Postgrad Seminar in Archaeology

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Postgrad Seminar in Archaeology

The Post-graduate Seminars for Archaeology All are welcome. Please also include a selection of dates you are available.

The Postgraduate Seminar in Archaeology is a bi-weekly event which provides an opportunity for MA and PhD students at the University of Manchester to meet, socialize, and share their research. We want to encourage discussion and feedback for the different research areas and as well as have a chance to get to know each other and our respective projects and interests. A 20-30 minute research paper i

s presented at each session and is usually followed by a brief discussion and a trip to the pub. We still have some slots available at the end of Semester 1 and also are keen to fill up the slots for Semester 2, so if you’d like to present a paper at one of the seminars then please feel free to submit an abstract (200-300 words). Your preferences along with the abstract should be emailed to: [email protected]. There is no official deadline for proposals, and MA students are encouraged to submit for Semester 2 as this fits in best with the schedule of dissertation proposals allowing for a bit more time to develop your topics. Anyone wishing to submit a paper for Semester 1 is encouraged to do so ASAP. We particularly encourage research students to participate in these seminars as a platform to introduce your research to peers and gain valuable feedback, but we hope to see you all there! Best wishes,
Stephanie Duensing & Ellon Souter

01/12/2012

Dear All,

The fifth and final Archaeology postgraduate research seminar of this semester will take place on Monday 3rd of December at 5pm in Mansfield Cooper 2.03. As always, all postgraduates and any interested UG students in the SAHC are welcome and all are welcome to join us at the pub following the seminar.

Regards,

Stephanie & Ellon

http://mancarchaeologypostgrad.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Postgrad-Seminar-in-Archaeology/257448977633585

Our speaker will be Raymond Nilson of Archaeology at the University of Manchester. His paper is entitled:

Trapping is the Pits

Abstract: Throughout its academic history, Mesolithic Britain has been dominated by discourses of hunting as the prime subsistence strategy. The very nomenclature applied to the humans living in this period: hunter-gatherers, is testament to such views of survival methods prior to the Neolithic epoch. A reappraisal of the term hunting, however, identifies such a term as loaded. Yet, its use has strictly endorsed the notion of economic praxis, which simply involves pursuit of animals and their subsequent deaths by projectile weapons. Such approaches may be claimed as an overarching catalyst regarding procurement strategies of meat during the Mesolithic. As a response, it is considered that a number of subsistence mechanisms, such as land alteration strategies, may have been employed to obtain animals desired for consumption. More importantly, it is suggested that the term hunting may be redefined as an amalgamation of the social processes and practices that constitute the acquisition of fauna for food. This paper will explore these issues through a reanalysis of the term hunting, which will argue that land alteration strategies played a major role in the procurement of animals. Through a reassessment of the Mesolithic pits, interpreted as ‘pit falls’, located in Selmeston, Sussex, and Warren Field, Aberdeenshire, it is suggested that trapping was a particular aspect of a wider-based hunting strategy. Moreover, many other examples of pits illustrate that trapping was possibly a vital mechanism utilised to catch desired fauna during the Mesolithic period in Britain.

16/11/2012

Dear All,

The fourth Archaeology postgraduate research seminar of this semester will take place on Monday 19th of November at 5pm in Mansfield Cooper 2.03.

As always, all postgraduates and any interested UG students in the SAHC are welcome and all are welcome to join us at the pub following the seminar.

Regards,

Stephanie & Ellon

http://mancarchaeologypostgrad.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Postgrad-Seminar-in-Archaeology/257448977633585

Our speaker this week will be Dr Irene Garcia Rovira, Honorary Research Fellow in Archaeology at the University of Manchester. Her paper is entitled:

When the Wounds are Still Raw...
On the Law of Recovery of Historical Memory of the Spanish Civil War
Abstract:

In 2007, the Socialist Party then in power approved the Law of Recovery of Historical Memory. This law stripped legitimacy from the Spanish Civil War and subsequent dictatorship, and offered State help in the recovery of the victims of Franco’s repression. Whilst this law represented the first attempt at the creation of new narratives which broke with the official histories written under Franco’s rule, it also generated a series of complications which directly affected the archaeological community. This year the Spanish government removed the State budget associated with the recovery of historical memory. This may correspond to the financial situation that Spain faces today, however, it should also be noted that the Popular Party has always objected to the approval of this law. Perhaps, it is the right time to revise some of the major problems triggered with the approval of the law. Among them, in this talk, I would like to open debate on the role of archaeological interpretation in the creation of new narratives about this socio-historical period.

22/10/2012

TONIGHT!!! Come out for the next in our seminar series! Dr. Gordon Marino is presenting and it should be great. 5pm rm 2.03 in Mansfield Cooper. Drinks after!

19/10/2012

Dear All,

The second Archaeology postgraduate research seminar of this semester will take place on Monday 22nd November at 5pm in Mansfield Cooper 2.03.

All postgraduates in the SAHC are welcome and we would also like to encourage any interested UG students to attend - all are welcome to join us at the pub following the seminar.

Regards,

Stephanie & Ellon

Our speaker will be Dr. Gordon Marino, from the University of Manchester. His paper is entitled:

The Boy in the Victorian Orphanage

Abstract:

This presentation draws upon PhD research into the experiences of a young boy in a Victorian Orphanage and School on the outskirts of Manchester. It draws on material culture found at the institution, to reconstruct elements of the young child's life.
The finds were purposefully hidden and consist of several items that can be shown to be of a personal nature, whilst demonstrating both an individual and a collective significance. Through these finds, elements of the life of a young child in a Victorian orphanage and boarding school are explored. The research raises several potential questions about the child, and the motivations behind the concealment of such personal materials. Various possibilities were explored in the final PhD. Historical research into his later life develops the story further into a more detailed story of the adult.
The presentation will explore the methodology through which the investigation was developed, drawing upon the experiences of the researcher. It will further demonstrate some of the complexities inherent in research into the past. In conclusion the presentation will raise issues of the complex relationship between researcher and other interested parties, and the potential difficulties that can be experienced, especially when individuals hold cherished preconceptions of the past that the researcher might challenge.

12/10/2012

Dear All,

The next Archaeology postgraduate research seminar this semester will take place on Monday October 22nd at 5PM in Mansfield Cooper 2.03. Our speaker will be Dr. Gordon Marino, recent graduate from University of Manchester. His paper is entitled:

'The Boy in the Victorian Orphanage'

The talk will be followed by a brief Q&A discussion period and then drinks, of course.

Regards,

Stephanie and Ellon

http://mancarchaeologypostgrad.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Postgrad-Seminar-in-Archaeology

08/10/2012

TONIGHT!!! Come out for the first seminar! Nick Overton is presenting and it should be great. Drinks after at Jabez Clegg.

04/09/2012

Postgraduate Seminar in Archaeology: Call for Papers!

The 2012-13 Post-graduate Seminars for Archaeology will be taking place starting in early October. We are still trying to expand the seminars to include Archaeology MAs as well as Archaeology PhDs and other related subject areas, as this is a perfect platform to have your first shot at giving a paper or a trail run for other conferences. We want to encourage discussion and feedback for the different research areas and as well as have a chance to get to know each other and our respective projects and interests. We always finish off with a nice social trip to one of the nearby pubs to continue the discussion, so please come join us!

If you’re interested in giving a paper in semester one, please submit a 200-300 word abstract to [email protected].
Abstracts for all areas of research will be considered and the successful applicants will be notified via email. Please send your abstracts including your name, previous degree(s), and research topic/supervisor.

Papers should be between 15-25 minutes with 10-20 mins of discussion after.

The deadline for abstract submissions is Monday 1st October 2012, the first seminar will be held on Wednesday 10th October in Mansfield Cooper 4.5.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me:

Stephanie Duensing & Ellon Souter

29/08/2012

The Archaeology department will be running the post graduate seminars again this year, a forum where postgraduates in the archaeology department can present short papers on their research to date.

Would all interested in either helping to run the seminars or giving a paper please contact Stephanie Duensing at [email protected] for more information.

A formal Call for Papers will be emailed out soon so stay tuned.

Stephanie

10/05/2012

Dear All,

The final Archaeology postgraduate research seminar of this semester will take place on Monday 14th May at 5pm in Mansfield Cooper 4.05. Our speaker will be Ray Nilson, PhD student with the Department of Archaeology. His paper is entitled:

Moving with Sense: Early Mesolithic Mobility and Wayfinding in the Kennet Valley, Berkshire

Abstract:

Traditional views of the mobility of human groups in the Mesolithic of England have been presented with a focus on economic and environmental determinism. In the earlier to mid 20th century, a series of Mesolithic excavations prompted Grahame Clark to conflate the intentionality of mobility with seasonal and economic factors. Such a hypothesis, however, has hitherto dominated debates in archaeology, which seek to discuss how and why hunter-gatherers travelled. This paper directs attention to the Mesolithic movements of human groups in the Kennet Valley, Berkshire, southern England. It is argued that such traditional views advocate for a Cartesian and ethnocentric approach to Mesolithic studies by placing the environment at the mercy of human dominance and human requirements. Drawing on the anthropological studies of Tim Ingold, it is suggested that the movements of hunter-gatherers may be alternatively illustrated through the concept of wayfinding. As traditional opinions divide relationships between human beings and the world they exist in, wayfinding exposes such relationships as being infinitely bound together through sensory engagement with the world. I argue that Mesolithic mobility was seldom driven by predetermined and coherent seasonal pathways, which presented a consistent and unchanging picture of the environment. Instead, as the world physically and consistently altered, so did the mobility of humans, taking multiple pathways by their sensory immersion in the world.

26/04/2012

Dear All,

The third Archaeology postgraduate research seminar this semester will take place on Monday 30th April at 5pm in Mansfield Cooper 4.05. We are pleased to present two papers this week:

Our speaker will be Frances Jane Neild, PhD student with the Department of Archaeology. Her paper is entitled:

A Kind of Peace: Violence in Context in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, SE Anatolia

All postgraduates in the SAHC are welcome and we would also like to encourage any interested UG students to attend - all are welcome to join us at Kro bar following the seminar.

Regards,

Bryn, Stephanie and Steven

Abstract:

A Kind of Peace: Violence in Context in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, SE Anatolia.
Archaeological approaches to the Neolithic Near East have tended to present a picture of a peaceful society, one in which hunter-gatherer groups were happily engaged in a transition to a settlement culture; nonetheless impressing us with radical and technological innovations such as the domestication of crops and animals, the building of houses and ceremonial structures, the smelting of copper and the production of lime plaster. But to have engineered a non-hierarchical non-violent society ranging over a region of thousands of miles and facing tremendous change through 3 or more millenia would have been the most major feat of all – one of such proportions that credibility is stretched too far. Researchers such as Clare and Gebel (2010) highlight the reality of the lack of wider data on violence for this period in the region and make what constitutes a plea for ‘a systematic search for traumata’, implying that signs of violence may have been overlooked. Or perhaps they have remained obscure because they are somehow masked or moderated by their cultural context or by archaeological interpretations of that context. This paper is presented then as the initial stages of a search for signs of violence, in the context of the material culture of the Neolithic Near East, with a particular focus on SE Anatolia.

19/04/2012

Dear All,

The second Archaeology postgraduate research seminar this semester will take place on Monday 23rd April at 5pm in Mansfield Cooper 4.05. We are pleased to present two papers this week:

The first speaker will be Ceri Houlbrook, PhD student with the Department of Archaeology. Her paper is entitled:

Reading Superstition Backwards: Contextualising the Contemporary Coin-Tree

Our second speakers are Ruth Colton & Steven Leech, also PhD students in the Department of Archaeology and their paper is entitled:

The Land Between Us: Art, Archaeology and the Recent Past

All postgraduates in the SAHC are welcome and we would also like to encourage any interested UG students to attend - all are welcome to join us at Kro bar following the seminar.

Regards,

Bryn, Stephanie and Steven

26/01/2012

2012 PGR Seminars. Semester 2 CALL FOR PAPERS.
Dear Archaeology Post-graduate Students (and related disciplines):

Following on from the success of the 2011 series we are pleased to announce that the Post-graduate Seminars for Archaeology will be continuing in 2012. Details for exact dates and locations TBA shortly, but seminars are expected to run alternate Tuesdays at 5pm in Mansfield Cooper 4.05 throughout the second semester (30 January – 23 March; 16 April – 8 June).

An on-going aim is to expand seminar participation to include Archaeology MAs alongside Archaeology PhDs as well as other related subject areas. The seminars themselves offer a relaxed platform to have your first shot at giving a paper or practice delivering one in preparation for future conferences. We want to encourage discussion and feedback across the different research areas as well as providing a forum to get to know each other and our respective projects and interests.

This is a Call for Papers and all abstracts (max. 300 words). Papers should be 20-30 minutes in length with 10-15 minutes for questions and discussion to follow. Please include a selection of dates you are available. Your scheduling preferences along with the papers provisional title and abstract should be emailed to: [email protected].

Abstracts for all areas of research will be considered and the successful papers will be posted and updated on the Post-graduate Seminars blog (http://mancarchaeologypostgrad.blogspot.com/) as well as on the Facebook group (here), so as to keep you up to speed on upcoming events and topics.

There is no official deadline for proposals, however as there has already been significant interest anyone wishing to submit a paper for Semester 2 is encouraged to send a brief notification ASAP. We particularly encourage research students to participate in these seminars as a platform to introduce your work to peers and gain valuable feedback, but we hope to see you all there! As ever, seminars will be followed by drinks providing an opportunity to socialise, network, and share ideas.

Best wishes for 2012,

Stephanie Duensing, Bryn James and Steven Leech.

Keep following us for updates and information!
http://mancarchaeologypostgrad.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Postgrad-Seminar-in-Archaeology/257448977633585

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