For the past week and a half I have been spending my time in Norfolk, not somewhere i have been before and i was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful beaches and villages.
One of my interests is Archaeology and during the holiday I decided that I would like to do a beginners training course to see what it was like to work on trench. After a lot of research (mostly done by other members of my family) we found a site which looked perfect, and it was easy to find somewhere to stay nearby. We rented a lovely little cottage in Snettisham, it was cosy, but definitely big enough for a week and a half. The doorway was surrounded by roses which smelled absolutely beautiful whenever you came in, and it made the cottage look like something from a postcard!
Everyday I traveled to S.H.A.R.P which stands for Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project. They work a 6 day week (Sunday-Friday) and I was shocked to realise that we started work at 8:30, so much for a relaxing holiday! The site consisted of a campsite on Boneyard Field (next to the site where they found around 400 skeletons) and the area 'Chalk Pit' where the trenches were. This year is the 18th season of S.H.A.R.P which runs for 6 weeks during the summer. This year there were 2 trenches, 16 & 17. I was working on trench 16, the larger of the two. For the first week I took part on the Basic Excavations and Recording Techniques course (BERT) to give me a good basic understanding of archaeology, and at the end of the week i was presented with a certificate to prove that i had completed the course. There were 7 of us on the course in the first week, and we all got on well. For the next 4 days i continued to help out on trench 16.
On Friday there is a dress code for the day (such as Formal Friday or Floral Friday) and a themed Punch Party in the evening. On the Friday of the first week we had 'Tie Dye Friday' and everyone paid £1 to dye old white t-shirts. Most people used old S.H.A.R.P. t-shirts with designs from previous years. The image on the left is my t-shirt. I dyed it red and yellow but it kind of turned out pink, orange and yellow! It was so much fun as i have never tie dyed before and everyone looked great on trench in their colorful t-shirts.
I absolutely loved my time at S.H.A.R.P. and I definitely want to go back next year, but i think that i will camp. I now have a good understanding of archaeological methods and it has helped me realise the subject which i am really interested in.
If you are interested in the development of the project and to see what they are finding there this year, visit their blog: http://blog.sharp.org.uk
The main website for the project is: http://www.sharp.org.uk/
The image of the logo is from: independent.academia.edu
