18 Jul 2020
by Christopher Wakefield

In the past, it would have been very easy to write about my Day in Archaeology. I’d have described the archaeological features that I was excavating and recording. Perhaps I would have spent a paragraph or two on some of the artefacts emerging from the deposits. I would certainly have gone to great length to describe the driving rain I was currently stuck digging in (with plenty of photographs to show my plight).

However, this year is different. I’ve traded in a soggy slot through a prehistoric ditch for a (reasonably) comfy chair and a laptop, as I’ve returned to University to research a subject that I’m passionate about: engagement.

For the best part of a decade, I worked as part of the commercial archaeology sector in the UK. Most archaeology in the UK is done before development. Construction firms will contract specialist companies to excavate and record archaeological material prior to them building. It’s an environment where time and money are important which can leave little opportunity for archaeologists to share the discoveries and results of their excavations.

I’ve always been passionate about archaeology and have constantly leapt at the chance to host site tours, give talks to anyone who would listen and run artefact handling sessions. In 2015 I was lucky enough to be an archaeologist working on the fantastic Must Farm excavations in Cambridgeshire (link below). This project revealed a Late Bronze Age settlement, constructed on stilts over a river channel. Preservation conditions meant that we were discovering 3,000-year-old textiles, complete pots that still contained food remains, bronze tools and much, much more.

While excavating at Must Farm, I spent time writing and sharing daily updates and weekly blogs online. I didn’t just want to share the incredible archaeology but also the excitement the whole team felt every day. Equally, I also wanted to describe the archaeological process in a more meaningful way than the snapshots of digging that typical media coverage provides.

These updates from the Must Farm project proved popular and I was keen to see how online methods of communication, particularly social media, could be used to share archaeology and connect people to the past.

In 2019 I was fortunate enough to get funding from the White Rose College of the Arts & Humanities to embark on a three-year PhD at the University of York, in partnership with the Council of British Archaeology, to investigate social media use. I’m exploring how archaeology’s commercial companies are communicating with non-specialists. What content are the creating? How often are they posting and sharing their work? Is this content what audiences want?

So, for this year’s Day in Archaeology I’ve swapped my trowel for a mouse. I’ll be carrying on collecting data to try and gauge the impact and success of these digital forms of engagement. At the moment, I’m taking a detailed look at commercial archaeological companies’ online content. This is a time-consuming task that involves extracting and recording a wide range of data. Over the next few months, I’m hoping to generate a comprehensive dataset to work from. Once I have this data in place, the main analysis can begin!

Practically, it’s less exciting working with spreadsheets and social networking sites than unearthing finds and excavating complex features. However, on the plus side, it’s a lot warmer and drier! More information on my research can be found via the below links.

Christopher Wakefield

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Christopher Wakefield
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