Author: Admin (Page 6 of 16)

For our September session we were back in the Museum of Somerset after our visits and fieldwork over the summer.  The session was planned and run for us by Chris Webster and Chris Jessop and was all about how archaeologists record everything while they are excavating.

At the start of the session Chris W gave a short PowerPoint talk about why it was so important that archaeologists recorded everything while they are digging, including plans, photographs and context sheets.  This is because when you dig up archaeology you are in effect destroying it!

The MAYANS then split up into four groups around four specially prepared indoor test pits.  These were layers of 1m square cardboard sheets representing different contexts.  In between the sheets were artefacts for the MAYANS to find and plan using a 1m x 1m planning frame like the ones used on real excavations.  For each layer they had to fill in a context sheet describing everything they saw.

During the session the MAYANS also had chance to look at different types of surveying equipment used to record the height or “level” of their test pits.  This type of equipment had changed a lot over the decades and we were able to show them an old fashioned dumpy level and staff where everything looks upside down and back to front, right up to a modern day GPS which connects to satellites to show very precise location and height.

At the end of the session each group told everyone the story of their test pit, describing what they thought had occurred there in the past using the evidence they had found… good fun as well as being a great learning experience!  A big thank you to Chris W and Chris J for all their preparation and for running such a great session for us!

For our September session MAYA members were invited by Richard, Cheryl and Tara from Context One Heritage and Archaeology to take part in their excavations at Broomfield on the Quantock Hills.  They were trying to find out the nature and date of a large, circular ditch almost 100m across, identified on aerial photos and geophysical surveying.  This was a great opportunity for our members as we don’t often ge

t a chance to do some actual digging, especially as our August test pitting was cancelled due to bad weather.

We were given a tour of the site and then

we split up into groups to do some digging.  There were three trenches, one on the big ditch and two on other anomalies located by the geophysical survey.  The MAYANS carefully scraped back the soil looking for artefacts and any changes in the colour of the soil which could be postholes.  Those working in the big ditch were also trying to define the edges of the ditch.

This was quite near the start of the dig and no artefacts were found apart from two very tiny pieces of pottery.  The fact that there were so little finds, plus the size of the ditch suggests the circular enclosure could be Neolithic or Bronze Age.  The archaeologist who were running the dig were very impressed by how careful and dedicated the MAYANS were whilst they were working.

This was a really great day for our members and we would like to thank Richard McConnell, Cheryl Green and Tara Fairclough for giving MAYA this exciting opportunity, plus Dan Broadbent from the Quantock Hills Landscape Partnership for organising transport to enable us to get to the site.

For our July session we returned to the Somerset Brick and Tile Museum in Bridgwater.  We were last there five years ago so nearly all our members had not been there before.  The session was run for us by Marie from the South West Heritage Trust.

After an introductory talk, Marie took us on a short walk to look at different types of brickwork in some of the houses near the museum.  We also saw the remains of the Bridgwater glass kiln which must had looked amazing when it used to tower over the surrounding buildings.

When we got back to the museum we split up into three different groups for different activities.  One group made miniature bricks with Marie using old fashioned wooden brick moulds.  We carved our names or patterns onto our bricks so we’d know which was which.  These will be dried and fired by Marie and then returned to us at a later date.

The second group replicated the different types of brick bonds that we had seen in the buildings on our walk outside – using Lego!  Great fun!  The third group built structures out of large foam bricks and then shook the table they were on to see how they would withstand an earthquake.  We threaded broom handles down through the holes in the brick walls to reinforce them.

This was a fun session with a great variety of activities and by the end of it we knew a great deal more about the humble brick!  A big thank you to Marie for running this session for us.

For our May session we went on a coach trip to Caerleon Roman Fort in South Wales.  Upon arriving at the fort we started out by looking at the remains of the Roman barracks.  These were very well preserved and it was great to see the layout of the buildings so clearly and work out how many soldiers lived in each one.  It must have been quite crowded!  We also saw the remains of the communal toilet which caused the MAYANS much amusement!

After this we split into two groups, one to look around the general museum for the fort and the other to visit the Roman baths which has its own separate museum.  The remains of the baths were amazing and we could walk on platforms above the actual walls and see all the different types of buildings.  There were video projections of Roman people swimming in the large pool which was amazing!

The other museum had many of the artefacts discovered when the site was excavated, including pottery, glass, cremations vessels and beautiful intaglio stones which would have been set into rings.  We were all amazed at how tiny and detailed these were.

We ended the day in the huge Roman amphitheatre which was very impressive, before getting the coach back to Taunton.  A big thank you to MAYA volunteers Chris Webster and Dave Jones who organised the visit and guided us around this fascinating site!