Mid May to mid June update

It's been a heady mix of archaeology on site at Berkeley Castle and work on my sustainability life!

First though, my utter edge of seat excitement that I'll be away later this week at the Hell-Fire Caves with the British Geological Survey - they have kindly offered a team of experts to work with me to 3D laser scan the entire cave system. More updates on that soon.

Onto Berkeley, where I've been training students in how to engage the public with the University's dig around the town. We've had some cracking ideas come up - you might want to try one of our quizzes:

What archaeological site are you?

What kind of archaeologist are you?

Along with videos (my favourite), Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Back on campus, I signed up to the be an academic assignment tutor as part of the Access to Bristol scheme. And it was full steam ahead for developments with sustainability and enterprise education plans.

I even made room for some semblance of a social life and saw the Fun Lovin' Criminals at Grillstock.

IfA Conference Scotland 2014 including adventures

WORKSHOPS!

The Institute for Archaeologist's 2014 national conference at Scotland was a resounding success: well attended, creating lots of useful discussion, and bang on good fun!

Myself and my supervisor ran a 3-hour CPD workshop session on Social Media, tailored for those working in archaeology. I will put all the outputs from this online for anyone to view. If you have any ideas get in touch and I can add them to the resources page here:
https://wikis.bris.ac.uk/display/UoBArch/Social+Media+and+Archaeology+-+resources

IfA CPD workshop - Social Media

And the HEA-funded workshop on Health and Safety midweek was fantastic too - lots of decisions and ideas for work to be undertaken - and, best of all, engaging in useful dialogue across sectors.

Students and professionals in dialogue at Health and Safety session (HEA-funded)

ADVENTURES!

We also went on a few rambling walking adventures around the city, discovering the necropolis and the Russian kinetic theatre.

Pic of the day!

Mexico: Underworld tunnel found under the Temple of the Snake

Teotihuacan, with its huge pyramids of the Sun and the Moon, its palaces, temples, homes, workshops, markets and avenues, is the largest pre-Hispanic city in Mesoamerica. It reached its zenith in the years 300-600 AD.

Researchers found a tunnel under the Temple of the Snake in the pre-Hispanic city of Teotihuacan, about 28 miles northeast of Mexico City.

The tunnel had apparently been sealed off around 1,800 years ago.

Researchers of Mexico's National University made the finding with a radar device. Closer study revealed a "representation of the underworld," in the words of archaeologist Sergio Gomez Chavez, of Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History.

Experts found "a route of symbols, whose conclusion appears to lie in the funeral chambers at the end of the tunnel."

The structure is 15 yards beneath the ground, and it runs eastwards. It is about 130 yards long.

"At the end, there are several chambers which could hold the remains of the rulers of that Mesoamerican civilization. If confirmed, it will be one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the 21st century on a global scale," Gomez Chavez said late Thursday.

SOURCE