The Archaeological Field School

Each year our international team of academics, students, volunteers and support staff combine to discover incredible archaeological finds that help to reveal the history of southern Britain, solving many unanswered questions.

This year our annual fieldtrip will be the PLACE Field School, an archaeological investigation studying the role that Dorset's ancient and historic communities played in networks of production, exchange and communication with the rest of Britain and the continent. The project runs annually as a summer field school alongside the PAST skills training programme. Students from our range of archaeology courses are able to gain hands-on experience at a fascinating site, while anyone with an interest in archaeology, Dorset's history, or the project as a whole is welcome to join us for the excavation.

PLACE and PAST together constitute a new incarnation of what was in previous years known as the Durotriges project, or Big Dig. ​The Big Dig has been running as our summer field school in Winterborne Kingston since 2009 and have unearthed some incredibly significant finds, giving us a greater insight into the late Iron Age and early Roman history in this part of the country. 

Download the extensive article, ‘Finding Duropolis’ (pdf 2.3mb), from Current Archaeology magazine to learn about the project’s full history.

On the Purbeck site this year, we hope to gain insight into how harbourside communities developed over time and how those groups and individuals related to wider maritime connectivity and historical changes. Updates and information can be found on our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts