MA in Archaeology: Stonehenge and the First Britons by Research

This programme will provide opportunities for students to take part in fieldwork at the site, as well as visit the archaeological sites in the Stonehenge landscape.The programme runs from October to September and will consist of a series of ten research seminars. These are supplemented by two optional three-day weekend field trips, each of which combines visits to major archaeological sites with first-hand fieldwork at Blick Mead and Vespasian’s Camp, and two dissertation workshops. Examination will be by original dissertation of no less than 20,000 words.BBC and ITV video clips about the Buckingham dig’s latest findings at Stonehenge:

• BBC "Horizon" (14 August 2015): First Britons
• BBC "Operation Stonehenge" (3 September 2014): Pink flint phenomenon
• ITV Meridian: Stonehenge

Blick Mead: Fresh Discoveries and New Perspectives on the Early Establishment of the Stonehenge LandscapeAn archaeological team from the University of Buckingham’s Humanities Research Institute has, for the first time, been uncovering large amounts of Mesolithic material from a site within the Stonehenge World Heritage Site. Blick Mead, about 2km from the famous stone circle, has so far yielded over 35,000 pieces of worked flint and burnt flint, as well as over 2,000 pieces of bone from Mesolithic contexts. Many of the stone tools discovered are in sharp condition, indicating little movement from a time when Britain was still part of Europe to when it became Britain for the first time, around 5500 BC. Seventeen radio carbon dates indicate the site as being ‘visited’ between 7916-4041 cal BC, making it the longest used area in Great Britain. A significant consequence of the excavations is the way in which the team has discovered whereabouts the communities who built the first monuments at Stonehenge (c. 8500-6700 BC) lived. The site also provides evidence for ritual activity in later Mesolithic and prehistoric periods, suggesting that a very rare long durée site has been found.David Jacques, Professorial Research Fellow in Archaeology at the University of Buckingham’s Humanities Research Institute, has been directing the excavations at Vespasian’s Camp in Amesbury, Wiltshire, since 2005. The site’s archaeological potential first came to light as a result of his detailed search of the site’s estate and nearby farm records. Previously, the site had been largely ignored by archaeologists, the assumption being that any archaeology there had been destroyed by the landscaping of the area during the 18th century.
Blick Mead is of great historical interest as it potentially provides a ‘missing link’ between the late Mesolithic, early Neolithic periods and the establishment of the early ritual landscape at Stonehenge.The findings produced by the Buckingham-funded excavations have led experts to describe Blick Mead and Vespasian’s Camp as one of the pivotal places in the early history of the Stonehenge landscape. As a result of support from the University of Buckingham’s Humanities Research Institute, further work is planned in the Blick Mead area over the next two years.David Jacques gave a lecture at Gresham College on 21 September 2016: “‘The Cradle of Stonehenge’? Blick Mead – a Mesolithic Site in the Stonehenge Landscape”. You can watch it below:Associate studentsFor those taking the course as Associate Students, this seminar programme may be enjoyed as a self-contained survey of Stonehenge and its landscape and of British prehistoric archaeology. This status will enable the student to attend the ten research seminars and take a full part in the seminar and buffet dinner discussions, as well as optional field trips, but does not require the submission of written work. Associate Students are not registered for, and do not receive, the MA degree.Read about David Jacques’s work at Stonehenge

• Field work at Vespasian’s Camp, near Stonehenge, Wiltshire, 2005-13
• Discoveries at Vespasian’s Camp, near Stonehenge, Wiltshire, 2005-12
• Concluding thoughts – Vespasian’s Camp: Time after Time
• Vespasian’s Camp and the extent of its eighteenth century landscaping
• Vespasian’s Camp: The question of the Bronze Age barrows

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