DigSchool.org.uk I Engaging cross-curricular learning-enrichment workshops themed around archaeology

Session 19: Report WritingCreating a record for the future

DigSchool.org.uk

Key questions

• How to write an interesting, useful report on a test pit excavation

• What information to include and in what order

• How your Dig School learning will help you

DigSchool.org.uk

You can write up your report EITHER by filling in the Dig School workbook for this session; OR you can use this to make notesand shape the structure of your report and then create your own report with as much text and as many photos, plans and

drawings as you want.

DigSchool.org.uk

DigSchool.org.uk

The information on the top half of this page could be used to make a separate cover page for your report.

Test pit excavation 1 The Close, Newtown

Dylan Brown

July 2020

DigSchool.org.uk

Information to go in here may

come from Dig School sessions:

• ‘Bird’s Eye View’ (Dig School

10) looking at place names (at

kepn.nottingham.ac.uk), old

maps (on Edina Digimap) and

LIDAR;

• ‘Down to Earth’ (Dig School

11) covering Heritage

Gateway and finds.org.uk

• ‘X-ray Vision’ (Dig School 12)

explored how to interpret

features on aerial

photographs

DigSchool.org.uk

DigSchool.org.uk

Information to go in the

‘Location’ section should be on

your test pit excavation record

booklet:

• The Grid Reference (best in

the UK) and eastings and

northings (best for

worldwide) for your test pit

can be found by zooming in

on Edina Digimap or Google

Earth

North

DigSchool.org.uk

The methods used to dig the test

pit were covered in

• ‘DIY Dig’ (Dig School 13)

• ‘Safe and Sound’ (Dig School

14)

• The methods used are also

described in test pit excavation

handbook which accompanied

DIY Dig

DigSchool.org.uk

DigSchool.org.uk

Information to go in the ‘Excavation

Results’ section should be on your

test pit excavation record booklet –

listed page by page for each

context.

• ‘Exploring artefacts’ (Dig School

15) will have helped you identify

some commonly-occurring finds

You will have made photographs

and drawings of you finds in:

• Picturing the Past (Dig School

18)

DigSchool.org.uk

DigSchool.org.uk

You will have thought about the

meaning of finds in several Dig

School Sessions:

• ‘Dumpster Dig’ (Dig School

4) explored the meaning of

stuff that’s unintentionally left

behind

• ‘Call my Bluff’ (Dig School 6)

explored some of the uses

made of different objects

• ‘Animal Farm’ looked at what

animal bones can reveal

• ‘What’s the Story’ (Dig

School 16) explored what

finds can tell you about what

was going on in the past

DigSchool.org.uk

You will have thought about what

finds from test pit excavations can tell

you about places they came from in

several previous Dig School

sessions:

• ‘Tracing Places’ (Dig School 9)

and ‘Pits in Place’ (Dig School

17) explored what finds can reveal

about how settlements developed,

and how common or unusual

pottery of different dates is;

• ‘Changing Rooms’ (Dig School

2) explored how much evidence

from the past does NOT survive.

• ‘History CSI’ (Dig School 1), ‘A

Thorney Problem’ (Dig School 7)

and ‘What’s the Story’ (Dig

School 16) all gave you the

chance to puzzle out explanations

for things found in archaeological

excavations

DigSchool.org.uk

DigSchool.org.uk

DigSchool.org.uk

DigSchool.org.uk

DigSchool.org.uk

DigSchool.org.uk

DigSchool.org.uk

Key questions

• How to write an interesting, useful report on a test pit excavation

• What information to include and in what order

• How your Dig School learning will help you

Session 19: Report WritingCreating a record for the future

END