I am currently attending Sir Joseph Williamson’s Mathematical School in Rochester within my first year in sixth form. This week I was fortunate enough to be a part of the Wessex Archaeology team in Maidstone as a part of my work experience. Although I only spent one week here I gained a lot of valuable insight into the world of work as well as the significance of archaeology within the UK.
There was collection of tasks in which I was delegated and had to undertake within this week by Senior Heritage Consultant Marie Kelleher. Initially I was assigned the task of conducting research for a monument of my choice within my local area, to familiarise myself with the research aspect of writing a desk-based assessment. Once completed, I was informed that as part of the London & South East Outreach programme, they were planning to partner up with a local youth group or heritage society. In preparation for this I was asked to research a number of large charitable organisations who were willing to offer funding and the criteria in which the company would need to satisfy in order to obtain a grant. This included researching possible youth groups and heritage societies in which the firm could indeed partner up with. Following this I was asked to identify a number of venues in which Wessex Archaeology could potentially hold a conference that could house 50−200 people within the coming year. This involved taking into consideration the accessibility, convenience, capacity and pricing of these venues and making a suitable judgment as to whether the venue would be appropriate for the conference to be held.
On my final day I was able to commence some practical Historic Building Recording alongside Tom Piggott. I began by being taught how to take photographs of the building (Wessex Archaeology Office) in an attempt to identify features which would be important when considering the significance and development of the building. Afterwards Tom and I began to survey the inside of the building so that we could create a scale CAD drawing of each individual room.
All in all it was an eventful week with numerous tasks in which occupied my time. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and would like to thank the entire team at Wessex Archaeology in Maidstone for presenting me with such a beneficial opportunity which I am grateful for.
By Jonas Jamani
Wessex Archaeology's Maidstone office will be hosting an open day on 15 September 2018. Click here for more information.
