Unearthing Roman Britain, Northumberland, England

This extraordinary permanent large-scale excavation site is in a small residential area close to the North Sea and the River Tyne. South Shields Roman Fort lies within the UNESCO Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site and is the site of a civilian and Roman military settlement. For more than a decade, Earthwatch teams have helped map more than 1,000 square meters of pre-Roman and Roman settlement here, excavating armour, jewellery, ceramics and game pieces.

Working in small groups, you will rotate among many tasks, including stratigraphic excavation using a trowel or possibly even more robust digging equipment, site surveying, recording site data and cleaning, sampling and processing finds. When you're not digging into the social changes of the Roman era and other historical ages, your free time can be spent enjoying local Geordie culture in South Shields, along the most impressive stretches of Hadrian's Wall or in the historic cities of Newcastle, York, Durham, and Edinburgh—all easily reachable from our field site.

Your team will enjoy local guest houses a close to your work site in this pleasant, coastal resort town. The guest houses provide shared bedrooms, hot showers and bathrooms, and easy access to parks, beaches, pubs, and restaurants. At the excavation site, you'll be fortified by your choice of picnic lunches. You’ll also enjoy full English or continental breakfasts and hearty dinners at the guesthouse.

Detailed Itinerary:

Day 1: Rendezvous day for Standard two-week and A Teams. Tour of Arbeia Roman Fort and Museum.

Day 2: Induction, Health and Safety briefing. Introduction to Fieldwork.

Days 3–6: Fieldwork, with some lectures. Optional farewell event for A Team on day 6.

Day 7: A Team volunteers depart in the morning. Organised trip to local museum for the Standard two-week teams.

Day 8: 9 am – 6 pm: Hadrian’s Wall Tour. For all the Standard two-week team volunteers and those on A or B teams who have opted to take the excursion please meet at the entrance to Arbeia Roman Fort Museum on Baring Street. The coach will depart at 9am.

After the tour you will be taken back to the Sea Breeze, Ocean Road accommodations.

B Team volunteers rendezvous.

Day 9: (Day 2 for the B Team)

Two-week teams: continuation of fieldwork.

B Team: Morning tour of Arbeia Roman Fort and Museum, Induction and Health and Safety briefing. Afternoon introduction to Fieldwork.

Days 10–12: Fieldwork, with some lectures.

Day 13: Fieldwork and wrap-up followed by a farewell event in the evening for B Teams and two-week teams.

Day 14: Leave the project in the morning.

Is this trip for you?
Fieldwork will consist of excavation and recording of Roman features within the area of the evaluation trench. A given Earthwatch team, for example, might be employed in the definition, recording, and environmental sampling of a Roman deposit or feature.

The Earthwatch scientists will give the teams a more detailed onsite project briefing when you arrive for the first day of fieldwork, including site orientation and a Health and Safety briefing on Monday morning. Training for specific tasks will be undertaken throughout the duration of each field team when the need arises with hands-on science and special instruction from the scientists.

Situated in a temperate zone, for the most part work will be intricate rather than particularly strenuous. There may be occasions where heavier excavation is required for which volunteers may be taught to use mattocks (similar to pick axes) and there will be shoveling of the excavated soil and rubble, together with the pushing of filled wheelbarrows up ramps and away from the excavation pit. The South Shields project makes no special psychological demands on its participants. If you are joining the excursion out to Hadrian’s Wall there may be a 2–3 mile/3–5 kilometer hike, including some short steep hills.