Angus Forshaw, a Community Archaeologist with Wessex Archaeology, has been working with Op Nightingale on site. In today’s blog he shares his experiences so far:
As the Community Archaeology Trainee at Wessex Archaeology I am lucky to have the opportunity to work along side soldiers as part of Operation Nightingale.
This is my second excavation with the Award Winning Operation Nightingale project, having joined one of their previous projects excavating a Roman site in Caerwent.
The excavations have been a brilliant experience for me in many ways. It has been a really satisfying experience to see the soldiers relaxing and beginning to enjoy archaeology, with many finding that they already have the skills needed for accurate excavation and recording. Another highlight has definitely been hearing first hand how the experience has helped with soldiers’ recovery, showing the importance and success of the project.
The excavations at Barrow Clump have been similarly successful, we have been lucky to get the opportunity to excavate such a fantastic site, so a small thanks to the badgers for the damage they caused allowing us access. All involved seem to be learning about and enjoying the archaeology on site, and hopefully we’ll have plenty more exciting discoveries to come!
Find out more about what Angus gets up to by following him on Twitter @WACommunityArch
To return to the main blog, www.florence.opnightingale.co.uk/blog, click here.