Festival-goers to one of Wales’ largest events engaged with the past and explored the future as part of a Cardiff University archaeology event.
From the 18th to 21stAugust 2011 at Wales’ Green Man Festival in Crick Howell, the Back to the Future event was run by staff and students from the University’s School of History, Archaeology and Religion.
The vibrant programme included workshops, installations and performances that blended science and nature with entertainment, art, craft and design and was held in the Festival’s ‘Einstein’s Garden’ area.
Working with artist Paul Evans, Guerilla Archaeologists encouraged participants to use their imagination to travel back in time to discover past animals, drowned worlds and ancient fashion. They handled archaeological artefacts, learnt about the archaeology of the Green Man festival site and Wales, and pegged significant events onto the ‘washing line of time’ – as well as creating future fashion, accessories and models. Finally, the festival-going public were asked to create and design what future animals will look like, with the help of the artist.
Speaking about the project, Dr Jacqui Mulville, senior lecturer in Bioarchaeology in the School said: ‘Talking to people at festivals is a great way to ensure a wide coverage and a greater range of audiences for our work. Green Man is the ideal festival as it is located relatively close to Cardiff, in an area near one of our projects at Llangorse Crannog. It also has the Einstein’s Garden area, a haven for original thinking and imaginative ideas. My archaeological research is a fusion of science, art and nature, and in collaboration with students and artists we have designed a variety of events that provide information on the past and provoke thoughts about our futures. By involving our students we can engage directly with a younger festival audience, provide student training and bring archaeology alive.”
Back to the Future was open between 10am and 8pm over the duration of the Festival. The event was supported by Cardiff University, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and National Museum of Wales.
(Source: Cardiff Uni News)
Check out the Future Animals website here: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/hisar/archaeology/futureanimals/
Watch the project on utube:
Watch us at Green Man 1minute 33 onwards:
Visitor Comments
Ray: Great ideas – ‘New primary school teacher will be using Washing Line of Time in teaching’.
Micki (Administrator Hidden House Derbyshire): ‘It’s brilliant, really makes you think about what you know about history – it expands your understanding and focus’.
Jessica, Elle and Howard, Manchester: ‘It’s a bit of fun. And we learned something’
Helen and James: ‘Great interactive event leanrt about animals, good way of doing it. Interesting and fun’.
Gareth: ‘Good fun!’
Mel: ‘Such fun – simple and educational. Enjoyed the Washing Line of Time. It was great, thanks’
Guerilla Archaeology 