Sussex Archaeological Society visits the Pitt Rivers Museum

Public engagement, as previously mentioned, is a central element of the Excavating Pitt-Rivers project. In June Carlotta went to Lewes and presented the projects initial findings on Pitt-Rivers' time in Sussex and visited Mount Caburn with the Sussex Archaeological Society. On Saturday (19th October), as a follow up to this visit, the project invited the society to the Pitt Rivers Museum.  

Dan Hicks giving an introductory lecture to members of Sussex Archaeological Society 
at the Pitt Rivers Museum

The day began with an introductory talk by Dan Hicks who updated the society on our progress over the past couple of months. After lunch, which included excellent discussion on the theme of the day, we were able to show the group a selection of the material collected in Sussex. The material we had on display was from two of the key sites in Sussex (Mount Caburn and Cissbury) and included flint implements, ceramic sherds, fragments of metal, and four examples of Pitt-Rivers' experimental work at Cissbury. We asked the group to look at the material in a different way to expected; instead of looking at the objects as examples of archaeological artefacts we wanted to look at them as a source of information about Pitt-Rivers. This demonstrated the importance of using the artefacts within the founding collection as an important source of information when studying his early archaeological work. 

Four members of Sussex Archaeological Society examining a selection of material excavated by General Pitt-Rivers from Mount Caburn and Cissbury.

An example of the documentation that is on the objects that Pitt-Rivers collected during his time in Sussex. Almost every single object from Mount Caburn has a label similar to this attached, it typically records the date and location from which it was excavated. In this case the label for 1884.137.41 .7 reads 'MOUNT CABURN SEPT 1877 Upper Rampart interior slope'.

The day was a great success and we hope that Sussex Archaeological Society found it as useful and enjoyable as the project team. We look forward to our next visit from Yorkshire Archaeological Society on the 4th November. 

Out and about...

The town hall in Lewes - formerly the Star Inn where Pitt-Rivers stayed whilst excavating Mount Caburn in 1877-78.

As part of our public engagement programme, for the Excavating Pitt-Rivers project, Carlotta Gardner gave a talk to the Sussex Archaeological Society in Lewes on Saturday (8th June). It was an excellent opportunity to inform the society, with which Pitt-Rivers worked, about the project and our results from cataloguing and researching the archaeological material excavated by the General from Sussex which is held at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.

The Sussex Archaeological Society on top of Mount Caburn

After the Talk a group of us went on a small field trip up Mount Caburn, where Pitt-Rivers excavated in 1877-78. The weather was perfect and we were able to see for miles around. As mentioned in a previous post Pitt-Rivers spent a considerable amount of time in Sussex studying and excavating a number of 'camps'. Mount Caburn was of particular interest to Pitt-Rivers and the Museum holds approximately 3,900 objects from his excavations there. In a letter to George Rolleston he described having to walk up the mount in order to be there before 8 am to set things up. Walking from Lewes would have taken around 30-40 minutes.

The walk up Mount Caburn (from Glynde)

Overall it was a wonderful day out and the Society were incredibly friendly and welcoming. We look forward to their visit to Oxford, to look at the Sussex collections, in October.

Panoramic view from the top of Mount Caburn.

Three public talks: Lewes, Leeds and Oxford

images: An example (below) of the specially-made 'medalets' placed by General Pitt-Rivers, having been date-stamped, in his excavations before backfilling - and (above) a wooden case in which he kept some of them (Pitt Rivers Museum Accession Number 1971.30.5).

Public engagement is a central element of the Excavating Pitt-Rivers project. Throughout 2013 the project team will be talking about the project to a range of audiences. Three of these are scheduled for May and June:

On Tuesday 7 May, Dan Hicks will be introducing the project to archaeology students at St Cross College, Oxford. The talk is at 5.30pm. Further details are on the website of St Cross College and enquiries can be sent to dan.hicks@prm.ox.ac.uk

On Saturday 8 June, Dan Hicks will be giving a talk on Augustus Pitt-Rivers in Sussex, hosted by Sussex Archaeological Society. The talk is at 2pm, and will be at Barbican House, Lewes. It will be followed by an optional field trip to nearby Mount Caburn, where Pitt-Rivers excavated during the 1870s. Further details are on the website of the Sussex Archaeological Society, and enquiries can be sent by email to members@sussexpast.co.uk

On Saturday 22 June, Dan Hicks will be giving a talk on  Augustus Pitt-Rivers and Yorkshire at the AGM of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society. The talk will be at Claremont, 23 Clarendon Road, Leeds LS2 9NZ (2pm). Further details are on the website of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society and enquiries can be sent by email from yas.enquiries@gmail.com

All welcome!