The South West Heritage Trust will be holding three events as part of the 2016 Festival of Archaeology. Co-ordinated by the Council for British Archaeology, the festival offers hundreds of events nationwide, organised by museums, heritage organisations, universities, and local societies. The 26th Festival of Archaeology will take place between the 16 and 31 July.
An ‘Archaeology Pop Up Day’ will take place on Wednesday 27 July at the Museum of Somerset in Taunton. The session will explore the recently-concluded archaeological excavations at Hinkley Point and Cannington bypass, and include real artefact handling. The project’s archaeology outreach officers will be on hand to discuss the large scale excavations that have taken place over the last four years, and which include the discovery of Iron Age farmsteads and a Roman villa. The free drop-in sessions run from 11.00 am to 1.00 pm and 2.00 pm to 3.30 pm.
On Thursday 28 July, the museum will also host an archaeology ‘Object Handling’ session with a chance to touch real objects and find out about life in the county’s distant past. The free drop-in session runs from 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm.
‘The Crafts of Ancient Avalon’ will take place on Saturday 30 July at the Avalon Marshes Centre on Shapwick Road. The day will be packed full of demonstrations showing some of the oldest and most precious traditional skills from the past. There will be lots of chances to get hands-on and to buy hand made objects straight from the producer including willow baskets from the Avalon Marshes, beautiful bronze jewellery and prehistoric-inspired pottery.