This week Hayley is back at the Ancient Technology Centre, Cranbourne and discovers the processes of Stone Age flint Knapping with James Dilley.
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Ancientcraft is dedicated to the archaeology of primitive crafts and technologies that encompass three prehistoric ages: STONE; BRONZE and IRON. This includes working with natural materials like flint, wood, bone, leather, ceramics, metals, fibres and wools. My outreach objective is to encourage people of all ages to learn about long-lost crafts by bringing back to life our ancestors skills and knowledge from the primitive past.
I am a PhD student at the University of Southampton, a craftsman and re-enactor who specialises in all prehistoric technologies. I have worked with museums, heritage centres, media (Time Team; Coast; National Geographic; The Great British Countryside), publishers, photographers, schools and geologists in research and experimental archaeology.
The ATC began over 25 years ago as a school project. Jake Keen, a teacher working at Cranborne Middle School, designed and led the building of an Iron Age roundhouse based on archaeological evidence.
Uniquely, Jake’s ethos demanded the construction and material gathering to be undertaken by school children.
The harvesting of materials took place in local woodlands and reed beds and after 6 months, the children began work on building the structure. A year of hard work saw the completion of the roundhouse and marked the beginning of the Ancient Technology Centre.
Over the years, schools became interested in the roundhouse project and began to visit in small groups. Further buildings were constructed – always with the focus placed on experimental archaeology and hands on child participation.
The ATC flourished with the addition of Reg Miles, a Dorset man who has worked at the centre ever since. Reg brought many traditional skills and a wealth of practical knowledge to the centre, and much of our teaching is still based on his unrivalled knowledge and enthusiasm for teaching young people.
Luke Winter took over the management of the ATC in 2002. An experimental archaeologist by training, his focus has been on improving the existing activities and buildings at the centre, while developing public access to the site and leading to the construction of our Viking Longhouse residential building.
The ATC is striving to open its doors regularly to the public and this year will join the International Organisation of Archaeological Open Air Museums. We now have an active voluntee
