Community Archaeology in Action!

Our archaeology intern, Danielle is in the last few weeks of her placement - and she has had a busy time so far! Here she talks about some of her community archaeology sessions:

I have been delivering sessions to groups from different community services from the local area. I spent a day at the lovely Clarion House in Roughlee taking Young Carers on an archaeological journey after they'd had a morning of minibeast hunting in the garden with Alison from Ernest Cook Trust. They made prehistoric-style pots, matched Roman emperors to their coins, identified an industrial era object from broken pieces, and interpreted a pile of modern rubbish!

I took my clay and twigs to Whitehough Outdoor Centre where a group of Adult Carers came to create their own Prehistoric Pottery, too. With the help of UCLan tutor, Rick Peterson (and despite the rain!) they created some really great pots and learned about local archaeology, what inspires people to get into archaeology, and opportunities to get involved in future community archaeology events.

I have also worked with two People Enjoying Nature groups to bring them activities which go 'beyond the trench', demonstrating the other side of archaeology which is not just digging. One group took part in the Uncovering Archaeology journey but with an added emphasis on how each individual activity aimed to demonstrate a different part of archaeological research. The others learned how to spot 'invisible archaeology' by walking in the footsteps of Romans on the Roman road in Downham Village and took part in a discussion about the lack of in-depth archaeological research in the area. They then took part in Prehistoric Pottery making (a kind of experimental archaeology) and sorted and cleaned some real finds from local farm, Gazegil Dairies. 

I also worked with the artists-in-residence at In-Situ, Lunchtime Practice, to provide the inspiration and information for a Beginners Guide to Archaeology, as well as a certificate which went along with the Uncovering Archaeology activity. These Beginners Guides will be handed out at all my events, as well as (hopefully!) future community archaeology events hosted by Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership, and has a handy list on the back of local community projects and links to where people can find out about more Community Archaeology projects.

Into my final week now, and I have just one more session to deliver! Over the past few weeks we have been exploring 'What is Community Archaeology in 2019?' and 'What does an archaeologist look like?'. Through the sessions and guides we have created, I hopefully have shown people that there is a lot more to archaeology than just excavation, as well as how there are lots of different tools and technologies which are now used by different archaeologists. 

Please look out for my final blog post over the next few weeks!