Festival of Archaeology
The Festival of Archaeology is back with a bang! Every year at around this time, archaeologists across Britain throw open their arms wide to welcome people into their wacky world, with events, synchronised blogging, excavations, walks and heritage hijinx aplenty.
If you’re not already aware, get on to archaeologyfestival.org.uk and search for what’s on in your area.
There are lots of exciting things going on near to me, one of which is today- the Llys Rhosyr open day. Llys Rhosyr is an old ‘llys’- a welsh prince’s court dating back over 800 years, but only rediscovered in the 1990’s! Reenactments, have a go archaeology, and family fun- all for free! So if you’re on your school hols, hop on over to Anglesey for a fabulous day out.
On Saturday and Sunday we have got two walks up to see excavations at two monuments in north east Wales very dear to my heart- the hillforts of Moel y Gaer Bodfari, being led by Oxford University, and Penycloddiau hillfort, led by Liverpool University.
Penycloddiau is one of the largest hillforts in Wales, its banks and ditches around a mile in circumference! On Saturday 25th July, the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB team will be leading a guided walk from Llangwyfan for their 30th Birthday celebrations- don’t forget to hashtag #AONB30!
Moel y Gaer Bodfari is a privately owned site, so the open day on Sunday 26th provides exclusive access to this fascinating site, survey and excavations (of which I have been involved in for a few years now) revealing a much more complex, multi-phase site than was known from the surface area before excavations began.
This Friday, however, opens up the world of archaeology in a very different way. The Day of Archaeology is when archaeologists from across Britain take to their computers and live blog about ‘a day in the life’, so you can get a real insight into what we get up to- and prove that no day is ever the same! You can find out what archaeologists really do by visiting dayofarchaeology.com and following #DayofArch on Twitter.
This is just a snippet of a wonderful three week long, pan-UK event, all about archaeology.
So check it out- what will you discover?
