Community Excavation

During September and October a 4 week community excavation took place around Leasowe Lighthouse, Wirral. It was very popular with members of the public and here I’ve written up short pieces about the 3 main groups who got involved:

Adult learners/volunteers

The community excavation on the Wirral at Leasowe Lighthouse was very popular with the local people wanting to learn more about archaeology. 140 people signed up to volunteer over the 4 weeks and we had to turn some people away due to over-subscription. No experience was necessary, people just had to be prepared to get muddy and possibly wet! On site there was the opportunity to learn the skills needed to be a field archaeologist. These include digging, planning and the post-excavation tasks of washing and sorting the finds. We had our base and finds processing room inside the lighthouse itself and so volunteers had a dry place to escape in case of rain. There were 2 trenches on the side of the lighthouse which were placed to uncover the outbuildings from the lighthouse when it was occupied. On one side was a stable and coach house, the other set of buildings included the water cistern, washroom and toilet.

These structures were demolished sometime in the late 1930s and it is thought were built around 1800. Some volunteers were slightly disappointed that we weren’t digging Roman remains but for a training excavation this sort of archaeology is perfect. There were lots of walls and clearly defined layers which meant that the volunteers could understand the basics of archaeology. When the archaeologists explained about different contexts and differences in soil colour they could see easily these features. It also meant that people could get on with things without worrying too much about going through a layer (as is sometimes the case on prehistoric sites) as the soil colour/texture was markedly different. The excavation produced lots of finds which, although again not very old or perhaps exciting, were just what we needed to show people the entire process from excavation through to preparing finds for a report. Volunteers were shown how to wash and sort finds and the importance of their provenance (i.e. context number) was stressed again. We discussed how archaeology is really destruction of a site, layer by layer, and because of this we must ensure that we record what we destroy. They also learnt that sometimes archaeology can be monotonous as you wash your 100th piece of glass for the day!

Overall the excavation has been a success and has allowed a large number of people to experience first hand. We had a broad range of people volunteering and often had some lively debates at lunchtimes about other archaeological issues/ new discoveries in the area. This type of interaction and debate further opens archaeology to the members of the public and allows them to understand how archaeologists make the interpretations they do, from the evidence they have. Hopefully there will be opportunities to carry out more of these projects in the future as this one has shown there is definitely an interest for it in the public!

Metal Detecting Survey

For one week of the community excavation members of the West Kirby Metal Detecting Club were invited to come and detect on and around the site at Leasowe. This allowed us to build up a picture of the wider area around the lighthouse and would, we hoped, uncover some more finds from the more distant past of the Wirral.

Over the week around 30 metal detectorists (individuals as well as club members) took part in the survey. Every find was logged with a GPS to an 8 or 10 figure grid reference and bagged individually. Unfortunately nothing of significance was found, the oldest object being an 1860s silver penny. However it was still a very useful and interesting project. It allowed the volunteers on site to see how metal detecting can be used to aid archaeologists. This provoked a few discussions about how metal detecting can help to fill in gaps in our knowledge of an areas past. The metal detectorists also got a chance to see the excavation and look how archaeologists work. I feel this gave them an insight into why archaeologists are sometimes so appalled at the way metal detectorists dig their finds out. They saw how painstaking excavation can be and understood the contrast in the 2 groups’ methods. Understanding how the À˜other side’ works can only be beneficial in improving the working relationships between archaeologists and metal detectorists.

School groups

Throughout the 4 weeks of the community excavation we had 7 groups of school children from the local primary schools come to learn more about archaeology and see the site. They came for 2 hours and did a variety of activities which involved them ‘being archaeologists’ for their time with us. Some of them had been to the lighthouse before, some had watched Time Team and others knew very little about history, local or not. We started at the basics and asked them what archaeology was. We had some varied answers but encouragingly some of the children already understood that archaeology is not rocks and dinosaurs! During their visit the children were shown the site and looked at some of the finds which had been found there. They saw how we were excavating and looked at the plans compared to what was left in the ground. Rob Philpott talked to them about the wider history of the area and how people had lived here from prehistoric times. They then had a chance to wash some pottery which had been excavated from the Manchester Dock at Liverpool. We explained the significance of having them clean so we could match the fragments up. Next they sorted the pottery they had washed into different types by colour and pattern. Lastly they had the chance to record small finds on their own. We gave them an object from the handling collection and they had to answer a series of questions and then measure and draw their object. This was a good activity as it made them use their questioning skills as well as writing and some maths. Working out how old something is from when it was made is quite taxing! They took these sheets home with them as a souvenir of their time as an archaeologist. I feel these sessions were very enjoyable for the children involved and that they learnt a lot about the history of their local area and archaeological processes.