Archaeology Weekend Recap
Submitted by Chen Shen, Vice President, World Cultures
Over 40 archaeologists from the ROM and the University of Toronto shared their knowledge of the people of the past and their artifacts during Archaeology Weekend on April 14 to 15, jointly organized by ROM Programs and the Department of World Cultures. There were activities for children, from colouring and digging in the sand, to understanding stratigraphy and petrographic analysis! There were objects to see and many to touch, including one of the oldest artifacts in the ROM’s collection – an Acheulian handaxe.
Most especially there were the archaeologists, with ROM curators, technicians, and conservators, UofT profs (indeed some of the ROM’s curatorial staff are also UofT profs), their graduate and undergraduate students, and experimental archaeologists from the Dark Ages Recreation Company, who were all on hand to talk about their work and their discoveries. There was a massive boost to attendance, and everyone had a great deal of fun! We’re all looking forward to doing it again!
Special thanks to the UofT’s Michael Chazan, Carl Knappett, and Heather Miller; and the non-DWC archaeologists in the ROM, Debra Foran, Dan Rahimi, and Julian Siggers for their participation – and all the UofT students!