For our first MAYA session of 2023 we carried out an archaeological excavation\u2026 indoors!\u00a0 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.\u00a0 This time we were to uncover the remains of a medieval abbey!<\/p>\n
Julian prepared the session by putting down layers of carpet tiles, concealing artefacts between each layer.\u00a0 He then started off by talking to the MAYANS about the sorts of materials we could find when we carried out an excavation \u2013 what would rot over time and what would not rot.\u00a0 He demonstrated this by a variety of objects made from wood, plastic, glass, cardboard etc, even a rotten old banana skin!<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 Finally we uncovered the remains of a medieval abbey, including a grave stone which we lifted to discover the remains of a skeleton.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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!<\/p>\n
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