It was announced on Tuesday that the new secondary curriculum for history will include the teaching of the slave trade, its causes and effects. This includes, and is intrinsically linked to, the development of British colonialism and its long term effects on people of other countries.
Time Travelling by Water is offering a free workshop to schools in the south west of England which complements this new secondary curriculum.
The SS Mendi: a forgotten story explores the archaeological wreck of the Mendi to learn about the men who perished when she sank in 1917. These men, black members of the South African Native Labour Corps, were travelling to France to assist in the war effort on behalf of the British Government.
Through an exploration of the wreck, which today lies off of the Isle of Wight, we discover how the Mendi relates to WW1, British colonialism, ethnicity and racism. We then examine the legacy of the Mendi - in South Africa she is a famous symbol of a racially divided past and an icon of unity and reconciliation. In Britain she is almost unknown.
Follow the links to learn more about the SS Mendi: a forgotten story and about other workshops offered by Time Travelling by Water. To book a workshop, contact us via the tab above.
How big was a woolly mammoth and what tools did people in the past use to hunt them? Intrepid visitors to Trowbridge Museum found out the answer to these questions on Thursday when Time Travelling by Water joined forces with the Trowbridge Archaeology Group to explore past Ice Ages.
During an Ice Age the earth becomes colder and water freezes into ice sheets. At these times land which is today underwater (and studied by marine archaeologists) is dry enough for people and the animals they hunted to live on. This means that some of the best evidence for exploring Ice Age people can be found under the water. Fittingly then our brave volunteers donned snorkels to find mammoth remains and explore ancient prehistoric tools on our submerged virtual seabed.
But how big was a woolly mammoth? To answer this question we looked to our feet. We made life-size replicas of mammoth footprints and drew our own footprints inside them. We found out that a mammoth’s foot is 13 times bigger than one of our own - using a size 3 ½ shoe - so a woolly mammoth would have been around 13 times bigger than one of our volunteers. They were around 3 metres tall and 3 metres long from tusk to tail. To remind us of what these impressive beasts looked like we modelled them in clay - though of course not at actual size. And we marvelled at how people in the past hunted such large creatures.
Time Travelling by Water is joining forces with the Trowbridge Archaeology Group this summer to step into the Ice Age!
On Thursday 21st August we will be at Trowbridge Museum hosting some mammoth activities. You can drop in anytime between 10 and 12.30 to join in the fun.
We’ll be searching underwater for mammoth remains and exploring real woolly mammoth bones from thousands of years ago. Visit the museum on the 21st to see how your footprint compares to a mammoth’s and find out how our distant ancestors were able to hunt these massive animals. Play pin the tail on the mammoth and make your own clay mini mammoth to take home!
Time Travelling by Water celebrated the Hampshire Water Festival in Romsey last weekend.
Rather appropriately the forecast was for rain and it didn’t disappoint! Hampshire residents weren’t put off by the deluge and the festival was a huge success.
Intrepid explorers visiting the Time Travelling by Water stand learnt about the history of Romsey and dived deep to uncover a range of submerged artefacts - all of which were discovered underwater. This reminded us of how important water has been to people in the past whilst the festival celebrated how important water is to us today.
It was announced on Tuesday that the new secondary curriculum for history will include the teaching of the slave trade, its causes and effects. This includes, and is intrinsically linked to, the development of British colonialism and its long term effects on people of other countries.
