Yorkshire Dales Young Archaeologists Club

Yorkshire Dales Young Archaeologists Club

Launched on Saturday 24th June at the Dales Countryside Museum Hawes

Have you ever wondered what secrets lay beneath your feet? Ever gazed at an old building wondering what story the stones might tell? Ever watched Time Team and thought you could discover as much as Tony and his pals? Well, from June 2006, if you're aged between 8 and 16 you could join the Yorkshire Dales Young Archaeologists Club (YDYAC) - and begin to make the discoveries yourself. Based at the Dales Countryside Museum (DCM) in Hawes, and affiliated to the Council for British Archaeology, the YDYAC hopes to educate and fascinate, introducing young people to the incredible variety and scope that is modern archaeology. On Saturday June 24th from 10.00am till 4.OOpm children (and their families) will be able to come along and see just what the YDYAC is all about. The attractions on offer include;

• Historic food demonstration and tasting
• A coil pot ceramics workshop
• Roman pottery handling collection
• An exhibition of artwork by local children
• A logo competition

We will also be able to give people further details of YAC membership, sign them up to the club and provide them with a timetable of planned future events.

The Club Leader, Keith Webster, an ex-archaeologist with experience of excavation across London and the South East, along with Fiona Rosher and Debbie Allen of the DCM Hawes, see this as a prime opportunity to combine their joint interests in archaeology, history and education, and to bring a greater understanding of archaeology to a fresh and keen audience.

Membership costs just £12 for a year which includes a quarterly magazine and special member discounts at archaeological sites.

Meetings will not always be at the DCM at Hawes - the club will be doing lots of fieldwork and so venues will vary with the content of the meetings.

In our first six months we plan to look at the processes of archaeological investigation before actually digging in the summer of 2007.