Primary Festival Sponsor
Right: More than 379 events and activities delivered across the UK by 271 organisers, with an incredible range of opportunities to explore archaeology, including skills days, talks, and guided walks, youth events, and hands on creative activities
CBA
The 2024 Council for British Archaeology’s (CBA) Festival of Archaeology, sponsored by Headland, ran from 13 to 28 July and this year centred around the theme of Archaeology and Community. With 379 events and activities delivered across the UK by 271 organisers, there was an incredible range of opportunities to explore archaeology, including skills days, talks, and guided walks, youth events, and hands on creative activities.
The CBA delivered a range of online and in-person events designed to highlight some incredible venues and projects that have community at the heart of their work.
Launching at the Scottish Crannog Centre in Perthshire enabled us to showcase the museum in its new location on the shores of Loch Tay and drew in visitors from around the world, alongside members of the local community. We also delivered a traditional craft skills day on the techniques used by the community of craftspeople who have come together to create the centre’s Iron Age village.
Our online theme day included the announcement of this year’s Marsh Community Archaeology Awards winners and a Drink and Draw collaborative event with Broken Frontier and Gosh Comics on X.
Our online delivery continued with a series of talks (see details below) and the annual Youth Day, Ask an Archaeologist Day, and A Day in Archaeology events. We continued our in-person delivery with a hands-on youth activity day at English Heritage’s Chester Castle (see Archaeology 8-25, pp62-63, for more). To close the festival, we once again collaborated with the National Trust to deliver a family fun day at Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire. We were joined at the event by a range of local and national groups and organisations who helped us showcase the archaeological community in the region, alongside activities linked to the Elizabethan history of the hall, including music and hands-on textile crafts.
Incredible organisers What makes the Festival of Archaeology so special are the hundreds
British Archaeology|November December 2024|33
