Presentations from CBA Community Archaeology Workshop Now Available Online
Nine presentations from some of the UK’s specialist community archaeology outreach workers are now available, covering a diverse range of projects and issues.
On Saturday 12 September, the CBA organised a workshop on community archaeology at the Jewry Wall Museum in Leicester, in partnership with the Leicestershire Museums Archaeological Fieldwork Group (LMAFG). The intention was to bring together professional archaeologists involved with community archaeology and public engagement from across the UK in order to share experiences, discuss challenges and identify some ways forward. In addition, the CBA is keen to use the advice and experience of those attending such events to help inform our own activities in supporting and training the community sector.
Presentation themes included the development of Community Archaeology in Northern Ireland, the recent formation of the Barkby Fieldwalking Group in Leicestershire, and archaeological outreach provision in the county of Warwickshire.
Discussions on the day were extensive and covered numerous issues. For example, when it comes to providing training to suit the needs of volunteers in archaeology, should there be a nationally-recognised standard to work to? What happens to the finds collections and archives generated by intrusive activities such as excavation and fieldwalking when there is already a real storage challenge across the sector? And, what can be done to increase community involvement in developer-led archaeological work? While there are successful examples out there (such as The Butts project in Worcester, also discussed in the workshop), there are still barriers to participation in many developer-funded projects, not least issues such as time constraints and health and safety.
As often happens with such events, there were probably more questions arising than conclusions drawn, but many of these observations will feed into the findings and recommendations of the forthcoming CBA report on community archaeology, due out soon.
The presentations are available to view via the Community Archaeology Research page.
