CIfA 2021 A Guide for Clients

PROFESSIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY | A GUIDE FOR CLIENTS 2021 31 CASE STUDIES | INNOVATIONS: NEW WAYS TO DELIVER SOCIAL VALUE THROUGH ARCHAEOLOGY PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT The excavation finished in February 2019 and site conditions were very poor. Warboys Archaeology Group was consulted by OA East about whether a site-based open day should be held during the winter months. Together with the clients, all agreed to postpone a public site presentation event to the summer. A free drop-in exhibition was held at Warboys Methodist Church for local residents to meet the archaeologists involved and see a selection of the finds in July 2019, coinciding with the Festival of Archaeology. Warboys Archaeology Group was consulted about where and when to host the event and was on hand to help during the day, and members of the church congregation put on refreshments. A school student, as part of their work experience placement with OA East, was involved in helping to put together information and photos for the display boards, selecting finds for display and helping to prepare the object labels. Over 140 residents dropped by to meet the team and see the finds. All of the visitors who completed feedback forms rated the event as ‘Excellent’ for interest, information and enjoyment and here are a selection of comments: ‘Fantastic. Friendly staff, wonderful.’ ‘Needed a bit longer. Experts on hand were most informative. Amazed at range of items and also have been told of quantity found. All exciting.’ ‘Excellent presentation. Would like more.’ OA East returned to the village in the autumn to give a talk to the Warboys Local History Society, open to the whole community, and also gave a talk and display at the Cambridge Antiquarian Society’s annual conference on local archaeological discoveries in November 2019, attended by over 100 people. PUBLICITY AND PRESS RELATIONS An initial press release about the ongoing archaeological investigations came out in November 2018, and another was released about the site’s findings in July 2019, coinciding with the public presentation event. The story was covered online by local news outlets including BBC Cambridgeshire, the Cambridge News , The Hunts Post and Peterborough Today , and by the national newspaper The Times . OA East’s archaeologists gave an interview with BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. An article was subsequently published in the popular archaeology magazine British Archaeology in March/April 2020. Clemency Cooper, Oxford Archaeology An article about the site published in British Archaeology magazine (March/April 2020) ©British Archaeology ©Oxford Archaeology An initial press release about the excavations (November 2018, screenshot) © The Hunts Post