Festival of Archaeology set to launch with family fun day at Segedunum

The UK’s biggest annual celebration of archaeology will launch with a free event for families at Wallsend’s Segedunum Roman Fort on July 16.

The two-week Festival of Archaeology (July 16-31) incorporates hundreds of in-person and virtual events around the UK, giving people the opportunity to discover the places and archaeology around them.

This year’s theme, Journeys, will flow through the 2022 Festival and see residents attending a series of events. 

The launch at Segedunum Roman Fort and Museum on July 16 (10am – 5pm) ties in with the Hadrian’s Wall 1900 Festival.

Visitors can look forward to a free family friendly event celebrating the archaeology and heritage of the Wallsend area. There will be a pop-up art exhibition featuring works by local community members, live music performances, a refreshment truck and field tours. Helping visitors to reimagine Roman times, visitors can get up close with archaeological artefacts, handling collections, displays and hands-on activities. A new community banner produced by North Tyneside Arts Studio and the local community will also be revealed at the event.

The event will be opened by archaeologist and Time Team presenter, Rashka Dave, President of the Council for British Archaeology.

Chloe Duckworth, archaeologist, and presenter of The Great British Dig will also be there and will give a lecture in the evening as part of the awards ceremony for the Marsh Community Archaeology Awards which will be livestreamed via the CBA’s YouTube channel.

Elsewhere in the North East, archaeologists from Durham University and The Auckland Project will be showcasing what they have found as part of their work so far in Bishop Auckland, on 18 July.

The Council for British Archaeology (CBA) is expected to engage with over half a million people during the two-week festival and is hoping to beat its 2020 record of 505 events across the UK, and a digital reach of over 70 million.

Neil Redfern, Executive Director of the CBA, said “I’m so excited for the return of the Festival of Archaeology for 2022, with more events and activities than ever before. We hope that this will be our biggest and best yet, and would love as many people as possible to take part in the exciting and innovative events being held across the UK.

"Our theme of “Journeys” encourages people to discover the archaeology that is all around them, discover new journeys and share their own.

"We encourage as many people as possible to get involved, and to discover the events nearest to you, as well as virtual activities and downloadable resources via the Festival website.”

A key message of the Festival is to encourage audiences to discover the archaeology and heritage around them. To explore, learn and unearth stories or archaeology across different sites, buildings, places and people that make their local communities special.

To encourage this, The Council for British Archaeology are proud to be collaborating with the National Trust and partnering with Forestry England, Wessex Archaeology, Bradford Museums, Hadrian’s Wall 1900Festival, North Tyneside Council and European Archaeology Days to deliver events.

The Festival is also generously funded by principle partner Historic England, Cadw and the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars.

Additional sponsorship will be provided by the Royal Archaeological Institute, Antiquity, Towergate Insurance and CIFA.

To discover more about events in their area, residents can visit the Festival page to find events happening near them, explore them all or use the handy map feature.

For queries and questions related to the Festival contactfestival@archaeologyuk.org.

To find out more about archaeology, audiences are encouraged to join the Council for British Archaeology on social media on Friday 22 July using the hashtag #AskAnArchaeologist, and find out what it’s like to spend a day as an archaeologist through A Day In Archaeology on Friday 29 July.