Operation Nightingale/Project Florence

This April, the Playing with the Past club took part in the Neolithic Houses Building Project at Old Sarum. Led by English Heritage and the Ancient Technology Centre (ATC), the workshop gave the young archaeologists and their parents the chance to get involved in some fantastic experimental archaeology.

The morning started with a tour of the houses by Luke Winter from the ATC. Luke explained that the houses are based on archaeological evidence found during excavations at Durrington Walls.

Luke demonstrates how to safely use an axe to chop wood

We were able to get involved in several parts of the building process, including weaving hazel branches to form wattle walls and mixing crushed chalk with straw and water to produce daub. We also experimented with flint and bronze axe-heads to see which material was most effective at chopping through a log.

Playing with the Past members adding daub to the walls of a Neolithic house

We finished the morning with a delicious bowl of soup as we surveyed our handiwork.

This FREE club will be held on the third Saturday of each month at the Beeches Community Centre in Bulford. Meetings will cover a range of interesting archaeological topics and periods and feature hands-on activities and games.

To find out more about the Playing with the Past club and details of the next meeting click here.

To find out more about the Neolithic Houses Building Project click here.

To return to the main Project Florence blog click here.

The Playing with the Past club met in March to learn about the Saxons.

Eggs-cavating Eggs!

The young enthusiasts solved riddles, got hands on with Saxon artefacts and discovered how delicate archaeology can be by excavating eggs from cups of compost!

Making Saxon friendship bracelets

This FREE club will be held on the third Saturday of each month at the Beeches Community Centre in Bulford. Meetings will cover a range of interesting archaeological topics and periods and feature hands-on activities and games.

To find out more about the Playing with the Past club and details of the next meeting click here.

As we reach the end of the Project Florence road show Angus Forshaw, Community Archaeologist, describes our visit to Tedworth House for our blog readers:

The penultimate stop of our road show exhibition saw Laura, Steve and I visiting Tedworth House. Being one of four recovery centres run by Help for Heroes, Tedworth House is open to both serving and veteran members of the Armed Services who have suffered life changing injuries or illness whilst in service. It provides support through key parts of the recovery process, providing holistic care to our wounded service personnel.

After joining the residents for a cooked breakfast and a swift tour of the building we set up our stand ready to spread the word about Operation Nightingale and the excavations at Barrow Clump. It was great to see significant interest from the current residents, who may get the opportunity to get involved in this summer’s excavation on site. There was also a large amount of interest from staff, many of whom have seen the success of the project first-hand through working with soldiers who have already been involved.

Angus, Laura and Steve with the road show display at Tedworth House

Following a morning of show-casing our posters, DVD and Saxon replicas we were treated to a go on the Skiplex, an indoor ski simulator replicating a real piste built specifically to aid the recovery process. This proved incredibly entertaining and rewarding, with Laura and Steve falling over proving to be a personal highlight!

The day was a resounding success. It was great to see the benefits that the facilities at Tedworth House provide to injured members of the armed forces, as well as to receive so much interest in the Barrow Clump excavations and Operation Nightingale. We would like to thank everyone at Tedworth House for allowing us to set up our exhibition there for the day along with testing out some of the facilities first-hand, we all had a great day!

Steve, Laura and Angus on the Tedworth House Skiplex

For more information on Tedworth House and the brilliant work that they do visit the Help for Heroes website by clicking here.

To return to the main Project Florence blog click here.

The Project Florence team has been hard at work this winter designing an interactive exhibition about the Op Nightingale excavation at Barrow Clump.

Staffed by the Project Florence Officer and an Op Nightingale soldier, the exhibition will consist of informative posters, children’s activities and replica Saxon tools and weapons. It will travel to local venues for 1-day road shows, including:

• Amesbury Museum (Wednesday 13^th Feb, 11am-3pm)
• Figheldean Village Hall (Thursday 14^th Feb, 1pm-6pm)
• Salisbury & South Wilts Museum (Friday 15^th Feb, 10am-4pm)
• Old Sarum (Sunday 17^th Feb, 11am-4pm)
• Salisbury Library (Tuesday 19^th Feb, 10am-3pm)
• Salisbury Leisure Centre (Thursday 21^st Feb, 2.30-7pm)
• Amesbury Library (Friday 22^nd Feb, 9.30-5pm)
• Old Sarum Community Rooms (Monday 25^th Feb, 9.30-12.30)
• The Beeches Community Centre, Bulford (Wednesday 27^th Feb, 9.30-1.30)

Pop along to any of these events to learn more about the project, play our ‘spot the badger’ game and pick up a free Time Warriors DVD.

The exhibition will go on display at Wiltshire Museum between 16^th March and 28^th April along with several of the exciting artefacts from the site.

To return to the main Project Florence blog click here.