In October 2016, the Society was involved in the Big Biology Day at Staffordshire University (UK). Activities delivered on the day focused centred around the biological development of children with hands on activities for all the family, including bone identification tasks, quizzes, and demonstrations (all using resin casts). Thank you to Claire Hodson (Durham University) and Dr David Errickson (Teesside University) for your help on the day.
On Saturday 28th February 2017 the Society ran a joint event with Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA) to mark the closure of the Museum’s Heritage Lottery Funded “Hide and Seek: Looking for Children in the Past” exhibition.
The day involved tours of the exhibition by one of the curators (Dr Jody Joy) and a family day led by the education and outreach team (Sarah-Jane Harknett, Matt Buckley, and Bob Bourn). Dr Sally Crawford (University of Oxford and President of the Society) delivered a key note talk titled “New kids on the block: the archaeology of childhood comes of age”, which attracted around 50 visitors from an array of professional backgrounds. Sally explored the development of the archaeology of childhood and the importance of including children in our interpretation of archaeological sites and objects.
The event closed with a wine reception which allowed visitors to discuss all aspects of childhood in the past and view the exhibition before its closure. This has been a ground breaking exhibition and has helped to publicize the value of acknowledging children in the interpretation of archaeological remains and historical documents. Many thanks to Jody Joy, Imogen Gunn, Eleanor Wilkinson, Sarah-Jane Harknett, Lorena Bushell, and the rest of the MAA team for all your hard work.
Further details about the “Hide and Seek” exhibition can be found at the following website: http://www.hideandseekexhibition.org.uk/
For more information about the Society for the Study of Childhood in the Past, please visit our website: https://sscip.wordpress.com/
Dr Kirsty Squires (Kirsty.Squires@staffs.ac.uk)