The Young Archaeologists club is a nationwide club for children aged 8 to 16 who are enthusiastic about the past. They visited the RSPB's Tudeley Woods reserve near Tunbridge Wells and went on a ‘treasure hunt' to explore the history of the woodlands using a new HEA toolkit. They split into teams and went looking for archaeological features nearby, which were marked on a LiDAR map.
The LiDAR map is a computer-generated image of the landscape without the covering foliage, revealing ancient features such as routeways, pits and enclosures. It is produced from aerial scans taken by plane.
Once the young archaeologists had found a historic feature they could identify it using a flowchart and find out whether it was, for example, a ridge and furrow, ancient field boundary, or charcoal platform.
After the treasure hunt the young archaeologists were shown examples of coppicing and how people made charcoal from wood in a ‘charcoal burn'. This illustrated how the historic features had been formed when the woods were worked in centuries past.
Councillor Matthew Lock said, "It's great that young people can get involved in finding out about the history of their local area and may even make a new archaeological discovery."
The Historic Awareness Project covers the Weald Forest Ridge which spans parts of East Sussex, Kent and West Sussex, and the toolkit will be tested in all three counties. The toolkits will help volunteer groups and woodland workers on the ground to find and identify the archaeology within wooded areas by surveying, recording and researching our historic environment. The HEA project has produced a LiDAR atlas for the Weald Forest Ridge. Ancient woodland covers 40% of this area so many new discoveries are expected.
To find out more please contact Project Officer, Lyn Palmer by email: lyn.palmer@eastsussex.gov.uk or phone: 07554 436 473.
For more details please visit our pages on Archaeology in East Sussex or the High Weald website.
Further information
The Young Archaeologists Club
The Young Archaeologists club is a nationwide club for children aged 8–16 who are enthusiastic about the past. The North Downs branch is one of two branches that exist in Kent – their members come from central, north and south Kent and even further a field. There are around 50 branch members (although usually 20–30 at meetings). They meet monthly all over Kent to do all sorts of things – visit sites, recreate ancient crafts and technologies, excavate, geophysics etc, with a coach trip further a field each year too. They have five leaders, all of whom work in heritage in various ways. Go to http://www.britarch.ac.uk/yac/ to find out more about YAC.
Weald Forest Ridge Landscape Partnership Scheme
The Historic Awareness Project is part of the Weald Forest Ridge Landscape Partnership Scheme. East Sussex County Council is one of many partners in the scheme which is hosted by the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty unit. The project is part funded by English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The scheme aims to enable people to reconnect with their local landscape; more easily access and enjoy it; understand its unique natural, cultural and built heritage; take part in caring for it; and leave a legacy for future generations.
The Weald Forest Ridge
The High Weald is a medieval landscape of rolling hills, small irregular fields, abundant woods and hedges, scattered farmsteads and sunken lanes. It is one of England's Finest Landscapes, recognised by its designation as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
The Weald Forest Ridge is the highest ridge of the High Weald AONB. Concentrated within the area are: the remnants of the Weald's four largest medieval forests, including valuable heathy open spaces; the South East's only sandstone rock outcrops; historic parks and gardens; and ancient iron workings.
LiDAR images
The LiDAR images are produced by Forest Research, while Cambridge Unit for Landscape Modelling flew and collected the data.
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2750
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