Department of Archaeology at the Cambridge Festival 2025
Staff and students from the Department of Archaeology, Cambridge Archaeological Unit and the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research have been busy taking part in the University’s annual Cambridge Festival. The Festival, which ran from the 19th of March to the 4th of April, featured events designed to share the world-leading research taking place at the University of Cambridge. This year saw the Department engage with over 2,000 people and included hands-on archaeological activities, school sessions, talks and even a comedy panel show. Featuring archaeology both local and international in scale, the Cambridge Festival was a fantastic showcase for the wide range and inspiring work of the Department’s projects.
Cambridge Festival Schools Days
Lydia Clough from the Department of Archaeology and Dr Chris Wakefield from the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) took KS2 and KS3 pupils back in time, tasking students with “Investigating the Mystery of Must Farm”. In a session that explored life in a Late Bronze Age settlement, Chris and Lydia trimmed wood using bronze tools, treated themselves to tasting some “meaty porridge” and challenged pupils to work out why the site’s houses burned down in 850BC.
Image: Zoe Smith
Image: Zoe Smith
Image: Zoe Smith
Image: Zoe Smith
Cambridge Festival's Family Weekend
Over two days, seven different projects and teams from the Department of Archaeology gave visitors to the New Museums Site the opportunity to get hands-on with activities and find out more about the human past.
The Cambridge Archaeological Unit brought a selection of exciting artefacts recently unearthed from the region, ranging from prehistoric tools to post-medieval bells, alongside some of the more interesting animals to emerge from excavations in and around the city.
Mapping Archaeological Heritage in South Asia (MAHSA) unveiled their newest outreach resource; an Augmented Reality sandbox. This interactive activity allows users to shape sand into digital topographic maps using an Xbox Kinect sensor combined with a projector and visualisation software fixed above a sandbox. This was generously funded by the Centre for Landscape Regeneration.
Mapping Africa’s Endangered Archaeological Sites and Monuments (MAEASaM) shared their research through a giant map puzzle and a wheel spinning game. The “Small Performances” Project allowed visitors to find out about Baskerville’s typeface by printing their own name and exploring vintage tools.
Dr Kingsley Daraojimba shared his research on the Igbo-Ukwu region by showcasing the amazing 3D printed facsimiles of the Igbo Ukwa bronzes produced by the Factum Foundation. A team of archaeobotanists, led by Dr Alex Weide, gave participants the opportunity to use flotation to find charred grains and then identify them under a microscope.
Huge thanks to our team of student volunteers who were fantastic at engaging the public with the variety of information on offer, including a matching activity with a collection of primate cast skulls.
Would I Sci to You?
Dr Chris Wakefield from the CAU was asked to contribute a Mystery Object to the “relevant but irreverent” quick-fire science panel show, Would I Sci to You?, produced by the Cambridge Science Centre. Opting for a Neolithic polissoir, a polishing stone for axes and tools, this enigmatic artefact bamboozled most of the contestants. Thankfully, Dr James Dilley of AncientCraft was kind enough to lend us a hafted polished stone axe to demonstrate what over 50 hours of using a polishing stone can achieve!
Image: Emma Jones
Image: Emma Jones
No Such Thing as a Silly Question?
Author of non-fiction children’s book There’s No Such Thing As a Silly Question, Mike Rampton hosted an interactive talk encouraging children to ask questions and explore a wide range of different topics. Drawing support from experts from the across the University of Cambridge, the CAU’s Dr Chris Wakefield was one of the panel helping Mike to answer nice and simple questions such as “What was the most important thing to ever happen in human history?”.
Published 30 May 2025
The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Built with Shorthand