Whitehawk Camp Community Archaeology Project

Are you at Whitehawk Hill, Craven Vale or Racehill Allotment Sites? A rather exciting project is taking place to look at the archaeology of Whitehawk Hill, there may be important finds on your plots!

If you are willing to help liaise with Dr Hilary Orange who is organising the project then please email us with your details and we will pass them on to her.

Whitehawk Camp Community Archaeology Project

We (the Whitehawk Camp Community Project partnership) would like to invite all allotment gardeners at Race Hill, Whitehawk Hill and Craven Vale Allotment Associations to join in a community archaeology project by collecting finds from their allotment plots.

About Whitehawk Camp

These allotments are situated in close proximity to Whitehawk Camp, a Neolithic (Stone Age) monument known as a causewayed camp. The Camp is one of the UK’s earliest archaeological sites (around 500 years older than Stonehenge). It was excavated by archaeologists in the 1920-30s and they uncovered a large collection of human bone, stone tools, pottery and large numbers of animal bones. The animal bones suggest that communal feasts used to take place on the site. A programme of community archaeology is planned around the theme of ‘Food.’ We are hoping that finds from the allotment will help us to identify areas of past activity on Whitehawk Hill.

How to take part

Each allotment site will be provided with finds bags and clear instructions

Each bag needs to be marked clearly with the allotment name and plot no.

Each person taking part registers with the project as a volunteer.

What happens then

Archaeologists from UCL and members of the Brighton and Hove Archaeological Society (BHAS) will be arranging visits to the allotment sites to offer handling sessions (commonly found objects). Allotment gardeners can also email digital images of finds to BHAS for a quick identification. We will sort through and collect the finds in October and then write up a specialist report on the allotment finds. We won’t be able to provide a lot of information on each individual find but we will be able to report on the finds distribution and any patterns / finds of note. This new information will be made available through the project webpage and in the form of a downloadable pdf document. We’ll also be running a site Open Day and gardeners are very welcome to bring any finds to show specialists who will be running a finds stand at the event

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/calendar/articles/2013-14/20140414