Our Aims
The major aim of our public outreach is to involve the local community as much as we can; we believe that through public engagement archaeology can be much more beneficial and rewarding! As we excavate at Freston, we'll continue to hold outreach events and talks. If you'd like to learn more or would like to share your ideas, please contact us and we'd love to hear more!
On-Site Public Talk – August 2019
Hosted by the Shotley Peninsula Archaeology Research Community
Towards the end of the season our team hosted a two-hour site tour for members of the local community, discussing with them what we had been up to and the background to our work. Lots of mooching around the trench, peering into ditch termini, and a show-and-tell of pots and flints; good times!
Local Public Talk – Spring 2019
From the Fertile Crescent to Freston: Theories on the Origins of Farming and its Introduction to Britain.
Hosted by the Shotley Peninsula Archaeology Research Community / Shotley Peninsula Facilitation Group
In May 2019 Dr. Carter gave an open talk on our upcoming fieldwork at Freston to members of local public and interest groups. The aim of this presentation was not only to outline the aims and methods of our work, but also to get local involvement in developing the larger research agenda, because after all, the causewayed enclosure is a major heritage site for those living on the Shotley peninsula (albeit not very well known as yet).
We also appreciate that local farmers and residents have an enormous amount of knowledge they can contribute to our work; they know far better than us about the region’s geology, soils, drainage, climate, flora and fauna, all of which is crucial information for anyone seeking to understand why the monument was established at Freston.
So what do local community members and interest groups want to know about the site? They will almost certainly think of things we have not; combined our different viewpoints will make for a better, collaborative archaeology. In due course we also want to facilitate local involvement in the fieldwork, to create a true community archaeological project.
Poster Presentation – November 2019
The First Excavation of the Freston Causewayed Enclosure, Suffolk. Tristan Carter, Nat Jackson, Charlotte Diffey & Rose Moir
After ‘Gathering Time’: New Perspectives on Early Neolithic Enclosures - Neolithic Studies Group, London
At the end of our first season of excavation Dr. Jonathan Last of Historic England kindly invited us to present our work at Freston at the Neolithic Studies Group’s autumn symposium in London. With the conference dedicated to the study of Early Neolithic enclosures this could not have come at a better time, a fantastic opportunity for us to share our work with the most important scholars in the field. There was a great deal of interest in our new work at Freston, with many hoping to visit in 2020. If you would like to learn more and view our poster, then please follow the link below.
After ‘Gathering Time’: New Perspectives on Early Neolithic Enclosures