The ATP Dig Team 2008

If you are interested in joining our dig team for our excavations in season three (2008) then this page should provide you with essential details on what kit you'll need to bring and should give you a bit of information on what to expect. You can download full details by clicking here.

As usual the team will comprise of staff from several archaeological units and university departments around the country, including the Universities of Manchester, Newcastle and Cambridge, and CFA Archaeology (Edinburgh). Students will include those from the Universities of Manchester, Newcastle and hopefully UClan as well. We also hope to be joined by local volunteers and to work with local schools as well.

 

What to bring?

As a dig team member we will supply most of the major kit and will have some spare trowels for volunteers, however we ask all who come to the site to ensure you have clothes and footwear appropriate for all weather conditions. We also ask students to bring the following;  

  • Your trowel – i.e. a 4” WHS Pointing Trowel (get new archaeology specific trowels at http://www.pasthorizons.com/shop/?mod=product&cat_id=1&product_id=7)
  • Any other digging kit you own (i.e. 4H pencils, rubber, line level, a leaf etc – although we will also provide all of this too)
  • Good waterproofs – jacket and trousers
  • Good boots that are also waterproof (preferably with steel toe caps)
  • Digging clothes – lots of layers, and plan for all weather eventualities
  • A midge hat
  • Midge repellent
  • Sun screen
  • A hat or cap
  • Maybe gloves if you are feeling pessimistic
  • Towels
  • Toiletries
  • Non-digging clothes and shoes

 What to expect - Training

We are really concerned with exploring the potential of research excavations to provide and develop innovative vocational training for undergraduate students. 

Many research excavations work on a limited remit that often uses unpaid undergraduate labour for largely menial tasks, and critically such projects rarely situate any field practice within its theoretical context. Consequently students frequently find it hard to reconcile the outcomes of their compulsory fieldwork activities with the general theoretical aspects that they are taught in the classroom. 

We believe that this is not only detrimental to archaeology as a discipline, but to the personal development of undergraduates. Indeed positive excavation experiences can provide vital life skills whether or not students intend to continue in archaeology after graduation. 

Consequently we aim to provide all undergraduates attending with clear and varied vocational training. We hope this training will empower students by providing positive training in a number of transferable skills, whilst at the same time integrating critical theoretical issues, which more traditional excavations might not otherwise address.

 

What to expect - Accommodation and Food

Unfortunately we can't provide accommodation for volunteers, but for students joining the project we will be staying in two lovely houses in Swordle Bay that we are grateful to the Ardnamurchan Estate for renting to us.

 The view SSW from Swordle Bay, showing both houses we will be staying in and the site in the foeground

 

Unless we have discussed otherwise with you, students will be sharing a room with at least one, or two other people. All rooms are ensuite and all bedding is provided, although you will need to bring towels.

There will be a range of beds - but where rooms have doubles we will ask you to share. Please let us know if this is a problem for you and if you don't fancy snuggling under the duvet with someone in a double bed then feel free to bring a sleeping bag. People are also welcome to bring tents if they would like to camp for additional personal space.

Students will be asked to participate in daily chores on a rota basis which will include cleaning, cooking, sandwich making and tea making on site.

All food will be provided, although please inform us if you have any unusual dietary requirements.

We will have at least one day off when we will provide students with the opportunity to visit some of the beautiful and interesting places on and around the Ardnamurchan Peninsula.

  

Further Reading

Below are a series of sources that will provide you with a useful background to issues you will encounter on this excavation;

 

ANDREWS, G., BARRETT, J., AND LEWIS, J. 2000. Interpretation not record: the practice of archaeology. Antiquity 74:525–30.

BARKER, P. 1982 Techniques of Archaeological Excavation. London. Batsford

CHADWICK, A. 2003. Post-processualism, professionalization and archaeological methodologies: towards reflective and radical practice. Archaeological Dialogues 10 (1): 97–117

CUMMINGS, V., AND PANNETT, A. (Ed.) (2005) Set in stone: New approaches to Neolithic monuments in Scotland, Oxford, Oxbow.

EDWARDS, K., J., AND RALSTON, I., B., M. (Ed.) (1997) Scotland: Environment and Archaeology 8000BC - AD1000. Chichester, John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

HENSHALL, A., S. (1972) The Chambered Tombs of Scotland: Volume 2., Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press.

HODDER, I. 1999 The Archaeological Process Oxford: Blackwell

LUCAS, G. 2001 Critical approaches to fieldwork, London, Routledge

NOBLE, G. (2006) Neolithic Scotland: timber, stone, earth and fire., Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press.

POLLARD, T. (2000) Risga and the Mesolithic occupation of Scottish Islands. IN

YOUNG, R. (Ed.) Mesolithic Lifeways: Current Research from Britain and Ireland. Leicester, University of Leicester.

WARREN, G., M. (2000) Seascapes: people, boats and inhabiting the later Mesolithic in western Scotland. IN YOUNG, R. (Ed.) Mesolithic Lifeways: Current Research from Britain and Ireland. Leicester, University of Leicester.

WARREN, G., M. (2005) Mesolithic Lives in Scotland., Stroud, Tempus.

WICKHAM-JONES, C., R. (2005) Summer walkers? - Mobility and the Mesolithic. IN MILNER, N., AND WOODMAN, P. (Ed.) Mesolithic Studies at the beginning of the 21st Century. Oxford, Oxbow Books.