This second camp took place on the site of a former quarry that
provided aggregate for the building of the A14 linking Felixstowe
port to the rest of the country.Now a well established SSSI nature
reserve and centre for leisure, relaxation and education, managed
by Suffolk Wildlife Trust (SWT), the site is unrecognisable from
the former gravel workings of 20 years ago.
For the event a team of specialists brought together from SWT
education team and West Stow Anglo Saxon Village (wrong period
maybe but with very relevant skills), plus the Rede Wood team,
began work with 25 young people from The Young Archaeologist’s Club
and The Wild Bunch (a group of volunteers from The Suffolk Wildlife
Trust).
Designing the Roundhouse and kiln
With five days available the team set about achieving the
building and firing of a replica Roman kiln; the construction of an
Iron Age roundhouse plus the designing and building of bread ovens
and cooking pits in which to experiment with cooking using
ingredients available in the iron age. For this we had brought in
an additional food specialist /food hygienist who would work with
the students preparing meals whilst on site.
Food technology
The shelters erected to protect us from the rain were necessary
instead as shades from the sun that came out on the first day,
shone for the week and put the afternoon temperatures up into the
30’s. We worked through this, firstly designing the kiln and
roundhouse and then producing hand built pots which we needed to
get dry for Thursday night firing.
Making pottery
By the end of the first day all the youngsters were showing
great confidence with the hand tools and Alan, our wood-working
expert from West Stow was already impressed with their increasing
skill levels and their independence. We had the beginnings of the
kiln and the walls and wall plate of the roundhouse complete. Judy
and Emma from Suffolk Wildlife Trust had stepped in to source us
some roof poles for the roundhouse as the ones we were to use
looked capable of spanning a medieval barn rather than a 4 metre
roundhouse. They had also arranged for the delivery of more
firewood as it started to become apparent just how much we would
need. The whole group was realising how living near your resources
was so important in the past. A ton of firewood had to be cut,
logged and hauled so you worked near to where your wood was and
managed your wood source by coppicing and pollarding rather than
felling the whole tree. In that way you could always have wood
nearby.
Building the Roundhouse
An open day on the Saturday allowed the group the chance to work
with parents and friends to complete the roundhouse, cook a late
breakfast and open the kiln. Only four pots were broken during the
firing which we all agreed was a very acceptable result, well in
line with previous firings in similar kilns.
Constructing and firing the kiln
During the kiln firing the students tracked the temperature
using a pyrometer and recorded the results on a
graph, stoking the kiln until the optimum firing tempature was
reached.
Keshia's Diary
For a view of the week from one of the young people involved click
on
Keshia's Diary (PDF,59k) and read what she has to
say.