The working life of Museum of London

The final Friday of our 2010 community dig was in fact only a half day. In the afternoon volunteers from the London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre’s volunteer programme (VIP: “Volunteer Inclusion Project”) joined us to have a change from packing objects in the stores to finding things on site.

As per usual, we started with an introduction to the area, looking at old maps and comparing them to the surviving built environment around us. Then it was into the trench to carefully scrap away at the layers of earth that hold Burgess Park’s history within. We find that 30 minutes in the trench is just about right before people start to get too hot, so we swap them over to the finds washing which takes place under the cool shade of the horse chestnut tree.

Volunteers play a huge part in the running of the Museum, especially within the Museum’s Department of Archaeological Collections and Archive. Over the two weeks of this dig 15 people have volunteered their time to help out with the supervision of the schoolchildren, both within the trench and at the finds washing tables. Our volunteers have included current students of archaeology, current Museum volunteers, work experience students and unemployed people looking for some extra skills to add to their CVs. We’ve also had volunteers from a range of backgrounds join us including France, Spain & Japan, each sharing knowledge of archaeological practices from their home country and picking up tips from our methods of community engagement.

 Many thanks to all the volunteers who have played a big part in this year’s community dig.

Adam Corsini, Museum of London