Can you dig it? (From Oxford Mail)

Can you dig it?

5:40pm Wednesday 26th November 2008 in

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Archaeology fans have been invited to get involved in a major project aimed at uncovering the history of the east of Oxford.

The project has been launched by Oxford University’s department of continuing education, with the aim of getting interested groups and individuals trained in archaeological techniques before helping with research.

Project officer Jane Harrison said: “It is a real chance for getting some new energies and enthusiasms going.

“There has been some work by people like English Heritage and developer-funded work as new homes are built, but it will be the first time that I think anyone has really tried to pull out archaeological themes across the whole area.”

Funding has come from the university to pay for Ms Harrison’s post for nine months and she will be carrying out background research, applying for further funding and getting in touch with local groups and people who want to be involved.

Ms Harrison said: “The east of the city has all sorts of fascinating archaeology and we thought it would be really exciting to find out more about the story of its development and archaeology, but doing it with people who live there because the archaeology, in a sense, belongs to those people.

“There is a serious archaeological research agenda behind it and what we want is for this to be a very practical project.”

The plan is to gain funding to train people in techniques such as geophysics and landscape surveying and carry out small scale surveys across the area prior to digging.

Ultimately, it is intended to run a large scale, professionally-run community excavation — then publish the results afterwards.

Ms Harrison said: “We want people to learn to do it the way a professional archaeologist would, so we are talking about carrying out real archaeological work, not just joining in for a couple of hours.”

No specific sites have yet been identified, but it is anticipated early surveys will help pinpoint places of interest, with field work due to start in the autumn next year.

As well as ancient history, modern developments will also be under the microscope, with the project looking at the growth of industry from early potters to the BMW works and its predecessors.

Ms Harrison said she was not hoping to find anything specifically but said: “There is some cracking archaeology in Blackbird Leys, fantastic Roman archaeology and some earlier stuff as well. Rose Hill has got some very interesting archaeology too.”

Anyone interested in getting involved should call Ms Harrison on 01865 724153 or email jane.harrison@conted.ox.ac.uk fbardsley@oxfordmail.co.uk