December 2009 (issue 119) - The Sussex Archaeological Society

Feature
SOCIETY WALKS
EDUCATION AWARDS
Feature
Exercise with Education!
David McOmish walks in Kingley Vale and The Trundle
My interest in archaeology
began because I love walking
and I began to wonder about the
lumps and bumps I sometimes
saw whilst walking the South
Downs. Becoming more aware and
curious I saw that my OS Explorer
map did not consist only of green
dotted lines denoting footpaths but
also had features labelled in Old
English Text - cross dyke, tumulus,
long barrow, Devil’s Jumps, Devil’s
Humps, Devil’s Ditch, settlement,
lynchets, field systems, earthwork
and even proper names of places
- Perching, Goosehill Camp,
Rackham Banks, Bevis’ Thumb.
Kingley Vale
As my archaeological eye became
more attuned and focused I began
to plan walks to take in any of the
Old English Text features (‘bagging
barrows’ as my walking friends
named it!). I ‘Google Earthed’ avidly
and acquired another bookshelf to
accommodate the growing number
of archaeology books. So when
I joined the Sussex Archaeolical
Society this year I was thrilled to
see a list of walks and the first I
went on was with David McOmish
of English Heritage around Kingley
Vale on a cool, grey afternoon in
May. We wandered around the
humps and bumps at the bottom of
the escarpment left by the people of
a Bronze Age settlement, followed
the lines of the field boundaries
and considered the problem of
obtaining water, whether there
were rituals of burial and how these
people organised themselves.
Then we scrambled up to the
Devil’s Humps. Bronze Age burial
mounds for important people Yes,
but also perhaps more than that –
way markers of some importance
A meeting place – David reminded
us that they would have been a
conspicuous white at the time of
construction. Then a walk North on
a path along the contour of Bow
Hill, a left turn over some rough
cleared ground where we stopped
Devil’s Humps, Bow Hill
Photo UCL
and found… a knapped flint and
some sherds of pottery. In that
bushy scrub to our left, David told
us, was the remains of a Roman
Temple. We continued along the
path and over a dip (a cross dyke
marking a boundary of the Roman
temple or of the earlier settlement
Both), the grounds to our left rose
up into a grassy bank and we were
walking around the boundary of an
earthwork following a ditch. David
told us that the remains of a couple
of huts within the area have been
excavated and post holes found.
We stopped and wondered who
lived here An important person
Or was the area used for ritual We
stood a while and pondered and had
run out of time needed to continue
further to Goosehill Camp.
The Trundle
On a searing hot afternoon in
early July I found myself walking
up the hot white glaring track from
East Lavant to The Trundle for the
second of David McOmish’s walks.
(No car – so bus, bike, boots and
train are my modes of transport!).
After meeting at the car park we
walked up the flinty track only to
find a waving meadow of long
grass nicely camouflaging the spiral
ditches of the Neolithic causewayed
enclosure (3700BC) David had
briefly told us about on the walk up!
However we orientated ourselves
by the radio masts and with the help
of David and our diagrams, and our
archaeological eyes firmly focused,
we managed to trace parts of the
ditches.
An Iron Age hillfort encircles the
Neolithic enclosure and is made
up of a significant bank and ditch
which we walked around noting the
east and west entrances and also
the positions of Bronze Age round
barrows which linked up with a linear
ditch which David pointed out. We
ended the afternoon sitting on the
mound of St. Roche’s Chapel, again
imagining the lives of the layers of
people who have inhabited and
used this area; the tools, method,
time-scale, organisation and cooperation
needed to construct
such earthworks, and speculatively
interpreted their significance and
function to the communities who
made them. Someone in the group
showed a knapped flint with a
rounded percussion bulb and a flake
which were found while walking the
ramparts.
On both walks we were a small
group which enabled us to chat and
throw ideas and questions around.
Nothing is definite. No one truly
knows. We see the ‘presence of the
past’ in the landscape and it is left
to us to interpret and reinterpret the
significance of what we see and the
lives of the people who have left
these tantalising traces.
Julia Wiegand
Details of more Society walks can be
found in the Noticeboard section.
Palace Team Wins Top Award
Education Team’s excellence recognised
Congratulations are due
to the education team at
Fishbourne Roman Palace on two
separate counts! In recognition of
the excellence of their education
programme the team as a whole
have received a Sandford Award
for Heritage Education, and Jean
Jennings, a member of the team, is
one of six finalists who have been
shortlisted for this year’s Marsh
Archaeology Award.
The prestigious Sandford awards,
which are valid for five years, are
given by the Heritage Education
Trust only to organisations which
have reached an exceptionally
high standard in the way they
teach a wide spectrum of visitors,
from primary school youngsters to
adults. Entrants are assessed by
a panel of fourteen independent
judges made up of head teachers
and OFSTED inspectors who
described the Palace’s education
team as “friendly, well-informed
and enthusiastic” in their report.
They went on to say that “those
fortunate enough to undertake the
Fishbourne experience will forever
appreciate the building skills and
technical abilities of the Romans in
Britain.” Museum director Christine
Medlock is delighted that the
professionalism and friendly and
efficient attitude of the education
team has been recognised yet
again with this award.
As part of the ‘Fishbourne
Experience’ visitors are encouraged
to chat to volunteers dressed in
authentic costumes, finding out
what life was like in Roman times
and meeting the sort of people
who would have called the Palace
‘home’. There is also the chance
to handle real artefacts and for
schoolchildren to get their hands
on a replica Roman kitchen and
sample Roman-style food and drink
(see above!).
Hands-on experience of a Roman kitchen
The annual Marsh Archaeology
Award recognises individual
high quality education work with
people under the age of 18 in the
UK and is judged according to
the contribution made to passing
on archaelogical knowledge to
young people in the last two years.
Criteria also include the level of
commitment shown to education
work in archaeology over and
above any formal paid work, and
the level of engagement in a variety
of different educational contexts.
Jean has worked at Fishbourne
for nearly 15 years, first in the gift
shop before joining the education
team. She has presented hour-long
workshops to many thousands of
school children who visit the Palace
each year. Over the last two years
she has developed new workshops
that support the national curriculum
in a variety of areas which have
been very well received by both
teachers and students. Jean is
also responsible for preparing an
enriching programme for the many
work experience students who are
considering studying archaeology,
history or classics at college or
Photo S Evans
university. She also makes a key
contribution towards facilitating
learning for special needs students
and works many hours beyond
her normal working time, planning
and preparing new learning
opportunities, assisting other staff
and supporting the volunteers.
Dr Mike Heyworth MBE, Director
of the CBA, says of the short-listed
candidates: “For archaeology to
be cared for and understood by
future generations, it is essential
we pass on our knowledge and
enthusiasm. These individuals do
just that, conveying a passion for
our cultural heritage which will stay
with young people throughout their
lives. Without their work educating
and guiding the next generation to
an understanding of the historic
environment, archaeology would
face an uncertain future”.
Brian Marsh OBE, chairman of
the Marsh Christian Trust which
sponsors the award, has the difficult
job of deciding on the winner later
this year.
6 Sussex Past & Present December 2009
www.sussexpast.co.uk www.romansinsussex.co.uk Sussex Past & Present December 2009 7