Events calendar
To sign up to any of our events please Contact us with your name and the event you will be attending.
The calendar above shows scheduled events from the Worthing Archaeological Society and associated local organisations. Click event on calendar for further information. To filter the type of the events shown, use the drop-down arrow on the top-right of the calendar. N.B. dates, times and locations of events not organised by WAS should be confirmed with the organizers.

The WAS Lecture Programme for 2023 is available and can be downloaded as a printable pdf here:
Please note, lectures could change subject to unforeseen issues.
Please note, lectures could change subject to unforeseen issues.
Next 'WAS' events
For lectures, members have free entry and visitors are asked to make a donation of £4 to the society.
For excavations, a day membership can be purchased for £5.
For excavations, a day membership can be purchased for £5.
16 September
2023 |
WAS Drawing Day School 1: On-Site Plan and Section Drawing - Presented by Bob Turner
This session will cover the methods and standards used to record on-site and will then take us outside to put our new found knowledge into practice recording a plan and section with a pencil on Permatrace. Full day. Finds Processing Shed, Slindon Cost for Members £20.00 and Non-Members £25.00 for all three sessions |
10 October 2023
|
Lecture: Early European Jewellery: from the Palaeolithic to the end of the Roman periods
Presented by Dr Judie English From the Neanderthals onwards people have used objects to adorn themselves, often this jewellery is of sufficient importance to be buried as grave goods to travel with them into the afterlife. Precious, rare and beautiful materials, symbols of power, were used and skilled labour employed to provide objects for people of high status, but the urge to wear jewellery extends throughout society. This talk will look at jewellery in Europe from the Palaeolithic to the end of the Roman periods. |
14 November 2023
|
Con Ainsworth Memorial Lecture: Cerne Abbas – Playing with Giant Ideas
Presented by Dr Mike Allen, Environmental Archaeologist The Cerne Abbas Giant, aka the rude man of Dorset, proudly stands astride the chalk hill, Iron Age encampment above him and chalk downland in front of him. He is one of a number of chalk figures in southern England, only a few of which depict human figures such as our own Long Man of Wilmington. To mark a century of the National Trust ownership, their archaeologist Martin Papworth, decided to undertake limited investigation of the Schedule Monument to try and find out, once and for all, how old he was. He enlisted the help of an archaeological scientist and geoarchaeologist ... and this lecture tells the story of those investigations, the date of the Giant, why he disappeared, and perhaps why he was cut in the first place. Some of which was elucidated by geoarchaeology and snails! |
12 December 2023
|
Lecture: Old Atherington and the Washed-Away Coastal Villages of West Sussex
Presented by John Mills, Archaeologist and President of Worthing Archaeological Society This talk looks at what we know of the historical towns, villages and hamlets of West Sussex that once existed near the sea shore, but have moved inland or disappeared entirely through the encroachments of the sea. In its second half, Worthing Archaeological Society's fieldwork in recent years on Climping Beach will be reviewed, concentrating on the surviving remains of Old Atherington village and the use that may be made of historical mapping to understand historical features that still survive. |
24 February
2024 |
WAS Drawing Day School 2: Post-Excavation Plans and Sections - Presented by Bob Turner
This session will take the on-site plans and section drawings created in Session 1 to a stage where they can be included in the final site report. This will include inking-in and the production of notes. Half Day, Finds Processing Shed, Slindon |
13 April
2024 |
WAS Drawing Day School 3: Artefact Drawing - Presented by Bob Turner
This session will cover the recording and illustration of pottery, metal, wood, glass, stone, flint, leather, textiles and bone. Illustration recording is drawing ‘what you see’, so you do not need to be an artistic person to enjoy this discipline. These illustrations will form part of the final site report. Full Day, Worthing Museum |
27 April
2024 |
Petworth Park Walk - "Most interesting from an archaeological point of view" - Lead by Henry Wakefield
Fascinating archaeological walk around Petworth Park lead by Henry Wakefield, a long term resident. Parking in Petworth Town car-park (£3) 10:00 - 13:00 (times to be confirmed). Members only. |
|
Past 'WAS' events
10-28 July
2023 |
WAS Malthouse Dig Sompting
WAS members only. Continuing the exploration of the Malthouse Field in Sompting. |
3 July
2023 |
WAS Site Visit to Culver Archaeology Project at Bridge Farm
Bridge Farm, Barcombe Mills, Near Lewes, East Sussex, United Kingdom David Millum, Research Archaeologist from the University of Sussex has given us permission to visit the Culver Archaeological Project at Bridge Farm just north of Lewes. |
24 June
2023 30 May
2023 13 May
2023 |
WAS Day School 'An Introduction to Field Archaeology', presented by Gill Turner and Keith Bolton
At Worthing Museum Education Room Content: Introduction, Site Identification, Project Scope, Planning and Preparation, Background Research, Types of Fieldwork, Onsite, Post Excavation, Publication References and Reading List WAS Tour of Priory Park
Meet at 10:45 for an 11:00 start, lasting about an hour. James Kenny, Chichester County Council’s Archaeologist will provide someone to give us a special talk. It is also The Novum Museum’s Roman re-enactment day, so there’ll be other events in the park that might be worth a view. Please contact Alan Beazley if you interested in attending. WAS Day School : Prehistoric Pottery
Barbara McNee Education Room, Worthing Museum 10.00 am – 4.00 pm Pottery is one of the most ubiquitous cultural materials recovered in archaeology. It is key to understanding the chronology and interpretation of burial and settlement sites, and offers much information about technology and society. This Study Day will allow us the opportunity to handle and discuss a wide range of prehistoric pots, talk about their general manufacture, fabric etc. and go through the various stages involved in recording and illustration. By the end of the day we will have an understanding of :
|
11 April
2023 |
Lecture: Recording our Past
Jane Clark, Finds Liaison Officer – Sussex PAS Recording our Past Recent finds from the Portable Antiquities Scheme in Sussex. |
14 March
2023 |
Lecture: Women in Archaeology
Amie Friend, Member of the WAS Field Team and founder of Time Seekers - History and Archaeology Education for Schools and Museums Hilda Petrie and many others. |
14 February
2023 10 January
2023 13 December
2022 19 November
2022 8 November
2022 11 October
2022 |
John Pull Memorial Lecture: Holding out for a Nero: new work on the Roman imperial sculptures of Sussex
Dr Miles Russell Lecture: Longitude
Robert Turner How we learned to navigate and the losses that happened at sea. Lecture: National Trust South Downs: Past & Future
James Brown, National Trust Archaeologist London & South East RegionThe ‘Cissbury Goes Digital’ project, also the ‘Changing Chalk’ partnership: Changing Chalk will focus on Historic England’s aerial Investigation and mapping work progress and next steps, as well as Monument Mentors that we are working on with South Downs National Park Authority and Historic England. An update with some detail on preliminary results and ways to get more involved. Con Ainsworth Memorial Lecture: The Stiances Archaeological Project
Simon Stevens BA (Hons) MCIfA, Senior Archaeologist, Archaeology South-East (a division of University College London Centre for Applied Archaeology) The Stiances Archaeological Project was set up in 2010 and offers primary school children from the village of Newick in East Sussex an opportunity to take part in an archaeological dig close to home. Documentary and cartographic evidence had shown the presence of a former farm complex at the site, but enthusiastic test-pit digging by the kids and their helpers has revealed not only medieval and post-medieval material, but evidence of activity dating back as far as the Mesolithic. Day School: Aspects of Roman Sussex
David Rudling This day school will explore aspects of life in Sussex during the Roman period (AD 43-410). We will examine: historical sources, the ‘Conquest’ of Claudius, the client kingdom of Togidubnus, the Flavian Palace at Fishbourne, the tribal civitas capital at Chichester, other nucleated settlements, villas, peasant farmsteads, field systems and farming, roads, industry, religion and burial practices. These topics will be considered from the perspectives of both the Romans and the native population. Lecture: Binsted Tile Kilns
Keith Bolton, Chairman and Field Unit Director, Worthing Archaeological Society In 2001, WAS excavated 'Green Field', Church Farm, Binsted and a structure was identified. Excavations in 2005 revealed the lower portion of a tile kiln. Surface pottery and a pot found within the kiln, was of Binsted manufacture indicating dates of operation from AD1250 to 1550. |
7 May
2022 12 April
2022 8 March
2022 |
Study Day: The Binstead Medieval Pottery
Dr Ben Jervis, Reader in Archaeology at Cardiff University Education Room at Worthing Museum The Binsted pottery, a nationally important assemblage of medieval pottery, was excavated by WAS from the kiln sites at Binsted during the 1960s and again in 2006-7. The finds were stored in Worthing Museum. During the summers of 2018/9 members of WAS were involved recording the assemblage for analysis at Cardiff University led by Dr Ben Jervis. Lecture: Reconstructing the Anglo-Saxon and early Medieval Landscape using Place-names and maps
Judie English WAS AGM
Lecture: Romano-British Settlements Near Gumber Farm, Slindon Keith Bolton, Chair of WAS and Field Unit Director The results from the recent excavations at a Romano-British site and an interpretation of the site and its place in the landscape. |
8 February
2022 |
The John Pull Memorial Lecture
Lecture: The next 100 years of archaeology in Sussex and challenges we are all going to face Dr Matt Pope, Archaeologist and Principal Research Fellow of UCL Institute of Archaeology “The challenges we are all going to face and how important citizen archaeology through active organisations like WAS can be in meeting those challenges” |
11 January
2022 14 December
2021 13 November
2021 9 November
2021 12 October
2021 |
*** Online Lecture ***
Lecture: Old and New Discoveries on the Burpham Downs James Sainsbury, Archaeologist and Historian - Curator of Archaeology at Worthing Museum “The investigations I've been conducting with my group north of the village - as well as a look at older sites and finds from that area. The main focus will be on the Romano- British period.” *** Online Lecture ***
Lecture: Angmering St Nicholas Excavations re-visited Amie Friend, Member of WAS Field Team and founder of Time Seekers - History and Archaeology Education for Schools and Museums Study Day Seminar: English Coins and Tokens 600-1600 AD
David Rudling Education Room at Worthing Museum, half day, 9:30am-12:30pm David will talk about the development of coinage from Saxon to early post-medieval times, their design and purpose as propaganda tools as well as instruments of trade, and also the issue of private tokens and jetsons. The coins and tokens found during the WAS excavation at the Malthouse Field, Sompting, will also be inspected. The Con Ainsworth Memorial Lecture: Excavation and research in the
Goodwood Area, from the Lower Palaeolithic to Post-Medieval: an update Mark Roberts, Archaeologist. Tutor for Fieldwork and Principle Research Fellow of UCL Institute of Archaeology, Honorary Fellow of West Dean College. “I would be both delighted and honoured to give the Con Ainsworth Memorial Lecture. I don't know if you are aware of this but it was Con who started me off in archaeology whilst I was a sixth form student. I was his gardener in Goring and it was he who convinced me to start and stay in archaeology rather than pursuing a career in the armed forces. He and Ena often invited me and my team over to theirs for supper when we were working at Boxgrove during the long winters in the early part of the project; I cannot tell you how much we looked forward to these trips out” *** Online Lecture ***
Lecture: The Sompting EPIC Project - Landscape and People Connie Shirley & Bob Turner, Members of WAS Field and Finds Team In 2020, WAS were invited by OART to fieldwalk and then excavate on the EPIC site in Sompting. The EPIC project included farmland being converted to a country park and a new course established for the stream running through the area. The struck flints recovered give a clue to the landscape and how it was used in prehistory. |
8
December 2020 10
November 2020 13
October 2020 16
September 2020 |
*** Online Lecture ***
Lecture: Emergence of People into the Americas Robert Turner, Archaeologist and Astronomer This is a view of the archaeology of North America and how the influx of Europeans in 1460 changed a stone age culture. Before Columbus there was no written history so the picture of North America is a mixture of racial memory and the remains the early peoples left behind. Members can view the lecture live on the WAS Facebook Group page at 7:30 pm on Tuesday 8th December and a recording will be available there subsequently. *** Online Lecture ***
Lecture: Primitive Currencies and the Origins of Coinage Dr David Rudling, Academic Director of the Sussex School of Archaeology This talk began with a global review of various types of 'primitive'/tribal currencies, such as cowrie shells in ancient China, the stone money of Yap Island, the kina shells of New Guinea, the iron kissi pennies of West Africa, and wampum beads of native North Americans. We then turned to the independent origins of coinage in China, India and Asia Minor, and the adoption of coinage in Europe. Members can view the lecture live on the WAS Facebook Group page at 7:30 pm on Tuesday 10th November and a recording will be available there subsequently. *** Online Lecture ***
The Con Ainsworth Memorial Lecture: The Edburton Excavations James Sainsbury The second of our online lectures. James will talk about the ongoing excavations at Edburton. Members can view the lecture live on the WAS Facebook Group page at 7:30 pm on Tuesday 13th October and a recording will be available there subsequently. *** Online Lecture ***
Understanding the Sompting Landscape Through Historic Maps Connie Shirley The first of our online lectures, and something of a trial-run. Connie will give a short presentation on changes to the landscape of the EPIC Project dig at Sompting Brooks as recorded in historical maps of the area. Members can view the lecture live on the WAS Facebook Group page at 7:30 pm on Wednesday 16th September and a recording will be available there subsequently. |
8
January 2019 |
The Roman Army in Sussex - Edwin Wood
The impact of the invasion and the lasting imprint of the military community throughout the Roman period. |
6
January 2019 11
December 2018 13
November 2018 28
October 2018 |
WAS New Year Walk
A 1.5mile walk, guided by the Worthing Heritage Tarring Trail leaflet. To finish up at a hostelry in High St., Tarring. The Construction of a Neolithic World on Orkney - Jane Russell
There are almost seventy islands in the Orkney archipelago, mostly formed by rocks of the Middle Old Red Sandstone. This stone splits easily along clear bedding planes and presents little difficulty in quarrying, and has been used for building purposes for the last six thousand years on the islands, and helped in the preservation the archaeology. The talk will discuss monuments of the Neolithic period, looking at the development of the various chambered tombs, domestic settlements, and the ceremonial heartland of Orkney, including excavations at the Ness of Brodgar. Sussex Flint Mines and the early Neolithic Whitehawk Causewayed Enclosure in Brighton - Jon Sygrave
Jon Sygrave is the Project Manager of Archaeology South-East (Centre for Applied Archaeology of the Institute of Archaeology at University College London). The Flint Mines in Sussex are the earliest in Britain with many of them situated within easy reach of Worthing. Jon has recently led the reassessment of the early Neolithic Whitehawk Causewayed enclosure which he will discuss along with the mines and other aspects of the Sussex Neolithic. Worthing Archaeological Society 'Brenda' Memorial Walk
History of the Steyning Rifle Range with historian Justin Russell Short walk up Mouse Lane to the historic Rifle Range site. The track is rough and the ground is uneven - so suitable footwear is necessary. |
9
October 2018 |
Saved by the Sea - Amie Friend
How waterlogged preservation in archaeology develops our understanding of life and society in the past. For example, the thousands of perishable artefacts that were preserved and recovered from the waterlogged location of the Mary Rose are of immeasurable value as a Tudor-era time capsule. The Con Ainsworth Memorial Lecture Download the poster. |
29
September 2018 |
An Introduction to timber-framed buildings of the Weald, their development and dating for beginners - Jeremy Clarke of The Wealden Buildings Study Group
This day-school covered terminology, the development and construction of timber-framed buildings, the basics of building recording, how to approach dating a building along with a set of useful resources. The day ended with a group practical session using site photographs and plans to try out the knowledge gained during the day and demonstrate how a building can be interpreted. |
10
Apr |
Lecture: The Science of a Middle Bronze Age Hord - Dr Jaime Kaminski
In March 2011 a spectacular Middle Bronze Age hoard was discovered by a metal detectorist on land belonging to the Glynde Estate ‘Near Lewes’, East Sussex. Comprising nearly eighty artefacts and artefact fragments the hoard has recently been subject to scientific analysis. This presentation will consider what the analyses tell us about the production of the artefacts in the hoard and the implications for Bronze Age craft production |
13
Mar |
AGM followed by Lecture: Source to Sea - the River Adur - Dr Geoff Mead
‘Adur: Source to Sea’ takes a visual journey from the sources of the river in central Sussex, through the broad plains of the Wealden clays and sands before heading south through the Downs and on to the Coastal Plain of West Sussex, ending its journey at the current river mouth. This talk looks at the geology, geography and history of this small but fascinating watercourse. |
3
Mar 17-25
Feb 13
Feb 9
Jan 12
Dec 25
NOV 14
NOV 15
OCT |
Study day: Ice Age in Europe - Matt Pope
Dr Matt Pope FSA MCIfA, Principal Research Associate and Senior Teaching Fellow in Palaeolithic Archaeology at U.C.L. The record of human occupation in Europe now extends well beyond a million years and involves multiple species of humans in apparently successive waves of colonisation, from the Near East, Africa and Asia. Europe has always presented challenges to early humans, forested in warm periods and intensely cold and seasonal in the cold ‘glacial stages’ it required adaptation by species initially more suited to open and lightly forested tropical grasslands. In this day course we’ll cover the archaeological record of successive human species: Homo antecessor, Home heidelbergensis, Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens. We’ll explore the evidence for changes in behaviour including hunting, use of fire, processing organic materials and consider how the British record differs from that of other continental regions. The course will familiarise you with basic concept about climate and environmental change, stone age technology and latest theories surrounding human evolution. Fieldwalk: Fittleworth
WAS members have the opportunity to take part in a joint fieldwalk near Fittleworth, West Sussex with Chichester & District AS. The field has so far produced a number of good quality Mesolithic and Neolithic flintwork.This is scheduled to start on Saturday, 17thFebruary and continue through to Sunday, 25th February, which is likely to be a much greater window than needed. With a good number of walkers and reasonable weather it should be completed in a few days but it does mean that days can be cancelled if the weather is dire. Lecture: Bridge Farm 2011 to 2017 - Rob Wallace and David Millum
Worthing Library Lecture Theatre 7:30-9pm Rob Wallace and David Millum, the directors of the Culver Archaeological Project, will give a summary of their excavations of the Romano–British settlement at Bridge Farm, near Barcombe Mills, discovered in 2011 during a geophysical survey for Margary’s London-Lewes road. They will include a brief background to CAP as well and some initial thoughts about how this 1st to 4th century settlement fits into the wider context of south-east Britain in the Roman period and why it qualified for earthwork defences during the late 2nd century. The talk will cover the first 7 years of what looks destined to be a very long and regionally important investigation. John Pull Lecture Lecture: The First Brexit How Britain became an island and its effect on Neanderthals, Mesolithic and Neolithic Man - Robert Turner
Over the past 460,000 years Britain has been separated from Europe several times with the final split in 6,200 BC when the disaster of Dogger Land had a great effect into the Mesolithic peoples of that time. Recent discoveries by Imperial College London, operating from Littlehampton, have now been able to draw a picture of "what leaving Europe" meant in times past. Lecture: The life of a common soldier in the English Civil War - Nigel Rumble
The clothes, weapons and accoutrements used by a soldier in England in the 1640's in his daily life. I will also briefly cover the make up of the armies and talk a very small amount about battle tactics. The talk will be illustrated with (mostly) reproduction clothing and equipment and explanations of their use; there will be an opportunity at the end to examine these items more closely. Half day school: Place-names and Archaeology in Sussex - Judie English
Judie will discuss Place-names in the Landscape and how they were derived. Coffee and tea will be provided during a short mid morning break. Lecture: Evidence for Saxons in post-Roman Sussex - James Sainsbury
Worthing Library Lecture TheatreArchaeology is the key driver in uncovering evidence for Germanic settlement in Sussex during the decline of the Western Roman Empire. The historical documents are few and unreliable, though arguably should not be dismissed outright. This talk will look at some key 5th and 6th century Saxon burial and settlement sites in the county, along with documents, chance finds and new genetic research in an attempt to piece together the birth of the kingdom of Sussex. James will be bringing some finds from the Highdown Cemetery for handling after his talk. Walk: around historic Littlehampton with Cheryl Hutchins
A 1.5 hour easy walk around historic Littlehampton. |
10
OCT 30
SEP |
Lecture: Iron Age Memory vs. Roman Metaphor; re-reading the archaeology of a Client Kingdom - Gordon Hayden
What was the immediate impact of the Roman Conquest in Hampshire and West Sussex? The lecture will highlight some continuation of Iron Age traditions and how they interplayed with incoming ideas and practices. It will also propose an alternative hypothesis as to why Fishbourne Palace was built. Study day: led by David McOmish: " Making Sense of Monuments: Landscape Archaeology of Sussex: The Bronze Age"
David McOmish, a Senior Archaeological Investigator with English Heritage and a leading British Prehistorian, has, among numerous other achievements, made several large scale landscape studies of the South Downs. Some of you may remember last year he gave us a wonderful study day which took us up to the end of the Neolithic. This day is likely to prove just as popular. |
5-17
AUG |
Summer Dig: Rough Copse
Our Summer dig will be from Saturday August 5th to Thursday August 17th inclusive. This time we are going to look at an area in Rough Copse, West of Goblestubbs which showed up on the Lidar. Setting up/Surveying will take place on August 3rd & 4th, and Recording/Planning/closing the site on August 16th and 17th. |
17
JUN 14
MAY 11
APR |
Day School: Flint Knapping with Bob Turner
This will be held in the beautiful venue of Downs Barn, Sompting. Bob will tell us about the uses of flint tools in prehistory and demonstrate how to make them, followed by practical sessions where we can try to make our own. WAS Walk: To commemorate Con Ainsworth on what would have been his hundredth birthday
The George, Burpham. Lecture: Two Ancient Cities: Archaeology at Butrint and Gjirokastra in Albania - Oliver Gilkes
Worthing Library Lecture Theatre. |
18-26
MAR |
Excavation by WAS
Slindon Field 20 |
14
MAR 11
MAR 14
FEB 2 JAN
13 DEC
26
NOV 22
NOV |
WAS AGM 19:00 followed by:
Lecture: Why Stonehenge is Where it is - Mike Allen Worthing Library Lecture Theatre WAS Study Day: The Archaeology of the Roman Military
Led by Edwin Wood, Sussex Finds Liaison Officer Education Room, Worthing Museum Lecture: A Look Back at WAS Field Activities - Keith Bolton
Worthing Library Lecture Theatre New Years' walk and pub lunch - High Salvington to the Gun Inn, Findon.
Lecture: What does land organisation tell us about social change in late prehistoric Sussex? - Judie English
Worthing Library Lecture Theatre Lecture: Bronze Age Worthing - Barrows, Beakers and Hoards
Worthing museum Medieval pottery day with Duncan Brown
Education room, Worthing museum |