Date: Thursday 26 February

Title: Defined by Stones

Speaker: Ian Jackson

Synopsis:

 ‘Defined by Stones’ is a book that reveals just how connected prehistoric societies were to the natural landscape of Northern England and how reliant they were on its rocks. If you are curious about how rocks shaped the north and influenced how early humans lived, how they exploited and made their mark on this landscape, then this talk is for you.  Using full page colour photographs and accessible and engaging text, the book visits 50 special places across the north to describe the intimate relationship our ancestors had with their landscape. It sets the natural stage as the last ice sheet melted away and the prehistoric actors follow under the themes: Shelter and Defence; Implements and Ornaments; and finally Ritual.

Stone defined our ancestors. Without it they could not shelter, hunt, farm, or light fire. It was essential to their daily lives but also central to their beliefs. Rocks are prehistory’s most persistent record. Ian presents a geologist’s view of what those stones have to say from a science-based perspective, one that may challenge your understanding of the past…

Biography:

Ian Jackson is a popular contributor to our Café Sci evenings.  He was born and raised in Carlisle. His love of rocks began in the late 1950s in the Caldbeck Fells and valleys around Martindale. He has a degree in geology and geography from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and is a Chartered Geologist and Fellow of the Geological Society. He spent 18 years surveying the geology of parts of the north of England, including Cumbria, for the British Geological Survey. Later he was responsible for national and international programmes that produced the first UK, European and global digital geological maps and made them web accessible. He retired from the position of BGS Operations Director in 2011 and moved to Bardon Mill. He hikes in Cumbria and Northumberland every week. In addition to many scientific maps, articles and reports, he is the author of five popular books about the rocks of Northumberland, Cumbria and Durham and the links between geology the Romans and the prehistoric north.