We have run courses at Poulton for some years now.
They have been very well received and the vast majority of people who have
attended would recommend them to others and come again.
If you've been on one of our courses before and just want
to register, go here if you are a student or
here if you are not.
What we Teach
These are training courses. We are not
asking you to simply wash pots or move spoil. Within hours of your arrival
on-site we expect you to be excavating serious archaeology (most people
have the opportunity to work on human remains if they wish)
. We will teach you how to:
-
Excavate carefully,
layer by layer.
-
Assess the excavation
conditions and record your excavation.
-
Locate your finds in
three dimensions by using basic surveying techniques.
-
Plan and photograph
your excavation.
-
Wash and categorise
your finds.
Excavation
Excavating properly to archaeological standards requires patience and attention to detail. We will
demonstrate and coach the skills you will need.
^ Methodically excavating a
human skull
Recording
Excavation is a destructive process. It is important you record
everything, even the soil and weather conditions.
Something not important today may become significant in a couple of year's time.
We will teach you how to differentiate types of soil and their colours and
record that information.
^ Carefully recording a skeleton's details.
Locating
It is important we know exactly where something was
found. Using the surveying skills we will teach you, your finds will
be located in 3D to within a few centimetres.
^ Levelling
Photography and Planning
Photography for the record is a little different from
taking 'snaps' but is the norm these days. However planning (hand drawing to
scale) is still a important technique in archaeology and can record things with
greater clarity than photography. We will teach you both skills.
^ Planning
Cleaning and Identification
Finds need to be appropriately cleaned and stored. We
will teach you how best to do that.
^ Carefully cleaning a skull
Timing
We can achieve all the training in a single week but
especially for undergraduate students, we recommend you book 2 or more weeks.
Applying your newly learned techniques in different situations is
important.
Human Osteology
According to your interests and requirements, you can
spend time in our human osteology facility. This can vary from a short
presentation to a full-scale, hands-on examination of our skeletons.
General Facilities
They are not lavish but we believe they are adequate. We
have a Portaloo and two decent sized marquees for storage and messing. We have tea
and coffee making facilities but no cooking capability. You will need to
provide your own lunch.
We provide all the tools and equipment but all 'proper'
archaeologists have their own trowel ;-) However, you will need your own
sensible clothing and waterproofs and/or plenty of suncream.
Location
The site is a mile (1.5km) from the nearest public road
and two and half miles (4km) from the nearest public transport (bus). We have no
formal transport from the bus route to site but this can often be arranged on an
informal basis with other attendees.
Low cost accommodation is available within a few miles and
is detailed in the registration forms (Students,
Others).
Dates and Costs
We keep our charges as low as possible and these are
detailed in
the registration forms (Students,
Others) as are the dates for the next season..
Attendee Satisfaction
We have a very high satisfaction rating from our course
attendees (the details for the 2011 season are
here).
Everyone who attended in 2011 would recommend us to others and would come again.
Here are just a few comments about us from previous surveys:
-
The freedom given
to students was brilliant
-
Diversity on the site - pre-historic and
medieval
-
Practical experience started straight
from the beginning of the course
-
Chance to survey, record and dig.
-
... encouraged to ask questions
-
The excellent standard of teaching
-
... a lot of archaeological techniques
in a short space of time
-
Clear protocol and guides were given and
great visual teaching was teamed with the hands-on work ...
-
Help always available- I felt well
supported
-
Aimed for all no matter how much they
knew
-
Relaxed manners by all yet still
educational
-
Didn't make us feel stupid when we
didn't know something.
-
... not micro managed
-
printed documentation great
-
Very good atmosphere - relaxed and
friendly.
More information
For any more information please email Alan
(morebigal@aol.com) or call him on 07944
354397.
