All talks at 7.30pm (doors open at 7pm) at at the Ken Edwards Lecture Theatre 1, University of Leicester, unless otherwise stated. Full details for Leicestershire Fieldworker talks are in our newsletter, The Fieldworker, which is circulated to members before each talk.
If you aren’t a member of the Leicestershire Fieldworkers and would like to attend a talk, please contact us.
The Massive Melsonby Iron Age Hoard: From bits of Bits to Wheels and Wagons
Thursday 17 September 7.30pm
A talk by Dr Sophie Adams
The British Museum
Join us for our annual joint lecture with the Prehistoric Society
The Melsonby hoard is a vast deposit of Late Iron Age horse harness and vehicle remains found in North Yorkshire and recently declared Treasure. Discovered and reported by detectorist Peter Heads, it was investigated by Durham University and The British Museum, with support from Historic England. The excavation revealed an incredibly well-preserved metalwork assemblage. When the find was made public in spring 2025 the story quickly spread, captivating audiences across the globe. Consisting of the ironwork from at least seven vehicles, ornate horse harness pieces, cauldrons, spears and more, this 2000-year-old deposit is astounding. In this presentation we will explore the discovery together, marvelling at the objects, peering through x-rays and revealing how these items were buried and how they are creating the opportunity to review past understandings in new light.
Sophia Adams PhD, FSA, is curator of the First Millennium European and Roman Conquest period Collections at The British Museum. She first joined the museum in 2009 as a PhD student (with the BM and the University of Leicester) and returned in 2021 following post-doctoral research projects at SUERC, the University of Glasgow and the University of Bristol. Sophia has published collaborative artefact based research, from The Enderby shield to Bronze Age bronze moulds, and wider contextual studies including the social context of later prehistoric metalworking.
FREE, all welcome
Coming in 2026…
- November 19th: Kris Lockyear talking on geophysics at St Albans and the community archaeology geophysics group