KAS Dig Wins Awards
In the last newsletter, we reported on the final season of excavation at the Minster-in-Thanet site of the Abbey Farm Roman villa complex. Earlier in 2004, it had been decided to enter the Abbey Farm project for one of the annual British Archaeological Awards open to archaeological investigations carried out by amateurs.
For this Pitt Rivers Award, an entry was prepared back in May 2004 and we were pleased to learn, in mid-summer, that we had, at least, won through to the finals. As a result, we were asked to receive a visit from the award judges to the Minster site during the final excavation. As (bad) luck would have it the visit took place on the worst day of the whole two-week season—the judges were greeted by a very muddy field and pouring rain.
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A month or so later, the Society was invited to send a representative to the annual Awards ceremony, to take place in Belfast. The Chairman of the Fieldwork Committee accepted the invitation, not expecting any success in the Awards (but taking the opportunity to visit some of the archaeology of southern Ireland, thanks to the new flight service to Dublin from Manston, which is less than a mile from the Abbey Farm site).
At the awards ceremony, it therefore came as a great surprise when the KAS were announced as the runners-up (out of 18 entries). The judges were apparently impressed by the dedication of the Society to the sponsorship and organisation of the digs, and of the Members who took part (perhaps the pouring rain did us no harm!). The award comprised a large certificate and a splendid hand-made plate, suitably inscribed. These two items were shown to Members at the annual Christmas lunch and will shortly be put on permanent display in the Society library at Maidstone Museum.
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The Award also carried an invitation to apply for a grant from the Robert Kiln Trust. We are hoping that this will allow us to engage an expert to assist in the recording and reporting of some of the beautiful pieces of painted wall plaster discovered during the excavation.
This is a great result for the Society, for the two hundred or so amateurs who have participated over the years and for the dedicated band of professionals who have put so much effort into the training and supervision of the diggers.
Encouraged by this success, but with the Abbey Farm excavation concluded, the Fieldwork Committee are now looking for a suitable site for a future training excavation and would very much welcome suggestions from Members.