Me and my research: Kathrin Pieren
Encouraging volunteers to work with archaeologists is a good way to involve people in their local heritage
Petersfield Heath covers some 95 acres at the edge of the town centre and is popular with dog walkers, joggers and families.
It’s also well known as the site of 3,500-year-old burial mounds that are protected as Scheduled Ancient Monuments.
Despite being one of the most diverse bronze age burial grounds in the south of England, it has not attracted a lot of scholarly attention; a 1930s survey, which located some 21 barrows, was not followed up by excavations.
That’s why Petersfield Museum suggested a project – People of the Heath: Understanding and Conserving Petersfield’s Prehistoric Barrows – to explore the prehistory of the area in 2012.
Thanks to grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the South Downs National Park Authority and East Hampshire District Council, the work started last summer under the lead of archaeologists Stuart Needham and George Anelay, and an enthusiastic team of volunteers led by the museum.
During the first dig in September, local schoolchildren had a chance to be archaeologists for the day as part of the museum’s education programme and we had every reason to be excited about that excavation.
We discovered traces of a wooden box, or coffin, together with fragments of a bronze age dagger, a perforated whetstone and several flint tools. The objects, which are being analysed and conserved, will help form a clearer picture of funerary accompaniments more generally and allow more precise dating of the site.
A second dig subsequently yielded a large assemblage of mesolithic flint work probably dating from around 6000BC.
As the project progresses, the museum will present all findings to the community through workshops, learning resources for schools, walks and talks, and exhibitions.
Kathrin Pieren is the curator and manager of Petersfield Museum and a research fellow (history) at the University of Southampton
It’s also well known as the site of 3,500-year-old burial mounds that are protected as Scheduled Ancient Monuments.
Despite being one of the most diverse bronze age burial grounds in the south of England, it has not attracted a lot of scholarly attention; a 1930s survey, which located some 21 barrows, was not followed up by excavations.
That’s why Petersfield Museum suggested a project – People of the Heath: Understanding and Conserving Petersfield’s Prehistoric Barrows – to explore the prehistory of the area in 2012.
Thanks to grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the South Downs National Park Authority and East Hampshire District Council, the work started last summer under the lead of archaeologists Stuart Needham and George Anelay, and an enthusiastic team of volunteers led by the museum.
During the first dig in September, local schoolchildren had a chance to be archaeologists for the day as part of the museum’s education programme and we had every reason to be excited about that excavation.
We discovered traces of a wooden box, or coffin, together with fragments of a bronze age dagger, a perforated whetstone and several flint tools. The objects, which are being analysed and conserved, will help form a clearer picture of funerary accompaniments more generally and allow more precise dating of the site.
A second dig subsequently yielded a large assemblage of mesolithic flint work probably dating from around 6000BC.
As the project progresses, the museum will present all findings to the community through workshops, learning resources for schools, walks and talks, and exhibitions.
Kathrin Pieren is the curator and manager of Petersfield Museum and a research fellow (history) at the University of Southampton