School pupils dig up the past with Time Team presenter

07 October 2009

-

KIDS from the East End joined students from one of the country's most prestigious universities in a bid to dig up the past.

Twenty two young people from Tower Hamlets joined students from Clare College, Cambridge last week for an archaeological dig with former Time Team presenter Carenza Lewis.

Under the supervision of the Cambridge-based archaeologist, the pupils from Oaklands and Morpeth schools in Bethnal Green worked in small teams to excavate six sites in Girton, a village just outside the city.

Each group was led by a university student who taught the pupils the skills needed to carry out a dig.

Kids discovered a seventeenth century clay pipe and the bones of a small animal, possibly a weasel in the grounds of Girton Primary School and at the end of a garden on Girton High Street, they unearth pieces of Saxon and medieval pottery.

Oaklands pupil Rezwana Akthar said: "When we were told about the chance to come and see Cambridge University, I really liked the idea. I'm planning to study science not archaeology but I find history really interesting."

This project was part of the university's Access Cambridge Archaeology scheme which was set up in 2005.