The course is jointly run by Dr Manuel Arroyo-Kalin and Dr Richard I Macphail. Training days (10,12-17 February 2024) will comprise lectures followed by the study of specific thin sections. Reference collection self directed study, for more advanced practitioners, will run in parallel. Attendees with no prior experience should plan on attenting the entire lecture programme. Experienced micromorphologists may attend lectures they are interested in, consult on their own research materials, and/or study the reference collections

Extra Practice Days: Given that many course attendees travel from different corners of the globe to London, reference collections will be made available for self-study between 20-23 February 2024 by special arrangement. If you wish to do so, please contact [email protected]

Programme

1. ABC of soil micromorphological description – learn how to study thin sections from scratch
2. Basic soil types; differences between soils, sediments and archaeological deposits; effects of burial and site inundation.
3. Settlement - structures and occupation surfaces
4. Clearance and low impact (e.g., herding) activities.
5. Hunter-gatherer sediments and caves.
6. Cultivation (low intensity), animal management, manuring.
7. The ‘Settlement Morphology’ Model.
8. Medieval structures, use of space and industrial traces
9. European ‘Classical’ deposits and Dark Earth.
10. Tropical Dark Earths

Full timetable see: