16 November 2015

Social Evolution
The Dalrymple Lectures 2015

Given by Professor John C. Barrett
Emeritus Professor of Archaeology.The University of Sheffield
Series of four lectures:

Monday 16th, 6.30pm: ‘The definition of the evolutionary process and the rise of human society’

Tuesday 17th, 6.30pm: ‘From hunter-gatherers to agriculturalists: economic evolution?’

Wed. 18th, 6.30pm: ‘From Stone Age to Bronze Age: the evolution of the political economy?’

Thursday 19th, 7.30pm: ‘The Iron Age and the evolution of social diversity’

The Sir Charles Wilson Building,
Kelvin Way, Glasgow, G12 8QQ
Lectures are Free and open to all

16 November 2015

Castlehill Heritage Centre, 10am to 4.30pm

AOC’s environmental specialist Jackaline Robertson will be at Castlehill Heritage Centre later this month, leading the processing of the soil samples that were collected during fieldwork earlier this year. The buckets of soil that were so lovingly collected by our volunteers will be sorting using CHC’s flotation tank. The entire contents of the buckets are tipped into water and gently manipulated with the hands, so that soil/sediments are washed away. Heavy materials such as pebbles etc. sink to the bottom and are collected, dried, weighed and sorted. Small artefacts such as flints or fragments of pottery are often found in amongst this material. Light ecofacts such as seeds, charcoal and charred grains float to the top of the water and are collected in a series of sieves. These are also dried, sorted and assessed, yielding interesting information about flora and fauna in the past.

Although this task takes place indoors, warm clothes are recommended, as well as wellies/overalls and waterproofs to keep you clean(ish) and dry! Wet sieving tends to get rather messy…

If you would like to come along and take part in the wet sieving, please do drop me an email at charlotte.douglas@aocarchaeology.com to let me know, so Jack knows how many helpers she will have!