The environmental and landscape history of the Kennet Valley will be considered in terms of the
setting it provided for Mesolithic hunter-gather-fisher communities between about 11,000 and 6000
years ago. During the earlier part of that period the middle Kennet had one of the most significant
concentrations of human activity in Britain. We will consider how the activities of animals, especially
deer and beavers, shaped the landscape in ways which made it attractive to people and how human
communities, even at this early date, transformed aspects of the landscape by the use of fire.
The talk will consider Mesolithic finds in Newbury, Thatcham, Ufton and Wawcott, and the recent
discovery of a decorated oak trunk at Boxford on the River Lambourn.
Martin Bell is Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the University of Reading. He is a Fellow of the
Society of Antiquaries of London and the British Academy. His most recent book is Making One's
Way in the World: The Footprints and Trackways of Prehistoric People (Oxbow 2020). He is just
completing a book on Experimental Archaeology.
Doors open at 6pm and the café will be open serving light refreshments. The talk starts at 7pm.
Tickets are £5 per person and are bookable online:
https://booking.westberks.gov.uk/heritage_events.html?event_id=3479460&c...
Or use the QR code on the poster attached
This event is brought to you by West Berkshire Council's Archaeology team
T: 01635 519534 E: archaeology@westberks.gov.uk
W: www.westberks.gov.uk/archaeology
