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Before AD 43

At the end of the last Ice Age over 10,000 years ago, the Thames was made up of small channels and gravel islands...

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MOLA Archaeologists at an excavation site

Careers

We are a leading archaeology and built heritage company providing services for some of the UK's largest and most exciting infrastructure and development projects. If you’re passionate about archaeology, join us...

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Coasts in Wiki

IAA project type: Partnership grant

Duration of project: September 2023 to March 2024

Partner organisation: Wikimedia Foundation UK

MOLA staff leading IAA grant: Caroline Barrie-Smith

Individual partner: Dr Richard Nevell, Programme Manager and Connected Heritage Project Lead

Project aims

This project is based on a mutual Wiki/MOLA aim to explore ways to enable coastal communities to share their knowledge of coastal change at scale through training younger people (between 16-25) to communicate reliable and robust evidence via high-profile platforms, e.g. Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.

Audiences

  • Young People
  • Coastal Communities
  • Wiki-Users/Researchers

Project plan

This project has three Work Packages (WP) which takes place over a 7-month period.

  • WP1: Stakeholder Mapping and Heritage Content. Months 1-2
    • Explore what kinds of community heritage information can/cannot be used to update Wikipedia pages relating to environmental change and community knowledge.
    • Conduct stakeholder mapping in the 3 geographic areas the 3 workshops are likely to take place in to target potential participants.
    • Align workshop programme with existing CiM and TDP activities that might produce local knowledge.
  • WP2: Workshop Organisation and Delivery. Months 3-5
    • Based on location and facilities available for participants, we will either (a) conduct the workshops online, or (b) in person with no more than 10 individuals per session.
    • Prepare and organise the logistics and content of the workshop with the Wiki team. This will include minor tweaking to existing programmes provided by Wikimedia UK, but also organising location, group, and other logistics.
    • The workshops will be between 3-4 hours long and will be set out in four stages.
  • WP3: Workshop Evaluation and Decision to Incorporate into CiM Delivery. Month 6-7
    • Based on feedback from participants, and internal review from the team we will evaluate whether a future MOLA/Wikimedia partnership can work for (a) the delivery phase of CiM and if so, add the additional costings, work package activity and this case study into the CiM delivery phase application; (b) other existing or future MOLA projects
    • Share the outputs of workshops via MOLA, CITiZAN and TDP social media and websites.
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Conservation

We investigate, record and preserve archaeological material, from excavation through to publication and display...

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Creating wellbeing in local communities through a MOLA-SAfH Collaboration

IAA project type: Networking grant

Duration of project: April - September 2023

Partner organisation: Social Action for Health (SAfH)

MOLA staff leading IAA grant: Dr Kate Faccia

Project aims

  1. Develop a working partnership with SAfH
  2. Create networks with their diverse communities
  3. Learn how MOLA can use its resources to create engaging wellbeing-led programmes for diverse and traditionally underserved communities.

This work will foster future collaboration with SAfH in designing archaeologically-inspired, wellbeing-led interventions in diverse communities.

Audiences

  • The SAfH community - Community members are some of the most negatively impacted by health inequality in the UK. They have been referred to SAfH due to chronic health conditions.
  • SAfH - SAfH are a local health charity serving the Tower Hamlets. We will explore new ways to foster wellbeing outcomes for their communities.
  • MOLA - The project will expand MOLA's impact to new audiences and contribute to delivering and evidencing archaeology's potential to support wellbeing and social value initiatives and outcomes
  • Archaeological sector - If successful, these consultations will contribute to the growing body of work that is exploring the potential for archaeologically-inspired projects to contribute to individual and community wellbeing, particularly in underserved communities.

Project plan

Developer-led archaeology is conducted behind the hoarding of construction sites, and in the processing facilities and offices of commercial companies.  Any public outreach often reaches a particular demographic – older, white, higher educational attainment – whereas developer-led archaeology disproportionately affects lower income and minoritized communities.

Therefore, it is incumbent upon our profession to develop programmes that transform our work into social value, generating positive legacies for communities traditionally underserved by archaeology.

This project begins exploring the impact that archaeologically-inspired engagement can make in diverse communities experiencing multiple indicators of deprivation. Social Action for Health (SAfH) is a health-based charity in Tower Hamlets serving diverse communities experiencing some of the highest levels of health inequality in the UK.

Together we will:

  1. identify three SAfH communities for participation
  2. co-create and co-deliver consultations
  3. lay the groundwork for future archaeologically-inspired and wellbeing-led work with SAfH and their network of communities.
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Breaking ground on the IAA project at Delapré Abbey

Delapré Digs: Archaeology for Wellbeing

IAA project type: Partnership grant

Duration of project: August 2023 to February 2024

Partner organisation: Delapré Abbey Preservation Trust (DAPT)

Individual partner: Eleanor Sier, Head of Engagement and Interpretation

Project aims

In partnership with Delapré Abbey Preservation Trust (DAPT) and Northampton General Practice Alliance (GPA), Delapré Digs: Archaeology for Wellbeing aims to create positive well-being impacts for Northampton’s underserved communities through socially prescribed archaeological activity.

The project seeks to establish a long-term mutually beneficial partnership between MOLA and DAPT to deliver long-term wellbeing impacts for Northampton’s communities and meet local health needs and priorities.

Audiences

  • Approx 12 hyper-local Northampton community members who fit the criteria for social prescribing (i.e. those with low to moderate mental health needs, suffering from loneliness or isolation and/or chronic, long-term health conditions.).
  • MOLA staff
  • Delapré Abbey Preservation Trust
  • Northampton General Practice Alliance
  • West Northamptonshire Council

Project plan

Archaeology and heritage is increasingly being used as an engagement tool to improve wellbeing of a wide range of audiences across the UK including veterans (Waterloo Uncovered, Operation Nightingale), adult citizens (Archaeology on Prescription) and young people (Project Rejuvenate). Research shows that taking part in archaeological activity can have positive psychological impact through fostered connection with others, increased knowledge, improved confidence and being physically active (e.g. Brizi et al 2023, Everill et al 2020).

At MOLA, we are embarking on a new pilot project at Delapré Abbey to improve the wellbeing of the residents of Northampton using archaeology. Delapré Digs: Archaeology for Wellbeing, in partnership with Delapré Abbey Preservation Trust (DAPT) and Northampton General Practice Alliance (GPA), will see up to twelve Northampton residents referred onto a six week programme of archaeological and creative activities. This will include a range of things such as excavation and finds processing as well as pottery making and artefact illustration. Participants will come together one day a week to learn about archaeology, discover the history of Delapré Abbey, get creative and hopefully make new friends - all fuelled by tea and cake of course!

Overall, the project seeks to contribute to the ongoing research within the sector, measuring the wellbeing impacts of engaging in archaeology on the people who take part. MOLA staff will be trained and upskilled in working with vulnerable adults in the hope that Delapré Digs can become a sustained community-led programme delivered by the MOLA Northampton Engagement Team in a long-running partnership with DAPT.

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