On Saturday 20 April, 13 members of the Damerham Archaeology project took part in a pottery and animal bone identification workshop at the Wessex Archaeology offices in Salisbury. The Damerham Project, led by Martyn Barber of English Heritage and Helen Wickstead of Kingston University, is looking at cropmark sites mapped from aerial photographs around the village of Damerham on the Hampshire/Dorset border. Last year’s fieldwork, on a long barrow, dug through a post-medieval quarry, as well as part of the barrow ditch.
The pottery and bone workshop was aimed at volunteers working on the project, who would like to be able to develop their recognition skills to use on site. The volunteers were able to handle examples of pottery spanning six millennia, and a wide range of animal bones. Each session included a short ‘test’ at the end to see how much the participants had learned during the day! Feedback was enthusiastic, and we hope that the workshop will enhance the participants’ enjoyment of their next fieldwork exercise.