Catherine talking to Eileen Parker, one of the archaeologists on the project. Catherine and I had a little road trip this week when we visited some excavations taking place in Derbyshire. First up was a visit to this year’s fieldwork at Castleton, where a team from Castleton Historical Society and students from the University of Sheffield have been busy uncovering more of the history of the village. Much of the work has been focussed on the search for the medieval hospital of

One of the things we want to do here at Enrichment is to let people know about the world of archaeology. I bet that the first thing that comes to mind when you think about archaeology is . . . excavation! So, we are going to do our best to let you know about a range of excavations over the summer months which teachers and parents, primarily, can go to see what an excavation entails. First up is an excavation taking place at Halton Castle, nr Runcorn which is planned for July.

I was privileged enough to be invited to take part in the Year 9 Classics Day at Loughborough High School. Designed to encourage the girls to think about the relevance of Classics beyond the classroom and to try to promote the three Classical subjects (Latin, Greek, Classical Civilisation) that they offer at GCSE, the day involved a number of workshops focusing on different ways of engaging with the Classical World. Alongside in-house workshops and one delivered by Sonya Nevi

What a wonderful day we had in Cheshire! Armed with our trenches, tools and artefacts, Dr Ian Parker Heath (trusty archaeologist husband and colleague) and I, made our acquaintance with Lower KS 2 at Offley Primary School in Sandbach. We explored prehistory from the Palaeolithic to the coming of the Romans, covering what the new primary history curriculum calls ‘Changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age’. After ‘training’ to get the children thinking like archaeol

After delivering a workshop covering the Stone Age to Iron Age to Y4s at St Andrews CE Primary School in Levenshulme in October, the beginning of 2015 saw me returning to delve deeper into the Stone Age with Y3s. The second visit saw me ensconced in a brand new ‘dance studio’, which proved to be the perfect place for our excavations of the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic. Animal bones, charcoal, waste flakes and artefacts of each period (with ‘toolkits’ provided by the

Y3s at Aughton St Michaels CE Primary School in Ormskirk became archaeologists for the morning when they excavated artefacts from the Stone Age. Over three hours, the children were ‘trained’ to become archaeologists, to think like archaeologists and to understand how we excavate. Armed with these skills, they dug up objects from the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic and analysed what they had found, thinking about what objects can tell us about how people lived in the pa

I love delivering Archaeology Days, because Archaeology Days allow time for me to really develop children’s interest and enable them to progress from one activity to another. Hopefully, by the end of the day they leave for home with a good grasp of what archaeology is, what it sets out to achieve and some information about the period they are studying, as well as smiling faces at a day well spent! One such day was had at Garstang Community Primary School in Lancashire, when w

After being invited back for the third year in a row, we are top news story on the Derby High School Website! Read all about it! http://www.derbyhigh.derby.sch.uk/ #workshop #excavation #school #KS3amp4 #artefact #stratigraphy #education #Archaeology #timeline #dig

Last Thursday, I returned to the Croft Primary School in Rugeley, Staffordshire, to deliver a workshop to Y5 to support the teaching of their ‘Treasure Island’ topic. Being only a few miles away from where the Staffordshire Hoard was found, meant that a focus on the Anglo-Saxons was perfect for this occasion. After considering what ‘treasure’ is, and discussing how even the most seemingly insignificant objects can be treasure for archaeologists, the children were ‘trained’ in

What a great day we had at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Primary School in Doncaster! Recently back from excavating in Egypt ;-), Dr Catherine and Dr Ian  were keen to train a new generation of archaeologists and Egyptologists.  Starting with training in how archaeologists think and analyse evidence, followed by an activity teaching how archaeologists go about dating artefacts, the ‘trainees’ were soon ready to dig up Ancient Egyptian artefacts themselves. The training mu

Well, ok, this workshop took place way back in September 2013, but I now have some photos to share with you and have a found a few minutes to sit down and write about it! The workshop, designed to support the Y9s topic on the Trojan War, followed much the same format as the previous year (see The Trojan War at Derby High School:  The day began with the aim of introducing archaeology and the way archaeologists think with two activities – Archaeology is Rubbish and Archaeologis

I returned to St Richard’s Primary School in Atherton last week to deliver an Anglo-Saxon archaeology workshop. After training the children how to think like archaeologists and helping them to understand concepts such as stratigraphy through a variety of activities, we began to excavate a range of Anglo-Saxon objects. After closely analysing our finds, ranging from pottery and animal bones to spearheads and jewellery, we were able to show each other what we had found.  We eve

The FitzHerbert C of E Primary School in Fenny Bentley have just completed the second part of the Peak District Award. The excavation is complete, the barrow is more or less there and the ground has been prepared for sowing the seeds to create their wild flower meadow. Again, the children surpassed themselves in their presentation of everything they had done and learnt. This is what Mrs Froggatt, their class teacher, had to say about the experience: “Doing the archaeological

The last week saw my continued work with the Park Rangers, Rose and Steve, at FitzHerbert Primary School in Fenny Bentley, culminating on Thursday 19th with the presentation of the 1st part of the Peak District Award to the KS2 children who had taken part. On Thursday 12th we began to dig in the school field.  After a lesson in stratigraphy, the children were set to work, under the watchful eye of Steve Bell, de-turfing the patch that is to become a wild flower meadow.  They

I spent a lovely afternoon with pupils and teachers from FitzHerbert CE Primary School in Fenny Bentley yesterday.  I was there with two National Park Rangers, Steve Bell and Rose Clarke as part of a new scheme with which the school is involved – the Peak District Award. To achieve this award the school is learning all about the special qualities of the National Park and as part of this will be improving their hay meadow and building a Bronze Age barrow in their school ground

Unfortunately, the Arbor Low Environs Project has been put on hold due to the snow. We have been told that at Upper Oldhams Farm the snow has reached over the walls! This has meant that we have had to cancel group visits for the rest of this week. We will be keeping our eye on the weather today to see if the Open Day will go ahead tomorrow and we are talking to farmers to see about whether we can continue the dig into next week and reschedule some of the visits. We will keep

The first two days of the Arbor Low Environs Project dig this year have been a resounding success. I’m not so much talking about the archaeology here – although I’m sure many exciting things will be unearthed as the days go by -no, what I am talking about are the school visits we have had so far. I have had the pleasure and privilege to introduce and re-introduce many young people and their teachers to Arbor Low, Gib Hill and the wonderful world of archaeology. The children (

The week beginning the 25th March 2012 is the first week of the ALEP excavations this year and we have invited local schools to come and join us. We are so pleased with the response, with enquiries from Monyash Primary School, Curbar Primary School, Harpur Hill Primary School, Fairfield Endowed CE Junior School and Buxton Infant School, as well as Melland High School in Manchester and the The Institute of Life-Long Learning at the University of Sheffield. In fact there is onl

The Drs Parker Heath are currently very busy organising this year’s archaeological investigations close to Arbor Low and Gib Hill. The licenses from English Heritage have arrived, permissions from landowners have been given, but most excitingly local schools are beginning to sign up to come and have a tour around the ancient monuments, visit the dig site and get their hands dirty! So far we have heard from Monyash Primary School, Curbar Primary School, and Harpur Hill Primary

A flexible approach was needed with a group so disparate in age and previous knowledge, but everyone was able to get their hands dirty as soon as possible after a brief introduction to the tools of the trade. Luckily for the home educators, Highfields Adventure Playground in Sheffield, where they meet once a week, did not mind us digging up their grounds. The children soon found many artefacts, such as hinges and cupboard door handles. We were able to consider what they were