On A Day in Archaeology this year I will be on leave with my family visiting Thorpe Park. As theme parks are not my thing, I looked up what archaeology sites or museums we might pass on route. However, I was very surprised to learn that Thorpe Park used to be an archaeology theme park! You can find out more from Layers of London.

Before I go on leave, I have been preparing for this year's Museum of Liverpool Emerging Archaeologists week which takes place during the first week of August. So, I’ve headed to our off-site store where the group will spend one of the days exploring our collections behind the scenes, learning object handling and having a go at finds marking.

Along with risk assessments, checking my notes and equipment, I needed to do some research using our object management system to choose some objects for finds handling. I’ve chosen some stone axes found in Merseyside from our Prehistory collection. These are reassuringly sturdy and tactile to put people at ease but also very exciting c.10,000 year old finds!

I’ve also picked out an incomplete 16th century German Siegburg vessel (also known as Bellarmine or Bartmann jugs), a small pewter jug and some Roman coins. Another object chosen is one I'm always drawn to. This fused lump of broken jugs and ashtrays has a printed label which when complete would have read ‘Dewars White Label Whisky It is just one of a number of examples recovered from one of the cellars from buildings off South Castle Street, Liverpool. The jugs and ashtrays were smashed and fused together in a hot fire, caused by an incendiary bomb fire during the Liverpool May Blitz of 1941. I love the stratigraphy of the object and how this unusual piece of archaeology can tell of the destruction and chaos of war. While helping the group to learn about regional archaeology, handling and packing skills these objects will also engage us with human conversations of past, present and future.