The museum’s ‘Digging Exeter’ event, held on Saturday 14 September, attracted around 500 people
Princesshay shopping centre went a little bit Indiana Jones on Saturday, as staff and volunteers from RAMM set up a range of ‘dig pits’ in sun-soaked Bedford Square for families to try their hand at unearthing archaeological artefacts.
Between 11am and 4pm around 500 members of the public visited the square, with children getting stuck in digging up pot sherds, pieces of flint, cow bones, metal buckles and lots more – all of which was originally found beneath the ground in Exeter. Some of the objects are over 6,000 years old and were excavated during building works in the 1970s and 80s. These pieces were found by construction workers or in spoils heaps making them less archaeologically significant than objects in the museum’s collection.
Curator Tom Cadbury and staff from the Portable Antiquities Scheme were on hand to answer any questions about the objects and the archaeology of Exeter and Devon.
Many of the attendees came specifically to take part in the event, while others were just passing by and decided to get stuck in – some families stayed for hours as their children dug through each of the artefact pits!
“It was a fantastic day, and our visitors really enjoyed themselves. It was great to see so many people interested in the archaeology of Exeter. RAMM is an Exeter City Council service and one of our aims is to help connect city residents with their rich local history.” – Tom Cadbury, RAMM Curator
Bedford Square was a particularly apt location for the event, and not just because so many people walk through every day. The Square stands on the remains of Exeter Blackfriars, a thirteenth-century Dominican monastery which also housed a hospital. Finds from the site included a well that had been filled with medieval pottery, the smashed fragments from the church’s stone screen and a fragment from the tomb of a knight. These finds are on display in RAMM’s Making History gallery.
Cllr Bob Foale, Exeter City Lead for Arts, Culture & Tourism, said:
“What a pleasure it was to see over one hundred young children take part in the Princesshay dig last Saturday. It was wonderful to see staff bringing RAMM to the streets of Exeter and I very much hope this results in the participants encouraging their parents to visit the museum in the near future.”
RAMM is grateful to everyone involved in organising the event. A special shout out goes to the museum volunteers, many of whom went home covered in compost at the end of the day!
