The Department of Archaeology is pleased to announce the upcoming Lunchtime Lecture Series celebrating 50 Years of Archaeology in Sheffield in 2013. The Lunchtime Lecture Series has a long history within the Department - and this semester welcomes former staff and students back to the University to help us celebrate this special anniversary event.

The series will be opening on Tuesday February 5th at 13:00 in the Departmental Lecture Theatre, Northgate House, West Street with an opening lecture from Professors John Collis and John Moreland on Sheffield Archaeology: Past and Present - from the first appearance of archaeology at Sheffield in 1963, to the founding of the Department in the 1970s, and then beyond.

This is a great opportunity to learn more about the Department and about the upcoming lecture series and events and we hope to see many of you there. We will be heading out for food, drinks, and conversation following the lecture and all are welcome to join us.

The line-up and schedule for the entire series is as follows – but for more details, please see posters around the University, our Facebook group, and the Faculty Events Calendar.

Lectures take place on Tuesdays from 13:00 – 14:00 in the Departmental Lecture Theatre, in Northgate House on West Street (unless otherwise stated).

5 February – Prof John Collis & Prof John Moreland Sheffield Archaeology: Past and Present

Professors Moreland (current Head of Department) and Collis will open the Series with a joint presentation on their personal experiences within the Department from its initiation in 1976 to the present.

12 February – Prof Keith Branigan, Founder Chair of Sheffield Archaeology Department 1976-2005 SEARCH: Sheffield to the Outer Hebrides

SEARCH was the largest field projest ever run by the Department. It ran for over 13 years, involved 8 members of staff, 30 postgraduate and over 800 undergraduates, recorded over 2000 sites and excavated more than 50 sites on a budget of over £1.5 million.

19 February – Prof Graeme Barker, Disney Professor of Archaeology, Head of Department and Director of the McDonald Institute for Archaeology Research at Cambridge University, Lecturer from 1972, Why did People Begin to Farm? Am I Any the Wiser 40 Years on From Teaching the Neolithic at Sheffield?'

26 February – Prof Warwick Bray, Emeritus Professor of Latin American Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL. Professor Bray was appointed assistant lecturer in European Prehistory in Sheffield in 1963, teaching the first archaeology courses and was fundamental in setting up the Department. From Sheffield to the Andes - A Personal Journey.'

This talk will describe the foundation and earliest years in the Department. A field survey in Colombia led to a lifetime interest in Andean archaeology for Professor Bray including attempts to introduce ideas from British archaeology to a very different environment.

5 March – Prof Lord Baron Colin Renfrew, now a Senior Fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at Cambridge University, Lecturer from 1965-1972, When the ‘New Archaeology’ Was New: Early Days of Prehistory and Archaeology in Sheffield (1965-1972) (Please note, this lecture takes place in the Jessop West Exhibition Space.)

12 March – Dr Mike Heyworth MBE, Director for the Council of British Archaeology, graduate (BA 1982), Archaeology for All: Sheffield and Beyond

This presentation will focus on how Dr. Heyworth got involved in archaeology and his connections with Sheffield in the context of 'archaeology for all' and the work of the Council for British Archaeology promoting public engagement with archaeology across the UK.

9 April - Dr Emma-Jayne Graham, Lecturer at Open University, graduate (BA/MA/PhD 1997-2005), Votive Offerings and the Making of Infants in Early Roman Italy

Through an examination of the terracotta votives of swaddled babies, dedicated at sanctuaries across Hellenistic and Republican Italy, this lecture will explore the archaeological expression of ancient ideas concerning the earliest stages of life and the construction of religious social identity.

16 April – Ken Smith, Cultural Heritage Manager, Peak District National Park Authority, graduate (1970s) and Honorary Lecturer (1980s), Recent Archaeological Work in the Peak District National Park

This talk will highlight the range of archaeological work in the Peak District National Park in recent years. This will include work in the Upper Derwent, at Chatsworth, Ecton Mines, Calver Weird, Throwley Old Hall and on Stanton Moor, demonstrating the range of work engaged in by the Peak National District Park Authority.

23 April – Dr Judith Winters, current Editor of Interner Archaeology, graduate (MSc/PhD) and founding Editor of Assemblage, the Sheffield Graduate Journal of Archaeology. Title TBC

30 April – Robin Dennell, Head of the Archaeology Department from 1999-2002, Title TBC

7 May – Jelena Bekvalac, Curator of Human Osteology at the Museum of London, graduate (MSc 2003), Title TBC

14 May – Panel and Discussion The Future of Archaeology and Sheffield’s Role In It

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with either Alison Atkin (a.atkin@shef.ac.uk) or Jenny Crangle (prp11jnc@shef.ac.uk) the Organising Committee.