Skip to main content

Volunteers from Archaeology in purple shirts talking to children and parents about different human and animal skulls. In the foreground is a full-size plastic teaching skeleton.

Between the 31st October and 2nd November 2023, Durham University’s Archaeology staff and students provided a series of exciting hands-on activities at the Science and Engagement team’s annual celebration of science on Palace Green.

Over the course of the three-day celebration, over 4,700 people visited the Celebrate Science marquee to engage with exhibits created and presented by over 200 staff and student volunteers from University departments and associates from local schools and industry.

A plastic teaching skeleton is in the foreground with velcro patches ready for labels to be stuck on. In the background are some parents, children and volunteers talking about different human and animal skulls.Gavin Duthie Photography

Staff and students from the Archaeology Department provided insights into what it is like to be an archaeologist and how the remains that people leave behind can help us to understand the past. Visitors were invited to identify different types of animal skulls, label the bones of a life-sized model of a human skeleton, discover what archaeologists can learn about past people, their health, lifestyle and diet and the opportunity to uncover artefacts in a table-top excavation.

A volunteer in a purple shirt shows a model of a tooth to a child and parent. In the foreground is a plastic cast of a human skull. A vignette is applied to the image.Gavin Duthie Photography

A big thank you to the Science Engagement team for organising Celebrate Science, to student and staff volunteers from the Department of Archaeology who did a fantastic job of sharing their knowledge and expertise to visitors and to members of the public who visited our exhibit with all of their thought-provoking questions about the past!

Group photo of four smiling Archaeology volunteers in purple shirts, standing behind a table with animal and human skull models on display. Behind them are pull-up banners advertising the Department of Archaeology.Gavin Duthie Photography

Find out more:

Our Department of Archaeology is a leading centre for the study of archaeology and is ranked 10th in the world (QS World University Rankings by subject 2023). We are an inclusive, vibrant and international community. Our students develop knowledge and gain essential and transferable skills through research-led teaching and lab-based training.