On Monday 20th August P6/7 from Port Ellen went to Dunyvaig castle. It was a really fun adventure and we saw lots of artifacts. The first they showed us was a piece of a cannon ball. They passed around little bones in a bag and there was three other bags, in the next bag was a piece of pottery the pottery had a wavy pattern on it. In the next bag there was very fragile shells so we had to be carefull the shells were clean but they still had a bit of brown round the bottom rim. In the last bag there was musket ball out of a musket gun; the bullet was small and round, a little bit smaller than a normal bullet. The cannon ball was all rusted over and broken in half we got told they wouldnt be a perfect circle it would just have to be the right size to shoot out a cannon. Overall the day was good and it was a good adventure.
Aaron and Jack
On Thursday 23rd March primary 5/6/7 walked to the ruins of Kilbride Chapel in order to survey it as part of the Islay Heritage Schools Project. For this project all the schools on Islay visited the Giant’s Grave earlier in the year and then worked with Reading University to choose a monument close to their school which they would then adopt and survey to find out more about it. Port Ellen’s site was Kilbride chapel and they surveyed the site using geophysics, archaeology photography, scale drawing and by making a documentary.
Rob showed us how to do the geophysics; there was machine and that went into the ground with electricity to see if they could find anything else about the land around the Chapel. The geophysics worked by sending an electrical current through the ground and if there was a higher reading then there was a rock under the ground this is because it takes more energy to get through the rock. If there was a lower reading that means that there would of been water because it didn’t use lots of energy to get through it. To use the geophysics you would stick both spikes into the ground and wait for a beep then move onto the next spot a certain distance away. We were all glad that people from the University Of Reading to come over and help us as they were very interesting and taught us lots. The data we gathered from the geophysics will actually be used in the final report on the site which is very exciting.
We were also doing archaeology photography with Alex. Before you take the picture you have to remember two things. The first thing to remember is you need to put the measuring stick onto where you are taking a picture of so you have a scale to know how big the things in the photo are, and you have to remember to use the right size measuring stick. The other thing to remember is to put a chalkboard with the sites name, where it is, what it is and what direction it is taken from. You also need to put a north arrow pointing to north. You have to fill in a register after taking a picture. You have to write the site name and the description from the chalkboard, what direction it was from and lots more. This is so that people in the future know what it was about. The site name was KIL17 for Kilbride chapel in 2017. We enjoyed taking accurate photos.
We were also did photography and filming and you had to put up a big 5m pole to sit the camera on and you have to make sure that the camera is screwed on properly so it won’t fall off. The archaeologists helped us with all of this. We also made a documentary and it was about what we were doing at Kilbride Chapel and we had to use a radio microphone to record. Showing us how to do things properly is one of the reasons Islay Heritage is so good.
On the 25th of August, Port Ellen Primary along with their teacher Mrs Clark, Mr Gairns, Mrs Logan and Struan’s dad Mr Colthart, went to a fascinating archaeological trip to the Giant’s Grave. We were going there because we really wanted to learn about Islay History. As we got onto the bus, I was filling up with excitement. We were in the bus for quite a while until we got to Nerabus. As we got off the bus, I couldn’t wait to start walking to the Giant’s Grave. Also, Professor Steven Mithin walked with us.
After we had our break, we got up and circled around the Grave. We listened to the archaeologists from Reading University explain about the Giant’s Grave and what they think it used to be six thousand years ago. After they told us about the Grave, we split up and got into partners to work with the archaeologists to help with the Grave. Rebecca and me went to Tom who told us that he worked in the muddiest corner to dig out the peaty mud that could be burying important artifacts. We got a shovel and started to dig the icky sticky mud.
When we were told to move we really enjoyed helping Tom with the mud and digging. When we moved over we went to a lady named Sarah who helped us take pictures of the site with her. We learned that it was a hard job getting the right angles when you take the pictures. We also took stalk photos when we creep up to the others and take pictures of them. Then, with a heavy heart, we went back to the others and sat in the gazebo. We listened to a Dendrochronologist speak about his job as a person who looks at tree rings on the trunk to see how old it is. I thought that was fascinating that you could calculate how old a tree is by looking at the lines.
On Tuesday the 27th of August, p6/7 Port Ellen Primary went on a trip to Rubha Port an t-Seilich. They met professor Steven Mithin, who talked to them about the time of Mesolithic people. They went on this trip as part of their Mesolithic topic in which they are reading the book Wolf brother.