York Castle Museum

Community Archaeology

Welcome to Time Travellers

We are co-ordinating an exciting new community archaeology partnership across Yorkshire called Time Travellers.

During 2008/9 it involves Craven Museum and Gallery, North Yorkshire County Records Office, Wakefield Metropolitan District Council Cultural Services and York Museums Trust. In 2007/8 it also included Scarborough Museums and Galleries.

Each has its own community archaeology project.

Trades and skills

York Museums Trust is working with modern experts, from hairdressers to butchers, to learn about how historic objects were made and used in the past.

Visitors to the Yorkshire Museum can watch films about our projects and see objects which have come under the scrutiny of our experts.

Click here to visit our Yorkshire Museum website and find out more about these projects.

Mapping the past

Primary school children are investigating their heritage with North Yorkshire County Records Office, in partnership with Kevin Cale of Community Archaeology Ltd.

They are examining their local landscape, local archaeological finds and records from the archives, such as maps and photos, to learn more about where they live.

One example during 2008/9 will involve children from South Milford Primary School visiting the Wars of the Roses battlefield at Towton, scene of one of the bloodiest battles of English history.

The photograph above shows children from Masham CE Primary School examining a human skeleton from York. Picture courtesy of North Yorkshire County Council.

Medieval Castleford

Castleford residents are examining their town's Medieval past, in a project run by Wakefield Metropolitan District Council Cultural Services.

During Roman times, the town was a major fort and river crossing on the Lincoln to York road, but little is known about the medieval period. Residents took part in Roman workshops during the first year of the project, which tied in with Wakfield Museum's Romans exhibition. Now they are again taking part in workshops, examining artefacts for clues about medieval activity in the area.

Romans and landscape

Craven Museum and Gallery are working with schools and youth groups looking at how the Romans who settled in the area adapted to their landscape. Quite different objects were discovered by archaeologists in the remains of a Roman villa in Gargrave - domestic items - to those found in Victoria Cave, near Settle - Roman brooches. The project's aim is to discover what these objects say about how the Romans were living.

Practical prehistory

During the first year of Time Travellers, 2007/8, Scarborough residents concentrated on their nationally-important prehistoric collections.

Through practical activities like building, cooking or making tools and jewellery, they examined how people lived in the distant past. These workshops led up to a big celebration at the Prehistory Fair, held at the Spa complex and on Scarborough beach.

University of Bradford

The department of Archaeological Sciences at Bradford University has also been enormously helpful in working on all our projects and has become our unofficial fifth partner. The department concentrates on the practical skills of archaeology, and their staff and students have been extremely helpful in with our hands-on workshops.

Renaissance Yorkshire

All these projects are being funded by Renaissance Yorkshire, a partnership of museums, libraries and archives services in Yorkshire.

More information

Find out more about Time Travellers by contacting Dave Evans on 01904 687666 or email david.evans@ymt.org.uk