Events for families and adults
Community Excavation on the Wirral – a fantastic opportunity for adult learners!
The community excavation on the Wirral at Leasowe Lighthouse was very popular with the local people wanting to learn more about archaeology. 140 people signed up to volunteer over the 4 weeks and we had to turn some people away due to over-subscription. No experience was necessary; people just had to be prepared to risk getting muddy and wet! On site there was the opportunity to learn the skills needed to be a field archaeologist. These include digging, planning and the post-excavation tasks of washing and sorting the finds. We had our base and finds processing room inside the lighthouse itself and so volunteers had a dry place to escape in case of rain. There were 2 trenches on the side of the lighthouse which were placed to uncover the outbuildings from the lighthouse when it was occupied. On one side was a stable and coach house, the other set of buildings included the water cistern, washroom and toilet. These structures were demolished sometime in the late 1930s and it is thought were built around 1800. Some volunteers were slightly disappointed that we weren’t digging Roman remains but for a training excavation this sort of archaeology is perfect. There were lots of walls and clearly defined layers which meant that the volunteers could understand the basics of archaeology. When the archaeologists explained about different contexts and differences in soil colour they could see easily these features. It also meant that people could get on with things without worrying too much about going through a layer (as is sometimes the case on prehistoric sites) as the soil colour/texture was markedly different. The excavation produced lots of finds which, although again not very old or perhaps exciting, were just what we needed to show people the entire process from excavation through to preparing finds for a report. Volunteers were shown how to wash and sort finds and the importance of their provenance (i.e. context number) was stressed again. We discussed how archaeology is really destruction of a site, layer by layer, and because of this we must ensure that we record what we destroy. They also learnt that sometimes archaeology can be monotonous as you wash your 100th piece of glass for the day! Overall the excavation has been a success and has allowed a large number of people to experience first hand. We had a broad range of people volunteering and often had some lively debates at lunchtimes about other archaeological issues/ new discoveries in the area. This type of interaction and debate further opens archaeology to the members of the public and allows them to understand how archaeologists make the interpretations they do, from the evidence they have. Hopefully there will be opportunities to carry out more of these projects in the future as this one has shown there is definitely an interest for it in the public!
Finds id session
Thursday 17th Aug – Reading Museum
