12 of Britain’s best archaeology sites, events and family activity days
26.02.2024 - 12:05
/ theguardian.com
As the north-west frontier of the Roman empire, Northumberland is scattered with Roman sites, including numerous forts that housed the soldiers who guarded these unruly borderlands. Many are still being excavated, including Vindolanda and Magna forts just south of Hadrian’s Wall. The first modern excavation kicked off at Magna last spring, and the dig season at both runs from April to September – visitors can watch the archaeologists at work Monday to Friday (they take volunteers too, although 2024 is fully booked). One of Vindolanda’s most important treasures is the Vindolanda writing tablets (thin hand-written wooden notes of life there 2,000 years ago), which will be on display as part of the new Legion: Life in the Roman Army exhibition at the British Museum in London (until 23 June).
£12.50 adult, £6 child, vindolanda.com
Eboracum to the Romans, Eoforwic to the Anglo-Saxons and Jorvik to the Vikings … York has two millennia of history buried beneath its streets. Curious young archaeologists can unearth it for themselves at DIG, which has four excavation pits – Roman, Viking, medieval and Victorian – each based on real digs around the city. Armed with trowels, kids can scrape back the (synthetic) soil to reveal replica finds such as Latin inscriptions or shards of pottery. It’s put together by York Archaeology, which also runs the nearby Jorvik Viking Centre, and this Easter the educational charity is running hands-on Kids Dig York sessions for accompanied eight- to 12-year-olds at its excavations at Willow House (25 March-6 April, £65 for one adult and one child).
£9 adult, £8.25 child, digyork.co.uk
The discovery of the Anglo-Saxon royal burial site at Sutton Hoo – which has been described as England’s answer to the Valley of the Kings – in 1939 was one of the greatest archaeological finds in British history. It was given the Hollywood treatment in the 2021 film The Dig, with Ralph Fiennes playing the amateur archaeologist Basil Brown, who unearthed the treasures of a king laid to rest in his ship beneath a series of muddy mounds in the Suffolk countryside. Most of those 1,400-year-old riches are now housed at the British Museum, but at Sutton Hoo visitors can walk around the burial mounds, see replicas of the intricately carved helmet and jewelled clasps, and learn more about Anglo-Saxon life with costume-making workshops and Gruesome Graves tours. You can also stay overnight in one of the apartments at Tranmer House, former home of Edith Pretty, played by Carey Mulligan in the film.
£15 adult, £7.50 child, nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/suffolk/sutton-hoo
Experimental archaeology takes digging up the past one step further: learning about how people did things by trying to replicate the today. Butser