Flodden Diggers are Winners!

Flodden Diggers are Competition Winners

Young Archaeologists Club Flodden Branch members win a national competition

William and Elizabeth Allis

Two Young Archaeologists from the Flodden Young Archaeologists’ Club (YAC) William and Elizabeth Allis are the lucky winners of the ‘Dig It’ Excavation Competition.  ‘Dig It’ is a yearly YAC competition, with the winners getting the chance to work on a real archaeological site.

Last Saturday, July 19, William and Elizabeth from Lowick in Northumberland were invited to spend the day digging with the professionals at Bamburgh Research Project’s excavation at Bradford Kaims.  Here they were able to get their hands dirty digging, examine and wash some of the finds made on the site and learn other archaeological skills such as drawing to scale and measuring features.

In addition to being involved in the professional dig both William and Elizabeth were awarded tool rolls filled with archaeological tools and t-shirts as part of the prize.  Commenting on her win Elizabeth said:

“My brother and I had a great time digging at Bradford Kaims with the team of archaeologists.  There was a strange wooden object found, it had a sort of handle and three holes in one end.  No-ones knows what it is yet, I think it’s something that prehistoric people made and buried to confuse archaeologists later on!”

Bradford Kaims is a truly remarkable ancient wetland site, located just a few miles from Bamburgh, and is not usually open to the public so this was an exceptional opportunity for the two youngsters.  It has an extensive prehistoric landscape containing many burnt mounds, with finds dating back some 6,000 years to the beginning of the Neolithic period.

Nicky Milsted, YAC Communications Officer and competition organiser commented:

“It’s always great to see YAC members getting their hands dirty on archaeological sites, learning excavation skills from real archaeologists – and this opportunity for competition winners William and Elizabeth is especially exciting!

“Huge thanks must go to the team from Bamburgh Research Project for allowing our YAC winners to work alongside them, and also to Past Horizons who provided each of the winners with an amazing tool roll to use on site and take home with them.”

Anyone who would like to join the Flodden YAC should contact Jane on 07768 557698 or email [email protected].