This video was created by University of Bristol students.
Plus, thanks to BAJR for gifting us with a cake fund to thank the community participants!
Berkeley Castle staff enjoy BAJR’s thank you cake
Students, Berkeley Castle and community participants provided feedback that demonstrate a measurable effect on their archaeological learning and level of engagement. All feedback was reviewed and reflected on by the Engagement Team and its coordinator (me!). Key lessons learned included:
It has also been importance to us to respond to what the community wants. The project emerged from community comments that they can’t always attend our public talks and free tours. By bringing the archaeology to them, we creatively deliver engagement that suits them, in a way that is feasible for us.
Second-year student, and mini-project manager, Rebecca Saunders writes:
… it’s been a lot of work but really rewarding. It’s been great to put into action some of the things that I’ve learned in the lecture hall about public engagement. I was given space to be creative in designing how the trays and the posters looked. I really appreciated the fact that my vision came to light and it has been so inspiring for me as a student to see this project from its first days to where we are now. It really gives me hope for what I can achieve once I’ve graduated. I’m really passionate about people engaging with archaeology, especially here, because residents can be curious about what we’re finding. One of the most common questions I got asked by locals was ‘are you finding anything good?’ This is why I think the Town Museum project is a fantastic idea not just in terms of engagement with the community but also as a project that is student led.
Local resident Chris Stokes says:
Previously … you’d be there for a few weeks and then you’d go away, job done and we didn’t know much more than that. [Now I feel] absolutely more connected. One of the main reasons [to be involved is that] I live locally to where you’ve been digging and it’s just interesting to know what you guys are up to up there. And to be part of displaying some of the artefacts that you’ve been finding I think is good for the local people to know about it, and to be involved as a local person in supporting what you’re doing up there.
Local business owner, Rose, from La Lune Art Gallery and Shop says:
It’s nice to bring something different to Berkeley, with the history of Berkeley and the castle, it’s definitely good…This is nice because it involves everybody, different businesses, all together.
Statement from our heritage stakeholder, Berkeley Castle:
We are delighted that the University of Bristol has engaged with the residents of Berkeley to set up the Town Museum Project this year. It’s wonderful that the students have had such a good response from those living in the town of Berkeley and it’s very reassuring that so many locals were keen to get involved.
We always look forward to welcoming the team back from the University each year and to seeing a new group of students, they are always a pleasure to have around. It’s very exciting when the students excavate new areas, their discoveries tell us more and more about the history of Berkeley and of course, the Castle itself!
It’s also a great added attraction for our visitors, we really appreciate that the University team are happy to provide guided tours of the excavation area and its associated finds, to those who are interested in finding out more about the site.
Formal feedback forms were provided to the twenty local participants. Of the 18 collected responses, 100% said they enjoyed it, 100% said they would do it again, 100% would recommend it to others, and 100% said they learned more about archaeology because of it. Likewise, the positive response from our students was overwhelming and they really loved getting involved. They also identified a wide range of skills developed just on this aspect of engagement at Berkeley (based on 6 responses from those most involved in the Town Museum project):
The students responded 100% positively (yes) to the following questions too:
Further evaluation of the responses is underway and there are lots of plans to further develop engagement at Berkeley in the 2016 season!
Contact: Aisling Tierney a.tierney@bristol.ac.uk
www.facebook.com/digberkley ¦ www.twitter.com/digberkeley ¦ www.instagram.com/digberkeley
Over two weeks, the town of Berkeley was transformed into a museum where the community became temporary curators of their own past. The Town Museum project proved to be an effective way to bring archaeology into community life at Berkeley. The community were pleased to be so actively included within our research efforts and applauded the project vocally. Local businesses also saw the project and associated media coverage as a means to promote their business and support the local economy. The community also improved their knowledge of history, archaeology of their local area, and artefact analysis.
Students chat with local business owners about the project (Photo credit: Graham & Julie Harris)
All stakeholders benefited from the project. Berkeley Castle were delighted to be able to share their history within the community, so as to enhance community relations, which is a priority for them. They also welcomed the possibility of increased publicity of their heritage site.The research efforts of the Department were showcased to great effect in a public venue.
2nd year student Alice setting up window display
Students developed an extensive range of transferable engagement-related skills, from communication to time management, and also enjoyed the experience. They valued the trust placed in them to lead the project and invested much personal time. Likewise, the community valued the trust given to them to become temporary curators of the artefacts.
1st year student Catalina places a poster on display (Photo credit: Graham & Julie Harris)
The project outcomes and impacts are sustainable as they directly relate to the ongoing engagement efforts tied to the BCP. The BCP will continue for years to come, and students have a three year track record of electing to volunteer their own time to the Engagement Team efforts that sit alongside this, setting a precedent that is likely to continue. Talks are in place to identify funding streams to support her coordinator post for future years.Outcomes and impacts were publically shared via the BCP social media channels the University even covered the story in a press release: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2015/may/town-museum-project.html. Interest poured in from multiple directions online, and the Museums Association and Culture 24 also got in contact to cover the project.
Clay pipe tray
The project serves as an adaptable example of good engagement practice that can be shared widely across the University and the wider HE sector, including subject areas beyond archaeology (e.g. Engineering, Geography).
Contact: Aisling Tierney a.tierney@bristol.ac.uk
www.facebook.com/digberkley ¦ www.twitter.com/digberkeley ¦ www.instagram.com/digberkeley
On the first day of the season, Bristol students went door to door around the town of Berkeley to post dig-related information through letterboxes, including information to email regarding the Town Museum project. We received some responses, but it was only when our students went door-to-door around the community and chatted with people that we achieved a larger response. After just one day, twenty locals signed up formally to the project. The community responded enthusiastically to the opportunity and were eager to get involved. They loved the idea of becoming temporary curators of their own past, hosting artefacts and archaeological information in their windows. And it’s not just private residences that are getting into the project – a range of businesses have signed up too!
Project notice provided to the community of Berkeley Town
For me, it is also about trust. The community trusting that we have the best intentions to work with them and that we actively want to include them. The University trusting our students to work with our principle heritage stakeholder, Berkeley Castle. The academics trusting the students to produce a good exhibition. And us trusting the community to take care of the artefacts. Community is built on trust and we want to foster a sense of community and genuine collaboration. As an academic institution, we have an obligation to share and communicate our research with the public – what better way to than to place them at the centre of it, physically!
“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.” ― Stephen R. Covey
In preparation for the project, students on the engagement team have individually number labelled each find that will go on display, over 250 finds in total!The labelling process is time consuming but ensures that finds won’t get lost or incorrectly re-catalogued. Students are placing finds in small collections on coloured pieces of paper in normal finds trays (essentially garden supply seed trays). The collections showcase the variation within the archaeological assemblage over multiple periods of occupation at Berkeley. Students are also designing information sheets that will be displayed alongside the finds.
Student Alice hard at work designing artefact display trays
Second-year student Alice says:
“The project is a good idea. If we are trying to get the actual community involved then introducing them to artefacts is the best way to do it. For me, it’s been an interesting look into the artefacts that we’ve taken from Berkeley and having to categorise bones and such, I get to practice my identification skills. Putting them together in a way that can be displayed in an aesthetically pleasing way is a little challenging. Plus, getting the experience of co-designing an exhibition gives me really useful museum skills.”
Another second- year, Rebecca, is the mini-project student leader for this work and says:
“It’s showing me how much variety there is in archaeology and how much archaeology and anthropology intersect. In terms of skills, I feel way more confident handling artefacts and a lot more comfortable with archaeology as a process. Also organisation skills, having a goal and sticking to it no matter what!”
All stakeholders take something positive away from the experience. In a teaching respect, this type of skills building and improved confidence is crucial for our students. Berkeley Castle facilitate better community relations and share their history. And the University gets to take its research knowledge into a public and highly accessible setting. The community who host the displays get the chance to be keepers of history and share artefact handling sessions, while those not directly involved get to walk around the town and benefit from the displays. An ambiance of archaeology is created alongside the excavation at the castle.
As I write, the project is underway and we plan to bring the completed trays to the community next week. We’ll photograph and number the trays for our records before they go to each house. The participants will also sign a short agreement with us to take care of the objects.
Agreement form, to be signed by community participants
This project could be a really great model for other University excavations, or even longer term commercial work – so keep checking back for more updates as we go!
Contact: Aisling Tierney a.tierney@bristol.ac.uk
www.facebook.com/digberkley ¦ www.twitter.com/digberkeley ¦ www.instagram.com/digberkeley
Recap
The Berkeley Castle Project (BCP) began in 2005 and set out to excavate and explore the archaeology of Berkeley Town, Gloucestershire.The annual excavations are tied to the formal curriculum. Within the BCP sits the “Engagement Team”, which students can elect to join, and which I manage in parallel to excavations. Engagement is fundamentally embedded within research, and teaching and learning efforts of the Department. Over the past three years, engagement efforts have placed students at the heart of community and public engagement, through free tours, artefact handling sessions, social media, etc.Students take their knowledge of archaeological research and hands-on fieldwork experience at Berkeley Castle, combined with their classroom learning, and transform it into a tangible engagement output. This is an excellent example of research-led teaching taken into engagement activity. The Town Museum Project is one of the many ‘mini projects’ co-run by students.
The project aims to take artefacts out of storage and into the public sphere
The Town Museum project
The aims of the project were:
The objectives were:
Regarding the stakeholders:
All students are welcome to join the Engagement Team!
Students are drawn from all levels, including first, second, and third year, and masters students. This provides an excellent opportunity for students to learn from each others, regardless of academic level. Of great importance is the chance for students at all levels to develop practical real-world skills.
Contact: Aisling Tierney a.tierney@bristol.ac.uk
www.facebook.com/digberkley ¦ www.twitter.com/digberkeley ¦ www.instagram.com/digberkeley
Fun, downloadable archaeology Top Trumps – another student idea!
One of our students used specialist skills to develop a 3D model of one of the excavated buildings!
Engagement embedded within teaching
Engagement ideas developed by University of Bristol undergraduate students
Health & Safety prevents public access, but we try to work around it!
As I have said in previous posts, when I have mentioned to people that I’m doing a project on eBay – however small and experimental – the usual response has been a smirk and a shake of the head. It’s clear to me that eBay is seen as a problem, or at least as something not worth engaging with, but I have struggled to pin people down on exactly what kind of problem it is and why. Two main potential problems spring to mind.
The ethical minefield
Perhaps the obvious problem, the one that turns archaeologists off straight away, is that eBay contains a lot of metal-detecting finds. It also, potentially, contains objects acquired in even more problematic circumstances than that. There is much written on this and I don’t need to go into details myself here. Paul Barford for instance has written extensively on the subject on his blog Portable Antiquity Collecting and Heritage Issues and has even written specifically on eBay. Also of interest is Kurt Montgomery’s work on the influence of the internet on militaria collecting, which highlights many of the same issues, among much more.
It is a real problem. It is a problem that means valuable information is lost to analysis and to databases like the PAS. It is also a problem that created and now sustains the particular monetary values attached to archaeological material and therefore needs to be addressed.
Non-communication
As my unsuccessful attempt to speak to eBay sellers shows, there’s also a problem with the forum itself. It is, of course, understandable that people using eBay to quickly and easily sell a few things don’t want to talk about what they’re doing. It becomes even more likely when those people are selling metal-detecting finds and it’s an archaeologist asking them about it. Understandable, but a bit of a shame. It’s partly the silence from eBay sellers and from eBay itself that makes it look like the problem it does.
Is thinking eBay is a problem a barrier?
There are real problems with eBay, but what is the difference between the forum being problematic and those problems becoming a barrier to engagement? My admittedly small sample data scrape of six artefact types suggests that when it comes to the objects that would usually be considered to have higher monetary values and to hold more ‘archaeological data’, eBay contains only minuscule amounts compared to, in this instance, the PAS. Is it then more the idea that eBay sellers are disregarding others’ desire for the information their objects would provide or the notion of monetizing historic artefacts that is the problem? That must be part of it, but how many sellers are aware of these problems? We don’t know because it’s really hard to talk to them. It’s almost a Catch-22.
My proposed solution to this issue is to stop approaching eBay as an insurmountable problem. When we take a start point that eBay is bad and that its sellers are bad and that its defining characteristic is the loss of archaeological material, we create a barrier that it is really hard to see past. I know that is a real problem. I know that eBay don’t help themselves by refusing to engage. However, if we take a different start point – of eBay as a group of people interested in historic objects who we don’t currently talk to, but who we could learn new things from if we could engage them in some way – the onus would then be on us to try harder, to move past or lay aside our reasons for negativity and to keep trying.
EBay and eBay sellers are just another hard-to-reach group. There is huge scope for the aims and methods of public and community archaeology to change the relationship between them and the wider discipline.
The Land of the Summer People (2014- ongoing) is an art-science research collaboration between the artist Seila Fernández Arconada and Prof Thorsten Wagener of the Water and Environmental Engineering Research group at the University of Bristol, UK
Project blog for Dan Lee and Antonia Thomas
The Archaeological Eye
Our collaboration wishes to construct an active approach to ruins in non-urban environments. Over the winter, spring, summer and fall 2015, we will focus our attention on a serie of wartime architectural remains in the surroundings of London, in the Thames estuary and along the East coast of Britain. Access, function and the traces of human activity, are central to our project. Lia Wei is an art historian and archaeologist, focusing on epigraphy and rock-cut architecture. She was brought to academic research through the practice of calligraphy, landscape painting and seal carving in China. Rupert Griffiths is a cultural geographer whose work focuses upon marginal urban landscapes. He came to geography through a background in architecture and as a practicing artist, creating trajectories between built form, materiality, landscape and identity.
Public Archaeology and Heritage
Posts about theatre for young children and outdoor creativity for all ages
News on the best uses of Heritage for social and organisational change
illicit antiquities trading in economic crisis, organised crime and political violence
Public Archaeology 2015 