Monday 18th
First Day:
10 am On our first day we arrived at Camden Town Hall, there we were greeted by Sam one of our supervisors and later on Bekki who is actually a Maritime Archaeologist. Bekki introduced us then to the interesting mysterious world of Underwater Archeology, she showed us various findings and facts. Amazed and now more familiar with the whole point of archeology, we went on a small trip to The British Museum. We had a small tour around Roman artefact's and the Sutton Hoo, that were found on land and small chunks of other treasures well persevered. This was amazing to see such things that have survived for so long in deep earth or water, waiting to be recovered and discovered . Especially the Sutton Hoo collection which was cool with its helmets and weapons.
1:30 pm After having our lunch break in the British Museum we made our way to LAARC (London Archaeological archive & research centre). Welcomed by our guide for the day Natalia made an introduction to Foreshore and Tidal Archeology. She showed us using power point presentation examples of the different types of objects you would find in the sea. Our topic of conversation was mostly about the London Thames, we were all totally gobsmacked when they told us that there were many very important discoveries found beneath the River Thames that
First Day:
10 am On our first day we arrived at Camden Town Hall, there we were greeted by Sam one of our supervisors and later on Bekki who is actually a Maritime Archaeologist. Bekki introduced us then to the interesting mysterious world of Underwater Archeology, she showed us various findings and facts. Amazed and now more familiar with the whole point of archeology, we went on a small trip to The British Museum. We had a small tour around Roman artefact's and the Sutton Hoo, that were found on land and small chunks of other treasures well persevered. This was amazing to see such things that have survived for so long in deep earth or water, waiting to be recovered and discovered . Especially the Sutton Hoo collection which was cool with its helmets and weapons.
1:30 pm After having our lunch break in the British Museum we made our way to LAARC (London Archaeological archive & research centre). Welcomed by our guide for the day Natalia made an introduction to Foreshore and Tidal Archeology. She showed us using power point presentation examples of the different types of objects you would find in the sea. Our topic of conversation was mostly about the London Thames, we were all totally gobsmacked when they told us that there were many very important discoveries found beneath the River Thames that
have helped us learn more about London's History. All of us thought that the River Thames was nothing special just a dirty river, but we never knew that the before it became a river was a Forest, apparently they had found remains of tree stumps. After two hours and a half of questions and long discussions we had the chance to handle different objects and materials actually found in the River Thames. We were paired into groups of four and examined and identified the type of materials into groups of what they were.
4:00 pm We ended a long day of our first taste of underwater archeology.
Tuesday 19th
Second Day:
10:00 am We arrived at London School of Diving me nervous and panicky the others excited and full of adrenaline none of us had ever done scuba diving before. We were firstly introduced to our Scuba Diving Supervisors Mark and Sarah. They showed us a brief video summing up and showing us what is Scuba Diving. Sarah after the video had finished, went through some signs that we could do underwater so that we could communicate to each other, then she told us the very important rules and the do's and dont's.
10:20pm After finally going through all the rules and main points of Scuba Diving, we got changed into our swim suits and we were introduced to the scuba diving equipment. Then we started to get prepared and ready. With all of our equipment on and adjusted we tested everything seeing if we were comfortable in the equipment. The preparations were complete and one by one we were taken underwater and did some exercises and learnt how to use our equipment wisely. Things such as clearing our masks, clear regulator from water and regulator recovery. After getting to used to the underwater environment, swimming around and experimenting, we played fun games throwing balls and other things in the water. We enjoyed it and begged them to let us stay longer but sadly we couldn't. The experience was breathtaking and fantastic everyone loved it, also I had overcome my nerves.
3:00 pm We thanked all the staff for such a lovely day and we went back home.
Wednesday 20th
Third Day:
10: oo pm Exhausted after the day before and waking up early, we had a two hour journey to Portsmouth. We arrived at the Nautical Archaeological Society. Mary and Mark who were going to accompany us during the day introduced us to Fort Cumberland, and they outlined the many activities we were going to do during the day. Mary talked us through and gave us examples of the various methods and equipments which archaeologists use in underwater excavations.
Paddy one of the staff took us on a tour of Fort Cumberland. He told us what the purpose of the Fort was and what each building was used for in Napoleonic times. We were shown small cramped claustrophobic spaces which were used to keep french prisoners in, sadly we did not have a chance to see the haunted parts of the fort....but we did get chance to get shown into a Storage of Munitions chamber which was SPOOKY and SPINE CHILLING everything was dark and filled with spider webs.....EEK!
At lunchtime we had a chance to go to Portsmouth port which was fun and hilarious. We collected shells and some of us even went into the water which was freezing!!!!!
4:00 pm We ended a long day of our first taste of underwater archeology.
Tuesday 19th
Second Day:
10:00 am We arrived at London School of Diving me nervous and panicky the others excited and full of adrenaline none of us had ever done scuba diving before. We were firstly introduced to our Scuba Diving Supervisors Mark and Sarah. They showed us a brief video summing up and showing us what is Scuba Diving. Sarah after the video had finished, went through some signs that we could do underwater so that we could communicate to each other, then she told us the very important rules and the do's and dont's.
10:20pm After finally going through all the rules and main points of Scuba Diving, we got changed into our swim suits and we were introduced to the scuba diving equipment. Then we started to get prepared and ready. With all of our equipment on and adjusted we tested everything seeing if we were comfortable in the equipment. The preparations were complete and one by one we were taken underwater and did some exercises and learnt how to use our equipment wisely. Things such as clearing our masks, clear regulator from water and regulator recovery. After getting to used to the underwater environment, swimming around and experimenting, we played fun games throwing balls and other things in the water. We enjoyed it and begged them to let us stay longer but sadly we couldn't. The experience was breathtaking and fantastic everyone loved it, also I had overcome my nerves.
3:00 pm We thanked all the staff for such a lovely day and we went back home.
Wednesday 20th
Third Day:
10: oo pm Exhausted after the day before and waking up early, we had a two hour journey to Portsmouth. We arrived at the Nautical Archaeological Society. Mary and Mark who were going to accompany us during the day introduced us to Fort Cumberland, and they outlined the many activities we were going to do during the day. Mary talked us through and gave us examples of the various methods and equipments which archaeologists use in underwater excavations.
Paddy one of the staff took us on a tour of Fort Cumberland. He told us what the purpose of the Fort was and what each building was used for in Napoleonic times. We were shown small cramped claustrophobic spaces which were used to keep french prisoners in, sadly we did not have a chance to see the haunted parts of the fort....but we did get chance to get shown into a Storage of Munitions chamber which was SPOOKY and SPINE CHILLING everything was dark and filled with spider webs.....EEK!
At lunchtime we had a chance to go to Portsmouth port which was fun and hilarious. We collected shells and some of us even went into the water which was freezing!!!!!
After our lunch break we did artifact identification and learned surveying techniques to practice for our underwater retrieval exercises the next day. We measured the objects using offset and trilateration. These two important measurements will help us do a rough sketch of the area where the objects are positioned. It was a bit frustrating as it was difficult to understand the techniques.
3:30 pm We thanked the staff for an interesting day and made our way back home on coach.
3:30 pm We thanked the staff for an interesting day and made our way back home on coach.
Thursday 21st
Fourth Day:
9: 30 am Today was our last day of Scuba Diving we arrived at the London School Of Diving, where we did a retrieval exercises in the swimming pool. In this exercise we used our knowledge and techniques of surveying underwater. It was extremely difficult as we could not talk underwater but try we tried to communicate using sign language. After we had surveyed we did a small trace of objects that were put under the water. After we had completed our tasks we were given certificates and were praised by all the staff. That was one of the best days of the trip!
3:oo pm We said our last goodbyes to the staff at the London School of Diving, and made our way home. Everyone absolutely loved it.
Friday 22nd
Our last day:
10:00 pm We went to the City Learning Centre where we created our videos using all of our pictures and our blog diaries of the week. Bekki gave us our evaluation forms to complete, both Sam and Bekki said goodbye to us and commented to us that they had had a lovely week with us.
1:00 pm Most of us have completed our blogs and videos and start to leave.
Me and Erika have really enjoyed it, I would like to thank Bekki and Sam for taking us to this
trip and to all the staff who helped us gain knowledge about Maritime Archeology. It was a fantastic experience!
