On Thursday and Friday the school field was transformed into an archaeological dig as we tried to find out more about previous occupants of the school land from what is buried on site. 

One of our parents is an archaeologist, and volunteered to lead the children in their exploration. We spent two days exploring change in our school grounds, opening up a trench to try and answer questions about the environment in which we live and about how people lived in Exton in the past. We didn't know if we would find a lot, or a little, but knew that whatever we did find would provoke more questions! On finding a lot of things we would be able to ask questions about how important a place it was and why, as well as finding out about the activities people did here. If there were not so many things, we would be able to ask why there was so little activity. Either way, we would be able to ask whether the environment could tell us why it was so heavily or lightly used in the past. 

The real story of our Dig can be seen in the pictures (more to be uploaded after the weekend!). We hadn't been sure we would find much before lifting the turf, but were surprised to immediately find bits of pottery and flints. The children all had the opportunity to dig and scrape through the plough-zone, (the second layer below the turf) reaching a depth of about 30 centimetres before we hit rock. The older children enjoyed logging and describing their finds, whilst the younger children enjoyed digging and sieving, followed by exploring all the different rocks and stones that they found. 

We are very grateful to have been able to share the expertise of one of our parents, ably supported by other parents who came to help lift turf, support the children, lift buckets, and finally put the turf back so that we can leave the environment back as we found it. Thank you to you all - we could not have done this without your support.

We know that the children all enjoyed the experience, and some of Cobalt class are now considering Archaeology as a career! We all learnt a huge amount from our expert (staff included!). We look forward to sharing more about our finds once we have sorted through them!