Last week I attended the preview of an exhibition for Eastbourne Ancestors; a Heritage Lottery Funded, community based, osteological & archaeological project that I had been the Project Co-ordinator (& osteoarchaeologist) of for the last 18 months, managed by the Eastbourne Heritage Service.
The preview was amazing! It was great to see professional archaeological colleagues rubbing shoulders with the volunteers, interns and local archaeological society members who had enabled the project to happen, (something I’ve always been keen to promote).
I’ll not give too much away as it’s an exhibition that you really need to see for yourself and get hands-on with; you can dress up, compare your height with that of people from the past and have a go at being an osteoarchaeologist! (just a few of the many things going on).
If you have an interest, or would like to learn more about archaeology, history, human remains or Eastbourne, then you should definitely visit. Even if you don’t share these interests, visit the exhibition. There are opportunities to leave feedback in the comments box and visitor book.
The exhibition is located in front of the Redoubt Fortress at Eastbourne’s seafront on Royal Parade, in what used to be The Pavilion Tea Rooms (see map). Entry is free and will run from 1st February until 16th November 2014. Please check the website for opening days and times throughout this period.
Interest in the exhibition has been growing rapidly; local & national newspapers and BBC News have featured the project. (Eastbourne Herald, Daily Mail, the same article also appears in the Mirror online). I also discovered a blog post written by a visitor to the exhibition by Inner Nature. Not to mention all the previous media the project has attracted in the past.
The media focus has created a lot of attention for Beachy Head Lady and rightly so as she is a very interesting individual. The exhibition does include other human remains, which we have learnt a lot about, and covers several periods of archaeology/history too. There are also wonderful objects on display as well.
So, what are you waiting for, go and check out the exhibition!
*I have spotted a few photographs with some bone related errors. Team members assisting with the exhibition had tried to help out with the best of intentions, although with no experience of osteoarchaeology. Unfortunately photos had been taken and used by the press. The display has been corrected by an osteoarchaeologist.*
