Young Archaeologists in the Pandemic

 Helped by a couple of Colchester Sixth Form College volunteers some of our artworks and explorations for our "Caught in a Treacherous Tudor Web" community lottery funded project are on display in Roman Circus House; with a couple of certificates and an article from the local newspaper. When the volunteers were presented with two of our leaflets, they immediately put both sides of them on display as well. The Tudor rose, spider and web theme artworks by the YACs were designed into borders and a logo by graphic artists who also volunteered some of their time.

After puzzling over some hieroglyphs and stencilling their own names and cryptic messages, members  of Colchester's young archaeologists' club were treated to milk shakes from the Roman Circus Cafe. Their November meeting finished with a game of Egyptian bingo, depicting objects from camels to shabtis, which finished with a full house. As one parent remarked, the time line from the pyramids to the Ptolemies, was two and a half millennia; longer than the time line from the Ptolemies to the present day.    

Tabitha, archaeologist and YAC volunteer (left) in Colchester Castle's grim prisons, where she read the part of Rose Allen, the young protestant martyr. The club explored the story of ten Colchester martyrs for their Community Lottery funded "shout out loud", "from the ordinary to extraordinary" project.     At Colchester YAC we are delighted to report that Tabitha has been shortlisted for an early career archaeologist award. She is an archaeologist with Colchester Archaeological Trust which supports our club and provides a venue for us to meet.     Read more about the awards and the Council of British Archaeology below: Press Release Council for British Archaeology Announce shortlist for the Archaeological Achievement Awards 2022 The Council for British Archaeology (CBA) has announced the shortlist for the Archaeological Achievement Awards 2022. The Awards showcase the very best in UK and Irish archaeology through five categories: Archaeological Innovation, Pub...

 At Roman Circus House, Colchester young archaeologists' club started their morning with a quiz on the mosaic of the chariot racing circus designed by the late artist Peter Froste and assembled by children from local schools. They painted ammonites and trilobites and drew pictures for their paleontology time line project. They enjoyed writing their names in runes and adding cryptic messages.

 Magnetometry at Fordham, where the young archaeologists also practiced ground penetrating radar and metal detecting. Finds from a nearby Roman site, thought to be mainly for recreation in the Roman era, were washed and identified. The young people had tremendous fun shaping the local clay into Roman lamps, neolithic pots and figurines. Four "Ordinary to Extraordinary" certificates were awarded. Three YAC volunteers and four members of Colchester Archaeological Group organised the activities.

Just before lockdown in 2020, Colchester young archaeologists enjoyed a session on the Roman Army given by Mike Mount. We began to meet again 18 months later and started on our "Caught Treacherous Tudor Web" project. A lot of us delved into our family history, including Mike, who has discovered that his surname was originally Munt. Munt is the name of two of the protestant martyrs "Caught in a Treacherous Tudor Web" on 2nd August 1557.    

 I sent a link to our YouTube video to the local newspaper and had a phone call from Daniel Rees of the Gazette, who has featured our new trail in today's edition of the daily newspaper. Visit Colchester has also featured our YouTube video, which has been set to music especially composed by the "Youth Voice" of a 23-year-old music graduate. Our story took place in the centre of Tudor Colchester and our trail passes many buildings which would have been familiar to the "Colchester Ten" the tragic victims of the "treacherous Tudor web".