From a celebratory Festival of Archaeology to future awards
The 2019 cba Festival of Archaeology ran for 16 days in July. It showcased the amazingly diverse range of archaeological work taking place across the uk, with over 1,000 events aimed at a public audience.
The festival’s overarching theme was #Archaeotech, providing many opportunities to showcase archaeology in a wide range of creative ways. The launch event at the British Museum featured a day of technology-related demonstrations and displays, including bronze casting and flint knapping outside the front of the museum, and geophysical survey on the lawn. Several members of Channel 4’s Time Team were on hand to discuss their memories of the tv series and its contribution to the future of British archaeology. The event reached a wide audience visiting the museum from all across the world.
The festival was sponsored by Historic England, English Heritage, Cadw, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Towergate Insurance Solutions and the Institute of Commercial Management. Plans are already underway for the 2020 Festival, which will be held on July 11–26.
This year the cba was very pleased to make Ask an Archaeologist Day an official part of the Festival of Archaeology. On July 17 people from across the world asked archaeologists questions using the hashtag #AskAnArchaeologist, and archaeologists shared their knowledge. The event was coordinated on Twitter by @AskAnArchDay.
The concept is based on the hugely successful #AskACurator Day, set up by Mar Dixon, which has run for several years on Twitter. The team at National Trust Midlands came up with the idea for the same sort of day for archaeology, and the cba worked closely with them to make it a key part of the Festival of Archaeology (see https://festival. archaeologyuk.org/ask).
People all over the world got involved. One primary school teacher in Kent posted questions from her class, all of which received several answers. “They are going to be so inspired!!!” tweeted @SamJ_Reynolds. “And what else is #primaryed for?!”
A Day in Archaeology
As part of the Festival this year, the cba set up an opportunity for archaeologists all over the uk to
contribute a blog post to A Day in Archaeology website to help show the diverse range of things that archaeologists do (see https:// festival.archaeologyuk.org/day). This follows a similar earlier initiative which ran from 2011–17, overseen by volunteers in the uk.
Anyone working, studying or volunteering in archaeology could take part in A Day in Archaeology. Participants were encouraged to record their archaeological day and share it in a blog on the website, or via a link to their own video.
The cba hopes to use the initiative to demonstrate the wide variety of work archaeologists do in their daily lives, as well as increasing public awareness of the relevance and importance of archaeology to the modern world. The blog posts will also be used by the cba to create a larger careers resource for archaeology over the coming year, to improve the quality of careers advice to anyone considering a move into archaeology.
Young archaeologists were particularly encouraged to participate, and on the day, the cba’s own social media channels were “taken over” by young people as part of a wider Kids In Museums initiative (see https://kidsinmuseums.org.uk/ what-we-do/takeover-day). Event organisers for the Festival of Archaeology were encouraged to run events to attract young people with specific guidance provided (see https://festival. archaeologyuk.org/youth).
Marsh Archaeology Awards
The annual Marsh Archaeology Awards, run each year by the Council for British Archaeology and the Marsh Christian Trust, are now open for nominations for the 2019 awards (https://new. archaeologyuk.org/marsharchaeology-awards-2019). These will be presented to the winners at the cba’s annual Archaeology Day linked with its annual general meeting, to be held in London on a date to be confirmed in mid-November.
Following on from the successful awards presented at the 2018 agm, this year there will be four categories: Young Archaeologist of the Year, Community Archaeologist of the Year, the Marsh Award for Community Archaeology (presented to a project/group), and the Marsh Award for Early Career Research in Archaeology. The latter is a new award, for an early career contribution to archaeology that is judged to be outstanding or exemplary with single or ongoing impact on the discipline. The award is “open”, and not restricted to any particular area of archaeology. Nomination forms are now available on the cba website and the deadline for entries is September 15 2019.
British Archaeological Awards
The charity which has run the biennial British Archaeological
Awards (https://www. archaeologicalawards.com/) since 1976 was wound up in early July, and the remaining assets were passed to the cba. This follows discussions in recent years about the future of the awards and the acceptance by the members of the charity of a proposal from the cba at the 2019 agm to take them forward in the future.
The cba intends to work closely with Archaeology Scotland, cba Wales and partners in Northern Ireland to deliver the British Archaeological Awards, with a ceremony rotating around the four countries of the uk. The next one is likely to be held in Scotland in partnership with Archaeology Scotland.
The awards will be managed by the cba, guided by an Advisory Committee made up of uk archaeologists from various sectors of our community. Further details will be published later this year in advance of nominations opening for the 2020 awards – which will celebrate work undertaken or completed over the last two years.
The cba is seeking financial support and further partners to deliver the awards, so please do get in touch if you are able to support the aim to celebrate the best of British archaeology.
Mike Heyworth is director of the Council for British Archaeology