We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2014
Many years ago a young boy noticed a small, scrappy piece of paper on the school noticeboard, asking for volunteers to help excavate a Roman villa being threatened by a new road. He dismissed the plea, sure (despite never having studied them) in the knowledge that we knew enough about the Romans; safe within his fascination of 17th century England and utterly incredulous that anyone might consider giving time on a Saturday afternoon to anything other than rugby. Some years later a recent graduate, fresh from studying modern history at university and just about to embark on a career teaching history, was walking, with his girlfriend, along a street in York called Coppergate. They noticed a long roadside hoarding, upon which was a sign encouraging passers-by to pay to visit the archaeological excavations hidden behind. ‘Pay?!’ they commented … and walked on.
The young teacher was soon confronted by class upon class of pupils who did not share his total and unquestioning fascination with history. The curriculum demanded that he teach periods totally new to him including prehistory and ancient civilisations; all utterly captivating … to him … but surprisingly — impossibly? — not to the children. As he struggled to interest them he began to read around how we knew about these distant periods and came into contact, really for the first time, with archaeology.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
