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Camden Young Archaeologists
2003 - Summer
Camden schoolchildren last week donned hard
hats instead of Indiana Jones' trademark fedora and took part
in a week-long archaeology project - Camden Young Archaeologists
2003.
see photographs
Camden Arts and Tourism Services coordinated the pilot programme
with support provided from University College London's (UCL)
Institute of Archaeology, The Museum of London via its Archaeological
Archive and Research Centre (LAARC) at Mortimer Wheeler House
in Hackney and the City Learning Centre at South Camden Community
School. Over the course of the week the twenty-four trainee
time-teamers were given an in-depth introduction to archaeology
and archaeological conservation and took part in an excavation
- The Big Dig - at LAARC.
Various items including Samien pottery had been planted especially
for the children to find, handle and record information on.
The children were also taught how to clean and sort finds
from a Museum of London excavation in Southwark - some of
the pieces had not been touched since they were found in the
1970's! The children also handled rare artefacts from the
UCL collection and toured behind the scenes at The Petrie
Museum.
The children completed diaries at the end of each day and
were also given cameras to document the week for inclusion
in an exhibition and on a web site which will highlight the
programme and focus on the children's experiences. The children
spent two days at the City Learning Centre at South Camden
Community School planning the construction and content of
the website. It is intended to launch the exhibition and completed
website in Autumn 2003.
At the end of the project all the children were presented
with certificates in a special ceremony which parents were
invited to. Diana Smart, Arts & Heritage Officer, Camden Council
was responsible for coordinating the pilot scheme and is delighted
by the feedback from the children and from the partners involved
and hopes the pilot scheme can be expanded.
"Camden Young Archaeologists 2003 was a resounding success
for everyone involved but especially for the children - they
had a great time learning about archaeology and also about
working together. Camden Arts and Tourism is now exploring
funding opportunities to expand the programme to enable more
children to be able to study a wider range of subjects at
UCL in the summer holidays over the next three years."
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Camden
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