Category: News (Page 1 of 5)

This month we were treated to a really special session. We were taken on a guided walk around WWII archaeological sites in Donyatt which formed part of the anti-tank defences of the Taunton Stop Line.  Our guide was Chris Webster from the South West Heritage Trust.

Despite the pouring rain, our MAYANS were undaunted and we had a good turn-out.  Chris showed us a number of fascinating and sometimes partially hidden sites, including pill boxes, gun emplacements and huge concrete anti-tank blocks.  The tour also included a walk along the former Ilminster – Chard railway line near Donyatt Halt which was lined by anti-tank concrete blocks and posts.

The pill boxes we visited were on private land and we are very grateful to the landowners for giving us access to these extraordinary historical sites.

A massive thank you to Chris for coming out in the pouring rain to run this fascinating and memorable session!

In our first session of 2026 we learnt about Upper Palaeolithic Cave Art in Europe.  We started out with a PowerPoint presentation about where cave art was found, what kinds of things were painted, and discussed why people might have painted them.  We also looked at how the paints were made out of minerals and organic materials and how we could use this to date the art.  We finished with a quick look at prehistoric cave art from other parts of the world.

After a short break we then designed and painted some cave art of our own!  Each of our MAYANS were given a flat pebble to paint.  We had lots of pictures of cave art from all sorts of different site to inspire them.  The designs they came up with were fantastic, very varied and colourful.  The pebbles were dry by the end of the session so they could take them home with them.

We also had a virtual walk through tour around the cave at Lascaux in France which is one of the most famous cave art sites in the world.  Throughout the session the MAYANS took it in turns exploring this amazing site on the computer.

Finally our MAYANS also decorated a long freeze with cave art, a combined effort which produced an amazingly colourful result!  The most popular image was definitely the hand print which is a common motive in prehistoric cave art, and we ended up with some amazingly colourful hands as well!  A really messy but really fun session!

We had a special guest for our Christmas Party this year, storyteller Dan Broadbent.  Dan told us an amazing selection of local tales, legends and ghost stories.  Dan explained how important these stories were as they had been passed down through generations of local people and could reflect ancient beliefs and practices.  Dan also explained that telling ghost stories at Christmas was an old Victorian tradition.

We dimmed the lights and lit the room with about a hundred LED candles so it was very atmospheric – especially when Dan told us about the ghosts who were supposed to haunt Taunton Castle where we meet!

After Dan had finished, we had our Christmas party with loads of food, crackers and pass the parcel and a lucky dip.

It has been a really great year for MAYA and we have a lot of activities planned for 2026, which will be our tenth anniversary!  A huge thank you to Dan and to everyone who has supported us over the past year and helped to make MAYA such a success!

For our November session we were back in the Museum of Somerset after being out and about all summer.  Unfortunately we had to cancel our October session at Fyne Court due to Storm Amy but we hope to reschedule that session for next year.

This month we were visited by Ian and Jas from the National Trust.  Ian showed us a PowerPoint about the amazing archaeology on the Bread Down headland near Weston super Mare.  He also brought some activity sheets where we had to work out where the people who lived on Brean Down in the Iron Age fished and farmed and built their fort and village.

Jas had brought along two Virtual Reality headsets and while we were doing the activity sheets we took it in turns to have a go using them which was amazing!

After a short break we passed around a number of replica artefacts from different time periods and the MAYANS had to work out what they were, when they dated from and whether the people living on Brean Down would have used them.  The objects included a Neolithic hand axe, replica Bronze Age axes, an Iron Age torc bracelet, Roman pottery and a Saxon helmet.  Ian told us there was evidence that people lived on Brean Down in all these time periods apart from the Saxons.

The National Trust have very kindly offered to take us on a guided walk at Brean Down next Summer so we can see for ourselves the fascinating archaeology and history of the headland.  A big thank you to Ian and Jas for organising such a great session!

Our session in September was something really special – a coach trip to the Newt Roman villa!  The Newt is a reconstruction of a complete Roman Villa built next to the site of the original villa which was discovered in 1832.

When we arrived we had an early picnic lunch and then headed over to the museum and villa.  We looked around the museum first and before we went in we were all given Wi-Fi headphones with special built-in sensors.  Once inside the museum the sensors detected when we were close to the displays and triggered an audio commentary about each exhibit.  Most of the displays included an interactive element which was great fun!

In the centre of the museum were the excavated remains of the original bath house including a glass floor so we could walk over and look down upon the excavated remains.

After this we went over to the reconstruction of the villa which was amazing!  The headphones continued to give us an audio commentary depending on which room we were in.  These included reception rooms, a dining room, a bath house suit, bedrooms, and a kitchen amongst others.  All were beautifully decorated and furnished.  The villa was surrounded by vineyards with a garden at the back and we felt like we had been really transported through time!

Our tour of the villa ended in a special room where we could use virtual reality headsets that made it appear like the Roman occupants of the villa were walking and talking around us.  The whole experience was absolutely amazing!

This visit was made possible by the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society’s Gray Fund who very kindly paid for the coach to take us there.  We are extremely grateful to SANHS for giving our members this wonderful opportunity.

In July MAYA returned to the Avalon Archaeology Park which is always a fun and interesting place to visit.  We were met by Richard Brunning from the South West Heritage Trust who is the archaeologists for the Somerset Levels and Moors.  This time, instead of staying in the Archaeology Park, Richard took us on a walk around the nearby Shapwick Heath Nature Reserve to talk about how people in prehistory travelled across and lived in the water and reed beds.

We visited the site of the Sweet Track, a 6,000 year old wooden trackway.  Richard took us along a path which runs above where the track is actually located, and then took us to a replica of the track which we could try walking on – as long as you have good balance!

Richard guided us through this special landscape of reed beds, open water and wet woodland and talked about how people in the past have lived here.  He told us about the Glastonbury Lake Village that was constructed by Iron Age people on an artificial island and how artefacts which normally would rot away had been preserved in the oxygen-free environment.

After the walk we returned to the Archaeology Park to have lunch in the Saxon Long Hall.  Richard then showed us their almost completed Iron Age roundhouse and talked about how it was constructed.  Those who didn’t mind getting muddy could try their hand at mixing daub and pressing it into the wattle walls of a smaller version of the roundhouse… in the pouring rain!

We always enjoy visiting the Archaeology Park and this was no exception.  A big thank you to Richard for a really fascinating and fun day!

For our June session MAYA visited Cleeve Abbey near Washford. We were met at the abbey by Teresa Pratt who gave us an introductory talk before taking us on a guided tour around the site. Cleeve Abbey is a fantastic place to explore as so many of its buildings still survive. Teresa was a mine of information and gave us lots of fascinating and fun facts about the history of the abbey, including witch marks, graffiti and carvings of monsters to ward off evil. The highlight of the tour was the magnificent medieval tiled floor which had been in the old refectory.

Teresa had put out some finds for us to look at which had been excavated by the local rabbits! We could also try our hand at making up our own tiled floor patterns and printing medieval tile designs. We even got the chance to dress up as monks!

The session ended with a Mythical Creatures Trail. Pictures of different creatures had been hidden around the abbey and we split up into teams to try find them all. By this time it was raining but the MAYANS didn’t seem to mind and everyone succeeded in the quest. Before going home we all had an ice cream treat courtesy of Nigel!

A big thank you to Teresa for making us so welcome and for being such a fun and informative guide.

Our first outdoor session this year was organised for us by the County Archaeologist Bob Croft.  We met Bob at the Somerset Heritage Centre where he gave us a short introductory talk about the hillfort at Norton Fitzwarren which is not far from the Heritage Centre.

We then walked to the hillfort and Bob gave us a guided tour around the monument, explaining its history and the way it had been used as a defensive site and meeting point by people in the Bronze Age and Iron Age.

Bob had arranged permission for us to dig three test pits near the footpath to the site just outside the scheduled area.  This was a fantastic opportunity for our members to take part in a small excavation so close to a significant prehistoric monument.  Richard Brunning from the South West Heritage Trust joined us to help with the excavations.

The digging was hard going but our MAYANS were all very keen and got stuck in.  Most of the finds were post-Medieval, Victorian and modern artefacts such as pottery, building material and plastic!  However several chert flakes were also recovered which will be examined post-excavation to see if they might be worked.

We are really grateful to Bob for organising this for us.  A big thank you to Bob, Richard and everyone else to helped to make this such a great day for our members.

For our April session we learnt about Japanese culture and archaeology.  The session was led for us by MAYA helper Caroline Pathy Barker.  Our sessions usually concentrate on the archaeology of the British Isles so this was something really new and interesting for most of our members.  Caroline is involved with the Online Resource for Japanese Archaeology and Cultural Heritage (ORJACH).  She started out with a PowerPoint presentation about Japanese culture and history, followed by a short quiz to see if we were paying attention!  Caroline also brought along some Japanese archaeological artefacts for us to look at, including pottery, obsidian tools and replica Haniwa statues from burial mounds.

After break we made Japanese-style Jomon pots.  The Jomon period dates from 14,500 BC right up to around 300 BC so this style of pottery is really old.  We started out by coiling sausages of clay around a cardboard cup former, slowly building the coils up to around halfway up the cup.  We then smoothed the clay with water to get a nice smooth finish.  It was then time to decorate our pots, and Caroline had brought along a selection of objects that would have been used in the Jomon period – bamboo sticks, shells and woven string, which we pressed into the clay to make patterns.  Very effective!

The MAYANS took their pots home and after they have dried for a day or two they can remove the cardboard cup and end up with an authentic-looking Jomon pot.  A big thank you to Caroline for a really fun and interesting session!

Our February MAYA session was something very interesting and unusual.  It was led for us by MAYA volunteers Rob and Caroline and was about Artificial Intelligence and Archaeology.

The session began with Rob showing us a PowerPoint about the origins of AI, explained how it worked and talked about the pros and cons of using AI.  Rob had asked an AI programme to actually write the PowerPoint for him which was amazing!

After this Caroline talked about how AI was helping modern archaeology and how it might develop in the future, e.g. reconstructing archaeological sites using virtual reality while they were actually being excavated, developing 3-D models, and enhancing LiDAR and geophysical surveys.  She also showed us some fascinating on-line videos using AI to animate stone carving on the walls of Greek and Roman temples.

After a break we split up into small groups and designed plans for our own AI programmes which could help archaeologists in the future.  Ideas included on-site analysis of pottery and flint, translating Egyptian hieroglyphs, using a 3-D printer to instantly print models of aerial photos of new archaeological sites, and an automatic cat-shaped wheelbarrow which tidied up your excavation tools!

This was a fascinating session and really got our young archaeologists to use their imagination.  They are the ones who will be using AI more often in future, and this was an intriguing insight into what the future of archaeology might be.