Flag Fen hosts 'crowdsourced' Bronze Age archaeology dig

[xchrom]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19192220


Some 80 members of the public have come to help the excavation, and many more have come to observe


A first-of-its-kind "crowdsourced and crowdfunded" archaeological dig at Cambridgeshire's Flag Fen has finished.

It is the site of a Bronze-Age "causeway" of millions of preserved timbers that are rotting away as groundwater recedes from the site.

The not-for-profit Digventures team raised £27,000 from members of the public who then joined in an expert-led dig to excavate parts of the site.

Flag Fen's discoverer Francis Pryor called it "terrifically rewarding".

[Curmudgeoness]

1. Gee, I would like to do that!

Too bad it is further away than I am willing to go to work.

[Judi Lynn]

2. 3,000 years preserved until the recent past. Anyone connected with this experience

is involved in something very important.

Hope to hear a lot more about this.

[mammoth hunter]

3. similar project

This community based dig is really neat. We have a mammoth excavation going in eastern Washington State, USA. Three guys in their sixties chipped in a couple of thousand dollars each to get the ball rolling and numerous community volunteers have devoted two weekends a month to begin unearthing a Columbian mammoth buried in deposits from up to four of the great outburst floods of Glacial Lake Missoula. A recent carbon 14 date says that the animal is 17,449 years old. Furthermore, we are reaching out to school kids to get involved and many have responded positively. The project goes by the name "MCBONES Coyote Canyon Mammoth Dig". Do an internet search.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Thank you for breaking the news here. Best wishes. Hope to hear more.

Welcome to D.U., mammoth hunter.