This summer, members of the YAC have been joining excavations across the UK as part of our annual Dig It! competition. Here we find out all about the dig day at Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland.
A team of archaeologists from the Bamburgh Research Project conducted an excavation and they invited the YAC along. Here we find out all about the Dig It! day from some of the winners.
I had an amazing day digging at Bamburgh with Lauren, Constance and the other winners and their adults!
I really liked seeing the various phases of the castle and learning about the history of the site. Lauren gave us so much information, I’ve forgotten some of it. The best bit though, was digging in a real-life trench and finding real archaeology, where I uncovered more of a staircase to the beach. I had an amazing time working with real archaeologists, I can’t wait until I can become one myself.
I have always wanted to be an archaeologist and today was my chance!
First, we arrived at Bamburgh castle and made our way to the windmill (the office with a breathtaking view). There we had to go listen to a safety talk, paying attention to all the possible dangers! We then went on to an interesting tour of the castle and all its secret’s. My favourite fact was, to make the well at the castle they had to dig through volcanic rock, which is invincible, or so I thought! They came up with a genius idea to set the rock on fire and put it out with water, this made the rock splinter into pieces allowing them to make the well.
In the afternoon we did some finds cleaning. We had to be very delicate as the finds were extremely fragile and old. I cleaned shells, pigs’ teeth and bones!!!!
To end the most fantastic day we went to a secluded part of the castle on the beach and started to DIG! My job was to dig near a stair way and flatten the terrain. I felt like I was a real archaeologist, it was spectacular.
