At Stonehenge on 11 and 12 November English Heritage and the University of Cambridge will bring together leading researchers and experts from across the country in a hands-on showcase for the public in the first ever Festival of Neolithic Ideas.
Designed to explore how the builders of Stonehenge understood and shaped the world around them and how experts today use cutting-edge heritage science and STEM to understand Neolithic people, the Festival of Neolithic Ideas will offer insight into the world of the Stonehenge builders 4500 years ago through talks, tours and hands-on demonstrations.
A virtual reality experience will enable visitors to immerse themselves in the prehistoric world while Stonehenge’s cosmic connection can be explored in the pop-up planetarium. There will also be the chance to watch the techniques involved in bronze casting, find out what clues and signals are locked within teeth, bones, plants and clay and discover how ancient DNA, isotopes and geophysics help archaeologists to keep on making new discoveries.
Dr Dominique Bouchard, English Heritage’s Head of Learning and Interpretation said, “This is the first-time leading researchers from more than a dozen organisations have come together at Stonehenge to share ideas with the public. We hope this Festival will unlock for our visitors the incredible creativity and innovation of the people who built Stonehenge and the Neolithic period. Science, technology, engineering and maths are essential to unlocking the mysteries of the past, especially in the absence of written records. Thanks to recent technological advancements, we can now gain unprecedented insights into the lives of the builders of Stonehenge. From radiocarbon dating and ancient DNA analysis to astronomy and laser scanning, STEM illuminates prehistoric daily life for us — revealing diet, clothing, how society worked, values, and worldview. These people were very much like us!”
Dr Liliana Janik, Assistant Director of Research, Cambridge University Department of Archaeology, and Fellow of Girton College, said, "Combining our strengths, the University of Cambridge's Department of Archaeology and English Heritage are excited to present how contemporary science helps us to know more about the past. Archaeological science and heritage will showcase the way mathematics, statistics, organic and inorganic chemistry, physics and biology are part of human stories and go beyond 'boring' static knowledge transfer. The global view on the Neolithic presented here by the cutting-edge research conducted by Cambridge archaeologists shows how STEM subjects are an integral part of learning about our present and the past."
Over the weekend, the Festival of Neolithic Ideas program will offer an engaging mix of hands-on activities, demonstrations with field archaeologist Phil Harding and Bronze Age metal specialist Neil Burridge, insightful talks, and expert-guided tours – for anyone and everyone with a curious mind. Leading the line-up are English Heritage and the University of Cambridge, together with the University of Oxford, University of Exeter, and Cardiff University’s Guerilla Archaeology team. This is a unique opportunity to learn about leading-edge research into the Neolithic at Stonehenge from incredible experts at Bournemouth University, Manchester Metropolitan University and the Francis Crick Institute, Historic England, Wessex Archaeology, Wiltshire Museum, National Trust, and the Greenhatch Group.
The Festival of Neolithic Ideas will offer the chance to engage with prehistory, connect with the people who built Stonehenge and to understand better the monument they left behind, and that we see today.
STONEHENGE FESTIVAL OF NEOLITHIC IDEAS
DATE: Sat 11 Nov - Sun 12 Nov 2023
TIME: 10am - 5pm (last entry 3)
LOCATION: Stonehenge
SUITABLE FOR: Everyone
Saturdays talks will be British Sign Language (BSL) interpreted
Included with General Admission ticket to Stonehenge.
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