A PROJECT hunting down history in East Oxford has been nominated for a national award.

Archeox, the East Oxford Project, has been named one of the top three community archaeology projects at the British Archaeology Awards.

The four-year initiative has been busy excavating across East Oxford, and in places such as Rose Hill, Blackbird Leys and Littlemore, since early 2011.

Project officer Jane Harrison said: “This is such fantastic news, not just for us, but for all the hundreds of volunteers who have been working with us.

“These are the biggest awards in archaeology so we are thrilled to have been nominated after just a year-and-a-half.”

The project is run by a team of four people from Oxford University’s department for continuing education.

It was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Oxford University’s John Fell Fund.

It has 50 core volunteers but more than 400 members of the public have been involved over the past year.

The most recent digs were in Blackbird Leys, where fragments of pottery were discovered and are now being analysed.

Ms Harrison said: “I think this project has really struck a chord with people and we have met such goodwill and commitment.

“The volunteers have ranged in age from three to others in their 80s. One young girl found a Roman coin on her very first dig, which she was over the moon with.”

The Archeox project has another year-and-a-half of research to conduct before the results are written up in books, articles and leaflets for the public.

An excavation by volunteers in November in Bartlemas Chapel, off Cowley Road, uncovered the remains of two 12th-century children hastily buried in shallow graves.

Ms Harrison said: “That was a very exciting dig to be part of. There is so much in East Oxford that has not been discovered or studied enough. What was important to us from the very start was making sure this project was open for everyone to take part.

“We are absolutely thrilled to be up for the community award.”

Wheatley resident Tricia Hallum took part in digs at Blackbird Leys.

She said: “What people don’t realise is that East Oxford is actually the oldest part of the city because of the Roman presence there.

“It is a fantastic project and it has certainly sparked the imagination of people in the area.”

The winners will be announced at the British Museum in London on July 9.