The group boarded the bus with nervous excitement. A look of recognition appeared on a few faces as they saw faces that were familiar.
The mood on the bus was a mixture of a quiet contemplation and excited chatter.
The bus arrived and the group disembarked ready for the unexpected.
By the 3rd day, the group were tired, a little sun-kissed, and full of conversation! It was a joy to witness 8 young people who started off as strangers and ending the trip as friends.
To put this in context, the group were invited by Rendlesham Revealed to take part in an archaeological dig on a farm not far from Sutton Hoo.
To ease the group in, they had gone on a trip to West Stow Anglo Saxon village, a few weeks before. This introduced them to how people lived, what they did, and also they got to the chance to look at some valuable finds.
This dig broke ground in 2014. This year, the young people were exploring the remains of a midden, next to a hall, that could have been used as the residency of an Anglo-Saxon of importance.
They were first given a square each and were taught how to scrap away the dirt to reveal the finds. Mostly the finds were animal bones along with Roman and Anglo-Saxon pottery, roof tiles and even an intact copper alloy pin which we were excited about!
Across the 3 days we also processed the finds by washing them and marked the bones to help classification. We also had a tour of field finding where we continued our search for treasure! The young people were fully engaged and asked a lot of questions.
Each evening at the hostel, the group chilled playing boards games whilst making new friends and talking – a lot!!!!!
Thank you to Alice and Faye for organising, and making it possible, and also to all the other staff on the Suffolk Heritage Fund project including Jezz and Anna that made the young people feel so welcome and supported in teaching them to learn new skills and make new exciting experiences.
