Children are doing archaeology – and becoming experts who enrich whole communities

Description

Keig, Aberdeenshire. A gaggle of excited children are instructing community archaeologist Colin Shepherd when to drop a china mug on the floor so that they can see how it breaks on impact.

They will use the results of this experiment to better understand an archaeological find: the broken pieces of an old marmalade jar, last used for breakfast around 100 years ago. The children had recently excavated the jar from woodland in which they usually build dens and play hide and seek as part of an archaeological investigation.

When children are invited to visit archaeological excavations, they rarely have much specific knowledge about the site’s history. Instead, they are usually given simple tasks like washing and sorting finds. What is less usual is to find primary school pupils working as partners with an archaeologist.