THE TOPIC of ancient human remains proved a draw that saw 300 people attend a lecture by academic and TV broadcaster Prof Alice Roberts marking the 50th anniversary of Alcester & District Local History Society (ADLHS).
The sell-out talk Ancestors: a History of Britain through Burials at Alcester’s Greig Hall on Saturday night (September 7) explored how burial archaeology sheds light on ancient societies, and looked at how new advances in genetics are completely revolutionising what we know about the past.
The stories behind three extraordinary UK graves from the Bronze Age, the Romans and Anglo-Saxons, provided the basis for the address which were told to a captive audience in fascinating detail by Prof Roberts whose enthusiasm and knowledge for her subject shone brightly throughout the evening.
Breakthroughs in the ability to sequence the DNA of viruses meant that she was able to conclude that the Black Death, known for decimating 14th Century populations of Europe had actually visited these shores during the Dark Ages and responsible for death of a couple and infant buried together in the 6th Century grave at Breamore in Hampshire.
She explained that isotope analysis of teeth had proved that a Bronze Age individual, known as The Amesbury Archer who had been buried near the Wiltshire town of Amesbury with the most amount of grave goods ever found in England was in fact a migrant who came originally from the Western Alps.
One of the country’s most popular factual television presenters, Prof Roberts first appeared on our screens in 2011, as a human bone specialist on Channel 4’s Time Team.
She has presented more than a hundred television documentaries, on subjects relating to human biology, history, and archaeology. In 2024, the twelfth series of Digging for Britain, one of the network’s most popular factual TV series, aired on BBC Two.
Society chair, Alan Godfrey said: “Alice Robert’s talk was a great success and a terrific way to celebrate the society’s golden anniversary. The reaction from the audience was exclusively positive.
“Although Alice was familiar from her TV appearances, many people did not expect her live performance to be as good. However, if anything it was better.
“We all agreed she had a natural delivery style, being able to put over fairly complex subjects is a simple, yet interesting manner, with the ability to go off at a tangent to discuss some other interesting fact, but return back to her original thread, and continue without hesitation.
The history society which was founded in 1974 by J Edward Saville meets monthly at St Benedict’s Catholic High School on the second Wednesday at 7.30 pm. The cost is £2 for members and £4 for visitors.
“Alcester and the surrounding district has over two thousand years of history from the Romans up to the present day and there is a great deal of interest from the local community in learning more about the town’s heritage.
“We are proud that the society has done much to research and promote this history over the last fifty years and make the information accessible, in a variety of forms, to everyone with an interest in our local history,” he added.
See alcesterhistory.org.uk for details of the annual programme of talks.
