Archaeology and Climate Change: Sustained Pasts, Sustainable Futures



Overview

Taking a deep-time perspective on climate change, this event for British Science Week considers how the climate crisis has affected archaeological understandings of ancient societies, and the sustainable conservation of heritage for future ones. 

How did past societies interact with, modify and respond to climate change? How has knowledge of the climate crisis altered our understanding of past societies? How can we mitigate the effects of climate change on our archaeological record today to preserve it for the future? At this event, expert speakers will consider how the physical remains of past societies are intertwined with the environment, climate, and rapidly evolving understandings of the Anthropocene.

Our expert speakers will include academic archaeologists as well as professionals involved in heritage preservation, who will talk on topics including human agency in climate modification, climatic events, river management, environmental archaeology and the conservation of heritage sites. We will consider how in this age of climate crisis we might better understand patterns, processes and dynamics of climate change that enable transformation towards a resilient, sustainable and flourishing archaeological future.  

Please note: this event will close to enrolments at 23:59 UTC on 13 March 2024.

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Programme details

9.45am:
Registration (for in-person attendees)

10am:
Climate change and archaeology: ways of thinking (part I)
Fay Stevens

10.30am:
Rock art and environmental change in Bronze Age Scandinavia
Courtney Nimura

11.15am:
Tea/coffee break

11.45am:
‘Rewilding’ later prehistory. Thinking through if and how archaeology can help to address current concerns about ecological change
Anwen Cooper

12.30pm:       
Discussion

1pm:
Lunch break

2pm:
Introducing the afternoon papers and speakers
Fay Stevens

2.15pm:
The climate change challenge for English Heritage
Win Scutt

3pm:
Discussion

3.15pm:
Tea/coffee break

3.45pm:
From global to local: exploring the importance of local knowledge in climate action
Hana Morel

4.30pm:
Climate change and archaeology: ways of thinking (part II)
Fay Stevens

5pm:
End of day

Certification

Fees

Description Costs
Course Fee - in-person attendance (includes tea/coffee) £99.00
Course Fee - virtual attendance £90.00
Baguette Lunch £6.50
Hot Lunch (3 courses) £17.60

Funding

If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit or are a full-time student in the UK you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees.

Concessionary fees for short courses

Tutors

Ms Fay Stevens

Speaker and Course Director

Fay Stevens is an award winning and experienced lecturer in archaeology at Oxford OUDCE, OUSSA and other UK and International Universities. She is currently completing a PhD in archaeology and specialises in material culture studies, theoretical and landscape archaeology. Adjunct Professor, University of Notre Dame, London Global Gateway.

Dr Courtney Nimura

Speaker

Courtney Nimura is the Curator for Later European Prehistory at the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology and a Research Fellow at Wolfson College, University of Oxford. She has worked in academic, commercial and museum-based archaeology since she completed her PhD in 2013 at the University of Reading. Her interests are wide-ranging, exploring what material culture can tell us about the societies which created it; how humans interact with their environments; and the interpretive intersections of anthropology, art history and archaeology.

Win Scutt

Speaker

Senior Properties Curator (West), English Heritage

Dr Anwen Cooper

Speaker

Anwen Cooper leads the UKRI-funded ‘Rewilding’ later prehistory project at Oxford Archaeology, in partnership with the Universities of Oxford, Exeter, York and Toulouse, Historic England and Knepp Castle rewilding initiative. She has been studying human-landscape relations in later prehistory for over 25-years, as a fieldworker and through her research into English landscapes, prehistoric grave goods, rivers, and the exceptionally well-preserved archaeology of the Must Farm pile-dwelling settlement, Cambridgeshire. The ‘Rewilding’ project team are developing an evidence base, methods and ideas for investigating past wildlife in order to build a stronger basis for archaeologists to link into ongoing nature recovery interests and agendas.

Application

Please use the 'Book' button on this page. Alternatively, please contact us to obtain an application form. 

Accommodation

Accommodation is not included in the price, but if you wish to stay with us the night before the course, then please contact our Residential Centre.

Accommodation in Rewley House - all bedrooms are modern, comfortably furnished and each room has tea and coffee making facilities, Freeview television, and Free WiFi and private bath or shower rooms.  Please contact our Residential Centre on +44 (0) 1865 270362 or email res-ctr@conted.ox.ac.uk for details of availability and discounted prices.

IT requirements

For those joining us online

We will be using Zoom for the livestreaming of this event. If you’re attending online, you’ll be able to see and hear the speakers, and to submit questions via the Zoom interface. Joining instructions will be sent out prior to the start date. We recommend that you join the session at least 10-15 minutes prior to the start time – just as you might arrive a bit early at our lecture theatre for an in-person event.

Please note that this course will not be recorded.

Terms & conditions for applicants and students

Information on financial support