Hazel Fransch
So we found what we believe to be a jawbone.
Victoria Hardwidge
A piece of rib here in the ground.
Kerry Barrass
This is a near complete pot. It was upside
down filled with very dark organic ready rotted
matter.
Dr Ian Smith
There was a human bone laid next to it.
Dr Miles Russell
We’re currently at Winterborne Kingston
near Bere Regis in Dorset, this is the area
of our Big Dig and essentially what we’re
trying to do is to, we’re trying to understand
what happens at the end of pre-history when
the Romans arrive here in A.D. 43. What happens
to the local population? Do they become Roman?
Do they resist the Roman advances? What happens
to their lifestyle? So what we’ve been trying
to do is to locate their houses, locate the
roundhouse structures and to see what really
happens here in the first century  A.D.
Paul Cheetham
Our geophysics team are in the next field,
students doing work, we’ve found another
small settlement with pits and ditches and
very similar to this. We estimate that on
this site there may be up to a hundred or
a hundred and fifty roundhouses so this makes
a really a very, very large settlement at
this period. A large village, small town effectively.
Dr Ian Smith
It’s a beautiful part of the world this
countryside just to walk here and stand in
it is lovely regardless of the weather. The
whole place is just a prehistoric town.
Victoria Hardwidge
The Big Dig is an optional part of my course,
it’s just really good for your CV if you
don’t have any archaeological experience before.
Angela Gourlas
I am originally from Greece but I moved to
Germany into an international school which,
kind of, brought me here coz it’s a mix
of an American and British system. It’s
probably one of the best experiences I had.
You’re hands on, like digging and findings stuff.
Grace Clark
But we get an opportunity to use all of the
equipment, especially when you’re not on,
man the excavation and you’re doing everything
else, it just gives you, because it’s all
rota'd it just gives you chance to do a little
bit of everything.
Richard Smith
You’ve got your field experience before you even graduated.
Grace Clark
Yeah it’s brilliant, I mean it’s the best
way to get experience because obviously it’s
not just the first years, you’ve got second
years, third years and master’s students
so if you want any help on anything, there’s
always someone dotted around to help.
Iwan Witts
Whilst I sort of focus on the forensic side
or archaeology, so modern burials, mass graves,
human rights atrocities, the principles of
archaeology are exactly the same relating
to sort of Iron Age archaeology through to
modern day, sort of criminal investigations.
Hazel Fransch
The course is just amazing I just loved, when
I looked at the modules, I just loved the
look of all of them.
Angela Gourlas
The lecturers are great and they make it really
easy for you to learn, especially for the archaeology.
Richard Smith
You get a lot of, a lot more kind of history
than some of the other universities, whereas
BU will actually try to teach you how to,
how to do archaeology in the field, how to work on a site.
Dr Miles Russell
This particular site is important at a local
level, at a national and an international
level because this level of preservation is
extremely rare, so all these students and
staff working here are not just working on
a site that’s extremely important but it’s
adding so much to our understanding of the
past.
