Theresa recently completed her very first dig! Hear her thoughts on the Archaeology Section and the exciting opportunities that have inspired her journey.
I’m Theresa, a lead Teaching Assistant in one of the Island’s primary schools, and I have been a member of the Société and the Archaeology Section for just over a year now. I joined at a Section event at the annual archaeology festival, after having attended several similar events before that on the back of a general desire to learn more about the Island and its history.
Like many people, I watched inspiring television programmes like Time Team and Digging for Britain, which in some ways romanticise what is still there to be found, but I never supposed that I could get involved and do the same thing until I joined the Société.
I have spent the last year learning about the various projects that the Archaeology Section has, including how to clean finds and catalogue them, as well as undertaking field surveys. I couldn’t wait to do my first dig this summer. I was given guidance and instruction as to what to do and by the end of the excavation I was feeling confident with the helpful advice of more experienced team members.
It’s exciting when you find something and realise that you are the first person to touch it for a couple of thousand years! My best find were some animal teeth – I wonder whether they are the only remains of an Iron Age stew! I also found the broken fragments of a large cooking pot. Perhaps they were connected? We will be analysing all of this over the next few months!
For me, joining in with Société activities is immensely interesting and I am invariably learning something all the time. It is also great fun to be doing something with a team of like-minded people in the knowledge that we are all playing our small part in extending knowledge of our history and the people who lived here at that time.
For further information about joining the Société and any of its Sections, please visit our website www.societe.je, email: hello@societe,je or contact us at 7 Pier Road, St Helier or call 01534 758314
