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26th July - 3rd August 2006
The Fairfield Project takes place between 26th July and 3rd August 2006. It is a chance for you to uncover more about the manor and vanished village of Fairfield in Somerset. You'll have the chance to try:
Check out the photo (right) of Mick Aston from Time Team! He went along to the Fairfield Project last year!
In October 2005 I went to Kilve Court Residential Education Centre, Somerset, on an archaeological enrichment course. I received the information through YAC magazine. On the first evening we looked at material evidence and how it is recorded and processed. We also became archaeological detectives and looked for clues about the order in which buildings were built and demolished.
The next day our group went to the Quantock hills and went searching for unfound archaeology. My partner and I found a Second World War look out post. Soon after lunch we travelled to Dead Woman's Ditch and discovered the truth...
Long ago in West Quantoxhead there was a man and he murdered his wife! He threw her into a ditch that ran past the end of Uprights Hill. Locals say that is how the ditch got its name, Dead Woman's Ditch. But historians and archaeologists know that this could not be possible because the evidence says so:
The ditch was in fact named and shown on a map long before the story took place. The only suggestion that historians can think of is that the man who threw his murdered wife into the ditch was not very intelligent and he thought it would be a suitable place to throw his dead woman. The ditch was longer than I expected it to be. There were trees growing along its edges and it was extremely deep, at 1.23m.
When we all got back to the centre we had a slide show on bodies and the way that they were buried. Also on the slide show it showed how the burial methods changed over time. This was very informative and it helped my understanding of the minds of people gone by. On the final day I learnt about caring for the evidence once it has been taken from the ground. We grasped the washing technique and the order in which you display artefacts.
The course was very interesting and was very different to any other course that I have been on.
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