Last Saturday 11 children took part in the ‘Dig Archaeology’ day course at Kilve Court, Somerset. The course was run by the Hinkley Point archaeology outreach team. The aim of the day was to carry out a real life archaeological investigation, using maps and plans as well as fieldwork (and also to have lots of fun!)
Kilve Court is a country house in the village of Kilve and dates from 1782-5. Alterations have taken place to the main house over the last hundred years, from a family home to today’s use as a residential education centre.
The children excavated two trial trenches, one in the kitchen garden area and the other in the small garden behind the barn. They discovered the foundations of a truncated wall and finds including pottery, brick and tile, clay tobacco pipe, animal bone, oyster shell and a marble! A short report will eventually be published in the Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological & Natural History Society.
This is what the children had to say: ‘It was really fun and I would love to do it again’, ‘I like finding some of the bones and pottery’ and ‘I learnt how to dig and how to read maps’.
To find out more about the courses offered by the centre go to http://www.kilvecourt.co.uk/
Archaeology at Hinkley Point 