Latest ACA News and Events

For the latest news and information from ACA please go to ourBlog page. News and events from previous years can be seen below.

News from 2009/2010

September 2010

ACA test pits on television:

In July 2009 the ACA team was involved in digging nearly 50 test pits in the village of Kibworth in Leicestershire as part of a six-part television series presented by Michael Wood telling the story of this rural community through the whole of English history. This series starts on Wednesday September 22nd 9pm, BBC 4 and Thursday 23rd September, 10pm, BBC 4 and BBC HD. Archaeological discoveries from the test pits will be woven together with evidence from documents, landscape, buildings, science and archaeology, with the help of the villagers themselves, to explore the lives of the ordinary people against the backdrop of national events across more than a thousand years. Please see theMaya Vision website for more information.

HEFA excavations in Cambridge College gardens:

For many Cambridge colleges, the grass is sacrosanct and rarely even walked upon, but for one week in early September, the lawns of Newnham College were disturbed by archaeological excavations organised by ACA which enablee 20 state-educated teenagers to get a taste of life at Cambridge while searching for archaeological evidence from the past. The girls were following in the footsteps of the great and the good - in this case, those of the first female professor at Cambridge - Dorothy Garrod, who was appointed in 1939. By a remarkable coincidence, within days of this historic appointment, human skeletons were discovered in the grounds of Garrod's own college, Newnham, by workmen digging trenches for air raid shelters in anticipation of the looming Second World War, and she arranged for undergraduates to help excavate the remains. However, the details of exactly what was found or even where the dig took place have since been lost, and so the ACA excavations searched for any new evidence to establish exactly where the air-raid trenches were, and try and date and explain the presence of the burials. A video of the excavations can be seen here.

July 2010

Success of 2010 HEFA programme:

Feedback from ACA's 2009-10 programme of Higher Education Field Academies has revealed another very successful year providing hugely enjoyable and inspiring activities for young people. Nearly 500 teenagers across East Anglia took part in a HEFA course in 2010, and 93% of them rated their experience as excellent or good.Nearly all of the young people, most from families with little experience of university, said they finished HEFA feeling more positive about themselves and about the idea of going to university.

January 2010

Success of university Widening Participation schemes:

Recent results from England's university funding agency HEFCE has stated that youngsters living in the poorest places of England are now 30% more likely to go to university than they were 5 years ago. University Widening Participation initiatives, including those of Access Cambridge Archaeology (partially funded by HEFCE and delivered in partnership with Aimhigher) have played a major part in this achievement.

Feedback has shown that young people who have attended Access Cambridge Archaeology programmes are 20%-60% more likely to want go to university after completing these than beforehand. Sandy Yatteau (Area Manager, Aimhigher Peterborough and Cambridgeshire, with whom ACA has worked closely over the last five years) commented 'Everyone involved with Aimhigher has played a crucial role in improving outcomes for learners, and I am sure that the 30% increase announced today is in no small way due to their efforts. Thanks to all for having worked hard to make our young people believe in their abilities to engage with further study, and for supporting them in making life-changing decisions.'

For more information, please see the full story on theBBC News Website

Or on HEFCE's website

December 2009

Carenza Lewis has made the shortlist for this year's Marsh Archaeology Award, which recognises and promotes high quality and engaging education work carried out in the UK with people under the age of 18.

For more information, please see the full Press Release

Please see Program of Events to find out what will be happening this year.