Past Events
The CBA has been organising an annual UK-wide celebration of archaeology and heritage since 1990. The ‘Festival for British Archaeology’ grew from ‘National Archaeology Week’ (NAW). Before that, the event took place over one weekend and was called ‘National Archaeology Days’ (NADS).
National Archaeology Week 2008
NAW 2008 was a great success with over 460 events taking place all over the UK, a far cry from the 10 events that were held as part of the first National Archaeology Day, back in 1990!
Thank you to every one who took part in National Archaeology Week 2008. More events than ever were held across the country as hundreds of organisations, from museums and archaeology units to local archaeological societies and national park authorities helped to bring archaeology into the spotlight and encouraged people to see archaeology in action and to take part in activities on-site.
Media coverage of NAW 2008 played a huge part in ‘spreading the word’, as journalists came to recognise NAW as an important annual event with national significance in raising the profile of archaeology and the historic environment in the UK and encouraging everyone to get involved. Coverage in national newspapers included pieces in The Times, Sunday Telegraph, Mail on Sunday and The Guardian. Many TV and radio stations covered the event including ITV local, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC local stations and S4C. And special mention must be given to the front page coverage of National Archaeology Week by The Beano!
Thousands of people turned up over the 9 day extravaganza, to enjoy excavation open days, guided walks, specialist talks, hands-on activities, family fun days, finds identification days and much much more. From exploring what archaeology is and learning how to excavate, to learning about the archaeological secrets of their local area, discovering more about excavations that have taken place across the UK and finding out how people lived in ancient times, there was something for everyone, no matter what their age or period of interest.
There were requests from as far away as Australia and the USA about the dates of the event, so that trips to the UK would be arranged to coincide with NAW!
The importance and success of the event was highlighted by Margaret Hodge, Minister for Culture;
This programme of events is great because it gives people a real chance to get first-hand experience of what it’s all about.
Margaret Hodge, Minister for Culture, July 2008
