Author: Admin (Page 7 of 16)

For our March session the MAYANS returned to the Avalon Archaeology Park near Shapwick.  The session was run for us by Dr Richard Brunning from the South West Heritage Trust, and for this visit Richard had organised mosaic laying and Viking wood carving!  After an introductory talk we split into two groups, one to work in the Roman building and the other in the Saxon long hall.

The group in the Roman building were going to lay tesserae for part of the beautiful mosaic floor that Richard and the other volunteers at the Archaeology Park have been working on for over a year, and it was a real treat to be part of this special project.  The MAYANS were supervised by Richard’s friend Martin who had prepared two areas for us to work on.  It was great to think that in years to come the MAYANS could return to the building and show their friends and family what they had done.

The second group worked in the Saxon long hall where Richard showed them how to make the beautiful wood carvings that decorate the hall using chisels and wooden mallets.  This was tricky work as the designs were quite complicated but the MAYANS soon got the hang of it.  It really made you realise how much work has gone into the reconstruction of these buildings!

After a break the groups swapped over so everyone could have a go at both activities.  The Archaeology Park is such a wonderful place for our members to visit with its amazing reconstructed buildings and exciting activities.  A big thank you to Richard and Martin for inviting us back and for all their help and support for MAYA!

For our February session we returned to post-excavation work on the artefacts we discovered during test pitting at Longaller Mill.  We were fortunate enough to have David Dawson join us who is one of the country’s leading experts on pottery, especially Medieval and Post-Medieval pottery which is what we expected to find in the test pits.

David began the session with a PowerPoint presentation, getting the MAYANS to think about the fabric, form, finish and function of pottery.  After this we divided up into several group to continue the post excavation work.  This included finishing off the finds washing we had started in the November session, plus sorting, weighing and recording the finds which had already been washed and dried.  The MAYANS took the pottery sherds they found over to David for identification and recording.

We also had access to a Dino-lite magnification scanner which, when connected to a laptop, revealed amazingly detailed, magnified pictures of the pottery plus other finds such as flint and bone.

This was a great opportunity for the MAYANS to learn about the all the types of pottery sherds they had found, and appreciate how these can be used to help date when the old buildings had been occupied.  A big thank you to David for coming along and for all his help with this fascinating session!

For our first MAYA session of 2023 we carried out an archaeological excavation… indoors!  The session was run for us by Dr Julian Richards who has been kind enough to run a number of MAYA sessions for us over the years.  This time we were to uncover the remains of a medieval abbey!

Julian prepared the session by putting down layers of carpet tiles, concealing artefacts between each layer.  He then started off by talking to the MAYANS about the sorts of materials we could find when we carried out an excavation – what would rot over time and what would not rot.  He demonstrated this by a variety of objects made from wood, plastic, glass, cardboard etc, even a rotten old banana skin!

We then started to take up the individual carpet tiles to reveal what was underneath, looking at the finds and trying to work out the nature of the site.  Finally we uncovered the remains of a medieval abbey, including a grave stone which we lifted to discover the remains of a skeleton.  After a discussion about what we can learn from an examination of human bones, we realised that the skeleton was female and the abbey was probably a place for nuns not monks.

Julian then finished by showing us a short film about a community dig at Shaftesbury Abbey, which was the first abbey in the country founded for nuns in 888 by King Alfred, whose daughter was the first abbess.

This was a really exciting and interesting session and we would like to say a huge thank you to Julian and his wife Sue for running it for us!

MAYA’s Christmas Party this year was something really special and different!  It was held in the Saxon long hall at the Avalon Archaeology Park near Shapwick.  We were met by Richard and Natalie who run the site and to start off the day they had organised a picture trail hunt around the centre.  The MAYANS had photos of a variety of carvings and paintings in the different buildings which they had to track down and then mark their position using a gridded map.

After running off some energy we then all moved into the Saxon long hall for a Christmas party feast around the fire pit before our very special visitor arrived, Lizzie Bryant a professional storyteller.  As we settled down around the fire Lizzie preceded to tell the story of Beowulf.  Although this was familiar to some of the group, it was a completely new experience to hear it being told in such an amazing and appropriate setting, and Lizzie had us all spellbound!   

After Lizzie had recounted Beowulf’s victories over Grendel and Grendel’s mother, we stopped for a break where we toasted marshmallows and drank warm apple juice mead around the fire.  Lizzie then finished the afternoon by telling the tale of Beowulf’s final encounter with the dragon.  As the MAYANS left they were given Christmas presents, cards and crackers to take home.

This was a really amazing day!  A huge thank you to Lizzie and to Richard and Natalie for all their help and for inviting us to hold our party in such a wonderful location!