The second instalment in the student accounts of their experimental archaeology adventures in Riddy Wood;
Alex explains what they all got up to for two days;
Alex and lecturer Dr Peter Groom select flint for arrow making, Dr Groom has contributed to this blog in the past with an excellent post on experimental Archaeology. |
On
the first night we had a quick first look around the wood but seeing as we
arrived late, we had to set up our camp of tarps and a couple of tents. Some
slept in hammocks but two of us slept on the woodland floor in sleeping rolls.
As
it went dark on the first night we made our way to Geoff's fire to spend the
evening cooking our dinner and chatting, it wasn't the best dinner during our
trip though.
I
woke up too early on the first morning so I warmed myself up by sawing some
logs, a fire warms you three times. Pete showed me his camp and I was a little
bit jealous that I didn't know how to read the woods to find a better spot. He
had set up his tent next to a track which lead to him getting close to a deer.
We
spent the first day in and around Riddy Wood foraging for materials to make
arrows and beads for a primitive skills exercise. We found everything we
needed, apart from deer legs needed for our fletching, and pine sap for glue to
fix our arrowheads. I could have done better on the procurement side of things
but all of the materials were there. We found flint across a freshly ploughed
farmer's field, hazel in the woodland and nearly enough feathers for everyone
(we ended up borrowing a pigeon wing from Geoff). After we sat around a slow
burning fire, putting our arrows together and firing the clay we had found in a
field to make beads, we started foraging for food to add to the food we'd
brought. Crab Apples, Haw Berries and black berries went into a make shift
fruit leather, we also made crisps from nettles found about 30 foot away from
our fire. We sat around eating for hours, which is where it becomes apparent
that there is a difference between survival and bushcraft. We were pretty much
having a feast, especially when Geoff brought us a Muntjac leg to cook on the
fire, and later on, during a hornet gunship attack, we cooked a rabbit.
On
the final morning it didn't take long to pack up camp and to check for any
litter we'd left behind before having breakfast, eggs bacon and beans. Then we
were off to Flag Fen. It's easy to see how people would have lived around the
area in the past, especially with a trip to one of the best Iron and Bronze age
sites in the country.
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