On Monday 15^th December, five Y7s were chosen by the History department to take part in a real life ‘Time Team’ experience and got to work with professional archaeologists from Earthworks Archaeology on a dig at the site of Chester’s new Theatre.

Little is currently known about this part of the Roman fortress and the hope is that the dig could answer questions about the function and development of the Roman buildings that once stood on the site.

The pupils got to see some of the finds that have already been uncovered such as large pieces of red, glossy, decorated pottery called Samian ware – manufactured in Gaul (France). The pupils were really excited to see a Roman roof tile with the clear imprints of a cat’s paw, meaning that the cat had clearly walked across the tiles when they were first made approximately 2000 years ago.

The pupils then got to get their hands dirty. Under supervision from the experts from Earthworks archaeology team the students were given trowels and started to uncover the past. All pupils were successful in discovering fragments of items from different periods of history such as clay pipe stems from the 1700s and pieces of glass from the 1800s

Although the pupils did not uncover anything from the Roman period themselves it was still a thoroughly exciting experience for all to be actively involved in peeling back the layers of our cities history. All of the pupils confirmed that they would be keen to be involved in an archaeological dig again if they got the opportunity.