Year 6 pupils and staff always love a nice day out, and this one was certainly different! We were kindly invited to take part in a real archaeological dig organised by Queen's University at the Ulster American Folk Park. The aim was to find out about life in the 1800s by excavating the remains of a long demolished house.
We were split into two groups, and one group started by looking at lots of ancient artefacts. We had to really examine the items carefully and use our knowledge and imagination to decide what the objects were and how old they might have been. The oldest item was a flint scraper which was around 10,000 years old!
The second group started with the excavation trench. We were warned it was going to get muddy and it did! We were taught how to scrape away the soil from the stone underneath and what to look out for as we dug. Unfortunately we didn't find any buried treasure but we did find lots of pieces of pottery and quartz, as well as quite a few worms and a Werther's Original wrapper.
After an hour or so, we swapped over and even had time to pay a quick visit to the Blacksmith's Forge and some of the other buildings after lunch. We all had a very interesting day so thanks very much to the organisers for encouraging us to join in. All pupils have been made to solemnly promise that they will not use their new skills to dig up your lawns and rose bushes...
