs 'human ancestor'

The researchers were able reconstruct the species using bones from three different individuals

The most complete view yet of a possible human ancestor uncovered in South Africa has revealed an intriguing mix of human and ape traits.

The two-million-year-old remains of several partial skeletons belonging to a previously unknown humanlike species were found in 2008 near Johannesburg.

The new analysis shows this species -Australopithecus sediba - had a human-like pelvis, hands and teeth, and a chimpanzee-like foot.

The findings appear in Science journal.

In six separate research reports, scientists probed further into the anatomy of a juvenile male skeleton, commonly referred to as MH1, a female skeleton, known as MH2, and an isolated adult tibia or shinbone, known as MH4.

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Investigating Bronze Age stone ships on Gotland

Ship Stones in Gannarve, Gotland. Image: Jerzy Kociatkiewicz 

(Flickr, used under a CC BY-SA 3.0)

In the middle of the Bronze Age, around 1000 BCE, the quantity of metal artefacts traded in the Baltic Sea region increased dramatically. Around that same time, a new type of monument appeared along the coasts; stones set on edge and arranged in the form of ships, built by the maritime culture involved in that same metal trade.

A wide maritime network

These Bronze Age maritime groups were part of a network that extended across large parts of northern Europe and with links further to the south: a network maintained due to the increasing dependence on bronze and other important raw materials as a means of social status and cultural dependency.

Archaeologists have long assumed that bronze was imported to Scandinavia from the south, and recent analyses has now confirmed this hypothesis. However, the people who conducted the trade and formed the networks are rarely addressed, not to mention the locations of where they met.

‘One reason why the meeting places of the Bronze Age are not discussed very often is that we have been unable to find them. Which is in contrast to the trading centres of the [later] Viking Age, which have been easy to locate due to the wealth of archaeological material that was left behind,’ says the author of the thesis Joakim Wehlin from the University of Gothenburg and Gotland University.


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Ancient monument 'damaged by cattle'

One of the Westcountry's most famous archaeological landmarks is being threatened by grazing cattle permitted by the Government's environment watchdog, campaigners have warned.

The Bronze Age stone monument, known as Men-an-Tol, has stood near Morvah, in West Cornwall, for up to 4,500 years.

It is listed as a scheduled monument with English Heritage describing it as "one of the most famous and mysterious" in Cornwall.

But campaigners fear it is now being damaged by cattle introduced onto the heathland under a Natural England agri-environmental scheme.

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First Love Child of Human, Neanderthal Found

The skeletal remains of an individual living in northern Italy 40,000-30,000 years ago are believed to be that of a human/Neanderthal hybrid, according to a paper in PLoS ONE.

If further analysis proves the theory correct, the remains belonged to the first known such hybrid, providing direct evidence that humans and Neanderthals interbred. Prior genetic research determined the DNA of people with European and Asian ancestry is 1 to 4 percent Neanderthal.

The present study focuses on the individual’s jaw, which was unearthed at a rock-shelter called Riparo di Mezzena in the Monti Lessini region of Italy. Both Neanderthals and modern humans inhabited Europe at the time.


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Bronze warship ram reveals secrets

Analysis of a bronze battering ram from a 2,000 year-old warship sheds light on how such an object would have been made in ancient times.

Known as the Belgammel Ram, the 20kg artefact was discovered by a group of British divers off the coast of Libya near Tobruk in 1964. The ram is from a small Greek or Roman warship – a “tesseraria”. These ships were equipped with massive bronze rams on the bow at the waterline and were used for ramming the side timbers of enemy ships. At 65cm long, the Belgammel Ram is smaller in size and would have been sited on the upper level on the bow. This second ram is known as a proembolion, which strengthened the bow and also served to break the oars of an enemy ship.

Leading marine archaeologist, Dr Nic Flemming a visiting fellow of the National Oceanography Centre, co-ordinated a team of specialists from five institutes to analyse the artefact before it was returned to the National Museum in Tripoli in May 2010. Their results have been published in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology.

Dr Flemming said: “Casting a large alloy object weighing more than 20kg is not easy. To find out how it was done we needed specialists who could analyse the mix of metals in the alloys; experts who could study the internal crystal structure and the distribution of gas bubbles; and scholars who could examine the classical literature and other known examples of bronze castings.


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