School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester

29/05/2026

🎉It's the end of Week 1 of the Loddington fieldschool and what a week it's been! Despite the scorching weather (and occasional downpour) our students have uncovered some really exciting archaeology aided by our fantastic team of SHAC and Archaeological Services, University of Leicester (ULAS) archaeologists.

🏺In one area, we have several ditches and postholes producing eleventh to thirteenth century pottery and even a possible early Anglo-Saxon sherd. In another, the remains of a substantial complex of stone and brick buildings is appearing including one with a large cellar. Worked stone recovered from demolition layers suggests this is not the stable-block or farm building we originally thought it might be, but a much more high status building!

👨‍🎓 Alongside all today's digging and recording, our students enjoyed a workshop delivered by Ben Donnelly-Symes from the Northamptonshire Archaeological Resource Centre exploring the world of archaeological archives. They had the opportunity to handle a range of objects including Anglo-Saxon brooches, Roman figurines and Iron Age knives and think about how they would record and store them appropriately. Thank you Ben!

🔍We also had a visit from Leicestershire's archaeological legend, Pete Liddle, who kindly spot- dated some of our pottery and marvelled at what we've found so far.

🤞Stay tuned for Week 2 where the weather will be kinder and the finds even more plentiful!

28/05/2026

📢Day 3 at the Loddington fieldschool and our students have made steady progress cleaning, excavating and recording features across the site. A few more medieval finds have been recovered including sherds of Stamford ware pottery and a dress pin, but dating evidence for some of our big ditches, gullies and postholes is yet to appear. We're all hoping it'll be there in spades in the bottom fills! 🤞

🦴In today's workshop, Archaeological Services, University of Leicester (ULAS) star animal bone specialist Will Johnson-Moss treated our students to an overview of medieval animal bone assemblages. They had the opportunity to handle a range of animal bone and think about what they can tell us about the site.

🎉A team of Leicestershire Fieldworkers were also out on site undertaking some geophysical survey to increase our understanding of the area near the church. They very kindly demonstrated the process to interested students who then had a go at using the equipment themselves. Another valuable skill acquired ✅

28/05/2026

🌞As we are heading into the Summer months and with that, another packed programme of events in our area as part of the Council for British Archaeology’s Festival of Archaeology (4th July - 2nd August).

🥳This year’s programme is as full and varied as ever, and details of all the events are now live on the Leicestershire Fieldworkers Festival page: https://leicsfieldworkers.org/festival-of-archaeology/

📣Please do share this widely, come along to some of the events and help support this great success story.

2025 PROGRAMME NOW LIVE! Saturday 5th July – Sunday 3rd August

27/05/2026

👩‍🎓Read more about SHAC student Molly Mather and her fascinating research using sensory approaches to reconstruct the smell of parts of Pompeii👩‍🎓

Romans used urine to clean and whiten their clothes - but how did they deal with the smell?

A Leicester Master’s student explored exactly that in award-winning research into Pompeii’s ancient laundries, where workers trampled cloth in vats of urine to remove stains.

Her research found that features like courtyards and wide doorways may have helped disperse odours - though customers appear to have benefited more than workers.

It’s a brilliant reminder that even the everyday details of ancient life can reveal bigger stories about society and inequality.

👉 https://le.ac.uk/news/2026/may/award-dissertation-pompeii-roman-fullonica

27/05/2026

📢It's Day 2 of the Loddington Fieldschool. With some rain overnight, the range of features across the site have become more visible and we've had a fantastic day cleaning them and getting started with excavation.

🪏While cleaning, we've had some great finds including 14th century pottery and coins and even a tiny bone spoon. These objects will help us date the buildings from which they came and to understand the character of activity there.

👨‍🎓Alongside all the hard work on site, SHAC's Dr Ben Morton treated the students to a workshop on medieval settlement, while some tried their hand at metal detecting the spoil and using the GPS. Thank you Ben!

Also thanks to our talented team of Archaeological Services, University of Leicester (ULAS) staff and Leicestershire Fieldworkers volunteers who are delivering amazing training and support!

27/05/2026

📣The Wednesday Seminar Team would like to invite everyone to the seminars this week Wednesday 27th May titled Writing Contested Histories in Heritage Contexts: The Case of Edith, Lady Londonderry of Mount Stewart, Northern Ireland presented by Prof Joy Porter from the University of Birmingham.

🔎Joy Porter is 125th Anniversary Chair, University of Birmingham and Principal Investigator of the Treatied Spaces Research Group (treatiedspaces.com), an interdisciplinary, internationally collaborative research entity dedicated to addressing Indigenous environmental, political, historical and cultural concerns, and to making them central to debate across disciplines.

✅ PI: Historic Houses Global Crossroads| Brightening the Covenant Chain

📕Book: Trauma, Primitivism and the First World War CUP Series

🖊️Lead Editor: Elements in Indigenous Environmental Research | Elements in Critical Heritage Studies.

☕️A tea reception will be held in the Kathleen Kenyon foyer at 4.00pm (UK Time). The seminar will begin at 4:30pm (UK Time). While our speaker will be online, we will be holding an in-person screening in George Porter LT A.

26/05/2026

📢Today was the first day of the SHAC and Archaeological Services, University of Leicester (ULAS) fieldschool at Loddington, Leicestershire and it was a scorcher!📢

👩‍🎓The students braved the heat and slowly began the process of cleaning back the features, getting through approximately 200 litres of drinking water in the process!👨‍🎓

🪏The outlines of some post-medieval structures (including one with a big cellar) are now visible. These structures cut some earlier features including several substantial ditches, pits and postholes. Are these Early Medieval? Stay tuned to find out!🪏

🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞

21/05/2026

🥳 Congratulations to Dr Philippa Walton, who won the Best Supervisor Award at the Student Union Awards last night.

🤩 Dr Dan Stewart was also nominated for the Best Inclusive Practice Award.

🎉 Congratulations to both!

20/05/2026

📣The Wednesday Seminar Team would like to invite everyone to the seminars today Wednesday 20th May titled Care-full: Exploring the potential of posthuman pedagogies of care in archaeology and heritage presented by Prof Hannah Cobb from the University of Manchester. This is a collaboration with the Material Worlds reading group.

🤓Hannah Cobb is a Professor of Archaeology and Pedagogy at the University of Manchester, also being her university’s Lead for Scholarship and Academic Development. She is a passionate advocate for inclusion, equity and diversity in both the present (contemporary archaeological practice and higher education), and the past (British Prehistory). Since 2006 she has been a director of the multi period Ardnamurchan Transitions Project. She also co-directed the West Pennines Mesolithic Project (2017) and the Whitworth Park Community Archaeology and History Project (2010-2014). She is one of the creators of the Archaeological Skills Passport, and was a founding Trustee of the Enabled Archaeology Foundation (2018-2023) and, between 2015-2022 she founded and chaired the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists Equality and Diversity Group. She is an author of the 6th edition of the textbook Archaeology: An Introduction and has published extensively on teaching and learning and EDI in archaeology.

☕️A tea reception will be held in the Kathleen Kenyon foyer at 4.30pm (UK Time). The hybrid seminar will begin at 5:00pm (UK Time). For those attending in person, we are holding it in George Porter LT A.

19/05/2026

🪏In less than a week, the archaeological field school will return to Loddington, Leicestershire, to continue investigating the origins and development of the village.

🏚️The field school, organised by SHAC in partnership with the University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS), provides training for students while contributing to ongoing research into the development of a shrunken medieval village in Leicestershire. This year, around 50 first- and second-year students will take part alongside SHAC and ULAS staff, postgraduates, and volunteers from the Leicestershire Fieldworkers.

🪨Previous excavations have uncovered well-preserved medieval and post-medieval remains, including boundary features, evidence of domestic activity, and later stone-built structures likely associated with Loddington Hall. Further excavation this summer is expected to provide new insights into medieval life and land use.

🤩If you are interested in learning more about the project and our discoveries, we will be hosting a public open day on Wednesday 3 June, from 1.30–3.30pm on site (What3Words location: easygoing.image.gurgling). Visitors will have the opportunity to see the excavation in progress and speak with staff and students.

18/05/2026

🔬Last week, our DL UG students came on campus to attend the lab week. During this intensive 5-day course, the students were introduced to the principles and application of different approaches to studying archaeological ceramics, metal, standing buildings and human osteology.

🥘The week was completed with a celebatory curry dinner!