More good news about community archaeology

Following on from the recent good news about the Brislington Community Archaeology Project (see our article) we came across more excellent news about community archaeology, this time from Cadw’s community archaeologist Ffion Reynolds who describes a project at the prehistoric burial chamber at Tinkinswood in the Vale of Glamorgan.

“]

Tinkinswood
{Image credit Alan Simkins, Heritage Action}

Local volunteers and students carried out renovation works and helped in investigations but then:

“We knew we had changed local perceptions of Tinkinswood but we wanted to reach younger audiences to help them value their local heritage.

As future guardians of the historic environment, we knew we had to make Tinkinswood meaningful for schoolchildren by relating the past to the present at both a practical and emotional level.

What better way than to host a “make and break” activity?

Two local schools got to make pottery vessels and then break them in the forecourt at Tinkinswood re-enacting a ritual that archaeologists think happened nearly 6,000 years ago after the tomb had been sealed, in memory of those buried within.

Those schoolchildren won’t ever look at prehistoric sites with blank faces in the future!”