Young Archaeologists explore St Botolph's Priory




 Colchester Young Archaeologists' Club met in St Botolph's church hall, Colchester, today. Four young people had brought in artefacts they had discovered to be identified, dated, and handled. Our teenage mudlarker brought in some Roman replicas and explained their use, and how they were made, to the others. One of our volunteers had studied glass blowing, and was able to explain how the Roman replica glass was made. More difficult to date were the sharks teeth and belemnite found on the Essex Coast, which could have been between 250,000,000 to circa 66,000,000 years old.

The young people found the quiz, which had been devised for them, was challenging. They used their imagination to work out what the duties of the sacrist were and how a "necessarium" in a monastery was used. Other activities included monastery-style illumination techniques and our popular game of Aquila.

Two groups took a tour of the priory church remains and discovered fragments of the medieval tiled floor, picture above. Below, they work in groups to find answers to the quiz.

 


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