Stonehenge II: the making of the landscape - Early Bronze to late Romano-British period

Recent research work undertaken in and around the Stonehenge landscape indicates that a significant gap in our knowledge of the landscape’s ‘backstory' and 'afterstory' exists. The course content will provide an opportunity to explore Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age 'contact' and will also examine the later uses of the area in the mid Bronze Age, Iron Age and the Romano-British periods. 

There will be a detailed focus on building one house in Durrington Walls, c. 2500 BC to provide a glimpse of the sort of resources needed during the Late Neolithic monumentalisation of the area, and a further focus on Early Bronze Age barrows and culture, mid Bronze field systems, the Iron Age uses of the landscape, including a focus on the evidence for Druids, and the ways the Romano-British population 'managed' the area. 

The course will discuss the ‘big questions’ about Stonehenge across these periods - what was it for and what did it represent? Where did the people come from and who built and used the Late Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age monuments and field systems? How did the Romano-British population interact with the landscape?

Learning outcomes:

• Assess mid to late Mesolithic and early Neolithic uses of the landscape in relation to the agricultural revolution in the Salisbury landscape.
• Demonstrate an understanding how the movement of people and ideas in the Stonehenge World Site area across seven millennia between 8500BC- 500BC contributed to the establishment of the area’s renowned ceremonial character.
• Demonstrate their understanding in ways that connects to up to notions of the agricultural revolution in its various phases across time and space in the Stonehenge landscape between c 6000 BC to 400 AD.

Session titles:

1. Key developments in the arrangement of the Stonehenge landscape, c. 3500-2500 BC. 
2. Resourcing the Late Neolithic building work in the Stonehenge landscape. Case Study: building a Durrington Walls house, 2500 BC.  
3. Early to late Bronze Age uses of the Stonehenge landscape, c. 2450-850 BC.  
4. The Iron Age - and 'enter a few Romans' (?) c. 800BC- 450 AD. 
5. Resourcing Animals in the archaeology of the Stonehenge area, and Course II summary. 

All course content will be delivered online via the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). You will be taught largely through a series of pre-recorded talks (which may be audio and/or video), designed to help you address different aspects of the main topic. You will normally have access to a range of useful resources and suggested activities.

There will also be an element of interactive work, and the opportunity for you to engage in written form with other course participants and discuss questions set by the Course Director via the Course Forum. The Course Director will generally respond to a selection of key questions and comments on a daily basis.

Some courses may also have elements of optional live discussions via Zoom.

There are no pre-requisites for courses, unless specified, and all are open to adult learners over 18 years old. Courses are taught at approximately first-year undergraduate level.

Content will be made available on each day of the course, Monday to Friday, from 8.00am BST. Course content will normally amount to c 1.5hrs per day across the 5 days, comprising of material delivered by the Course Director and activities/reading set, which would include discussions via the course forum. You may also need to complete reading or other preparation suggested in advance of the course.

We therefore suggest that you set aside approximately 1.5 hours of study per day to complete each day’s content and activities. However, this does not need to be done in one sitting, and you have the flexibility to access content when and where you want, and to go back and review it as often as you wish. Each course runs for one week and content will remain available to access on the VLE for 2 weeks after the course has finished.

A Certificate of Participation for the course(s) will be sent electronically, upon request via email, after the end of the Summer Festival. Details will be provided on the VLE.