Day School for Truro College
In April 2005 Anna Tyacke (Cornwall FLO) ran a day school for Truro College Students and Cornwall Archaeological Society members on ‘Understanding early metalworking and metalwork’ with the help of Martin Page (Truro College).
The day school was held at the Royal Cornwall Museum where Anna illustrated her talk with artefacts from the Royal Institution of Cornwall’s collections, many of which had come off display and are not normally allowed to be handled. These included an Early Bronze Age gold lunula and a Saxon silver hoard. These complex and intricate artefacts were used to illustrate the various techniques and materials used and to gave members a first-hand look at the details of the decoration and the feel and look of the metals.
Anna also looked at the cleaning and conservation of metals and the recording of finds on the PAS finds database. In the afternoon, Martin continued the day school in the workshop at Truro College using various tools and equipment to show the manufacture of metal objects, the decoration processes and the metallurgy involved. The students were also able to try their hand at sand casting and chip-carving the surface of the metal with chisels!
