Scarborough schoolchildren take part in archeological dig

Marie Woods with some of the children from Northstead School.

The event is one of the first to take part in Scarborough and was organised by Marie Woods archeologist and founder of Heritage adventures. The dig is part of Big Ideas By The Sea, Scarborough’s first creative festival of ideas, being held on July 16-24 this year.

Marie said: “The kids had a really great time and made some excellent finds.

“Some of them said they were going to continue and do some digging in their own back gardens."

Marie with a pupil from St Peters School

The children took part in some classroom based activities such as mapping and researching the history of the local area first, then they dug over four days and worked in teams of four across eight trenches.

Marie said: “The children discovered some Mesolithic flints, which date back around 8,000 years, some Scarborough Ware Pottery, a few coins and even a cufflink.

“I think we definitely have some budding archeologists from both schools.”

The artefacts found by the children will be cleaned up and registered for the Scarborough Museums Trust, by Marie. They will then be returned to the school on permanent loan for teaching purposes.

Marie said: "Once we are able to return to the schools properly, we aim to do some more work with the children, as part of a bigger project."