On Tuesday, Upper Two put their detective hats on and went in search of some clues to reveal the past. They entered the tent and were met the resident archaeologists. Pupils were excited to share all that they have learnt about primary and secondary sources of evidence and couldn’t wait to get ‘stuck in’ to digging for evidence themselves. There were three ‘trenches’ with evidence buried under either sand or soil.

After being taught how to ‘dig with brushes’ and record their findings, they began to explore the contents of their trench. It felt as though they were on real-life archaeological digs, with each group discovering clues and trying to piece together the evidence to decide what they had found. One group found a replica ‘bog body’ and delighted in coming up with theories about how the body had got there and who it was. One group discovered a neolithic butchery site and the third group found such a wide range of artefacts, including pottery and sewing materials, that they decided it must have been someone’s house.

The pupils also learned about the process by which archaeologists can reconstruct the facial features of a person when they have found their skull. They worked well in pairs to think about where the muscles would be and what shape the person’s nose would have been. 

 

Below are some thoughts from pupils that they would like to share!

 

"I enjoyed being the boss when we were excavating. We found a human ‘bog body’." Henry 

 

"I liked digging in the sand to find lots of archaeology.” - Darya 

 

"I loved sculpting the faces. Using plasticine to make a face on the skulls." - Jesse 

 

"I enjoyed doing the dig because it felt like I was an archaeologist." -  Hettie 

 

"I liked warming up all the plasticine to sculpt the faces with." - Martha 

 

"I really enjoyed shaping the clay into a face. It was fun!" - Phoenix 

 

"I liked doing the digging because there were lots of bits of pottery and it was really nice to brush the sand off when I found a new piece." - Immy 

 

I have also just tweaked the write-up from last year and pasted that below.