Author Archive for Gemma Ingason

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Southampton Young Archaeologists’ Club

Published on October 6, 2008 in Visits. 0 Comments Tags: Marine Archaeology, Southampton YAC, YAC.

Time Travelling by Water joined forces with the Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology at the weekend to explore underwater archaeology with Southampton Young Archaeologists’ Club.

Alison Hamer from HWTMA taught the Young Archaeologists about maritime archaeology and showed them some real artefacts that have come from below the waves. One brave volunteer dressed up in a dry suit complete with air cylinder and flippers to experience what it is really like to be an underwater archaeologist.

Every October Southampton YAC takes part in the Big Draw, run by The Campaign for Drawing. Following Alison’s introduction we used all of the things we had just learnt to make some marine themed snow globes with TTBW Project Officer Gemma Ingason, as our entry into this year’s Big Draw competition. The Young Archaeologist’s created shipwrecks, sunken cities and submarines and surrounded them with divers, fish and even a few mermaids. A little water, food dye and glitter completed the project leaving us with beautiful lasting reminders of all that we had learnt.

Black History at KS3

Published on August 28, 2008 in News. 0 Comments Tags: Black history, Colonialism, Free workshops, KS3 history, Mendi, New KS3 curriculum.

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.

Ice Age Exploration at Trowbridge Museum

Published on August 22, 2008 in Event days. 0 Comments Tags: Ice Age, mammoth, step into the ice age, summer holiday activities, Trowbridge archaeology group, trowbridge museum.

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.

Step Into the Ice Age!

Published on August 12, 2008 in Event days. 0 Comments Tags: free activities, Ice Age, mammoth, Trowbridge archaeology group, trowbridge museum.

Time Travelling by Water is joining forces with the Trowbridge Archaeology Group this summer to step into the Ice Age!

On Thursday 21^st 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 21^st 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!

Hampshire Water Festival a Success

Published on August 11, 2008 in Event days. 1 Comment Tags: Event days, Hampshire Water Festival, Romsey.

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.

Hampshire Water Festival

Published on July 23, 2008 in Event days. 0 Comments Tags: Event days, Hampshire Water Festival, Romsey.

Time Travelling by Water will be joining the Hampshire Water Festival on the 9^th August 2008 in Romsey.

The Festival celebrates the vital role that water and the natural environment play in our everyday lives. With so much of the water we use hidden in pipes or under the ground it is easy to forget how important it has been for people in the past.

The festival is being held in several locations throughout the town. Since we’re intending to get a little wet, the Time Travelling by Water stand will be in Memorial Park.

Come and visit the stand to find out about the history and prehistory of Romsey and how it has thrived and developed on its riverine setting over the past 10,000 years.

Younger visitors can become underwater archaeologists to explore, excavate and record some real submerged finds using diving and archaeological equipment. Whilst visiting us, take the opportunity to talk to our marine and coastal archaeologists and ask them your questions about what we do and how we do it!

National Archaeology Day

Published on July 16, 2008 in Event days. 1 Comment Tags: Event days, National Archaeology Day.

National Archaeology Day 2008 was a great success!

Budding archaeologists who visited the TTBW stand explored a range of archaeological finds that have come from under the water. Artefacts found by marine archaeologists must be kept wet to prevent them drying out too quickly and breaking apart. As all of our finds have to be kept submerged we explored them by plunging our arms into the murky water, and braver visitors donned diving masks and snorkels to get a closer look!

With wet arms and faces we explored the finds to discover which came from the last Ice Age and separated the mammoth teeth from the modern metals.

The day was hugely successful with over 600 visitors enjoying the events, activities and displays that were organised at Salisbury Museum to celebrate this important day in the archaeological calendar.

Celebrate National Archaeology Week

Published on July 2, 2008 in Event days and News. 0 Comments Tags: 12th July, Council for British Archaeology, Ice Age, National Archaeology Day, National Archaeology Week, Salisbury Museum.

National Archaeology Week 2008 is nine days of events beginning on the 12^th July. This annual event is organised nationally by the Council for British Archaeology and aims to give everyone the opportunity to learn about the heritage that is all around us by becoming involved in archaeology. This year Time Travelling by Water will be supporting events at Salisbury Museum on the 12^th July where we will be celebrating and exploring our prehistoric past.

Visit the Time Travelling by Water stand to learn about the last Ice Age, between 70,000 and 10,000 years ago. During the last Ice Age the planet became very cold and water froze into huge sheets of ice. As the water froze, the seas retreated only to return as the climate warmed and the ice melted. Dry land where people, plants and animals once lived is now covered by water. It is in these currently underwater areas that we can expect to find some of the best evidence of how people lived during the last Ice Age.

Explore the evidence yourself and become a marine archaeologist by using diving equipment to explore submerged finds. See if you can sort the modern finds from those that are truly prehistoric. You might even find some real mammoth remains!

This is just one of the many exciting things you can do at Salisbury Museum on the 12^th of July. You can also build ‘Stonehenge’ on the back lawn, reconstruct the face of a Bronze Age person and try your hand at metal detecting. There will be demonstrations of prehistoric flint knapping and bronze casting. In the museum’s lecture theatre you can explore the process archaeologists use to find out about our past and try some archaeological digging and recording techniques yourself! You can also view the museum’s displays including the newly opened Inspired by Stonehenge exhibition.

Entrance to the museum for National Archaeology Day is free and the museum is located opposite the cathedral cloisters, in Cathedral Close. We look forward to seeing you on what promises to be a spectacular day!

For more information on National Archaeology Week and other activities that will be happening across the country this July, visit the CBA’s National Archaeology Week website.

Workshop Details Online

Published on June 26, 2008 in News. 0 Comments Tags: National curriculum, Workshops.

Details of the five workshops being offered to schools in the South-West by Time Travelling by Water are now available online. Read about our exciting workshop topics, the activities involved in them and how the workshops relate to the national curriculum.

Purton Hulks

Published on June 26, 2008 in Visits. 0 Comments Tags: Geophysics, hulks, maritime history, NAS, Purton.

Time Travelling by Water spent the weekend in Purton, Gloucestershire. Here, where the bank of the Severn Estuary meets the Gloucester-Sharpness canal, are the hulks of around 80 boats that were deliberately beached to stop the bank eroding and the two water courses joining. The first vessels sailed up what was then a shingle bank in the early 1900′s and over the following 90 years around 70 further vessels were added. This was such an effective method of stabilising the bank that the site now consists of a broad strip of grassy land with the remains of over 30 of the hulks visible on the surface. The rest of the vessels now lie beneath the grass. This amazing collection represents over 100 years of maritime history and is an important site for learning about our seafaring past.

The aim of Friday’s activities was to conduct a geophysical feasibility survey over selected portions of the site in order to locate some of the buried vessels. This was done by surveying two areas in detail and scanning a larger area to the west of the site. The areas were identified for us by local historian Paul Barnett who has spent many years researching and generating interest in the hulks. The survey was a great success! Whilst the results of the scan survey are still being processed and examined, initial study of the results from the detailed survey show the traces of several vessels that now lie beneath the turf. These are shown on an earlier map of the site but our survey shows one vessel in particular that was reported to have drifted into the estuary is still in place. Now that we have demonstrated that this type of survey is effective on this site it is hoped that further work of this nature will be conducted in the future.

Time Travelling by Water chose this weekend to conduct the survey as our friends from the Nautical Archaeological Society (NAS) were also on site. The NAS were recording vessels with local volunteers in order to keep an accurate record of the location and condition of the hulks. This is important as the vessels are under threat, both from natural decomposition of the wood from which some of them are made, and from human actions such as vandalism and arson. The work of the NAS and their volunteers last weekend will help to show people in the future what the site was like in 2008. Younger visitors to the site took part in a scavenger hunt and did their own vessel recording in the form of ‘postcard to the future’. The children wrote their thoughts on the site and described some of the vessels as they are today on a blank postcard that will be kept by Paul Barnett with the site archive. This way, their postcards will remain alongside the work of some of the foremost researchers of the Purton Hulks and enable future generations to read what people think of this important site today.