Archaeology Fair at Dominic College

National Archaeology Week for Tasmania will be launched at Dominic College on Monday 21 May.

Old Scholars of Dominic College, archaeologist Sam Dix (1999) and geophysicist John Stephenson (1998), approached Dominic College to gauge the school’s interest in being involved in an exciting initiative.

Their approach has now grown into a full scale historical enquiry day for Dominic College’s Year 6 and Year 7 students with the opportunity for students to undertake hands on activities mirroring the work of archaeologists and historians exploring the past.

For the first time in Tasmania, a fantastic Virtual Reality reconstruction of colonial Hobart set in 1828 will be available for viewing. This unique work, developed by John Stephenson, utilises the findings of archaeologists, historians and archival records to digitally recreate an interactive and immersive interpretation of life in the early colonial period of Hobart. It will undoubtedly be the centrepiece of the day.

The National Archaeology Week Committee is funding Stephanie Weinert to travel from the Australian National University to Dominic College as a special guest Forensic Archaeologist. Ms Weinart works across Australia and Vietnam studying human remains in the discipline of Osteoarchaeology.

Sam Dix who has worked in archaeology around the world since 2007 is the recipient of the Australian Research Council Laureate Scholarship where he is completing his PhD in archaeology through Griffith University.

Sam has just returned from an excavation in Cornwall where he and a UK team discovered some amazing finds including a Bronze Age cremation urn, bronze age pots, stone tools and evidence of the Romans and an Iron Age round house. Sam’s workshop at Dominic will focus on the archaeology of Aboriginal rock art from the Northern Territory which is his doctoral focus.

Workshop activities for students will span the ancient world including making Viking bread with Cameron Golding to examining artefacts from sites of the Roman Empire.

Recent University of New England University honours graduate, Natalie Hart, will work with two other UNE students using the College’s K-4 sandpit as a training excavation site. This is anticipated to be a great experience of digging and sifting a grid site searching for layers of the past.

Two of the College’s Humanities teachers, Sonia O’Leary and Adam Lapolla will join Head of Faculty, Ben Fulton in delivering workshops looking at period artefacts and interpretation and analysis. Mr Fulton will engage students in exploring Neanderthal Man.

The College’s Principal, Beth Gilligan, and Deputy Principal, Steve Casni, both historians, will also be involved in presenting workshops. Mr Casni will set up a mock dig and Ms Gilligan will use Middle East artefacts, including coins to engage students with learning about the ancient world.

The launch of National Archaeology Week at Dominic College with an Archaeology Fair is expected to both engage students in their studies of history and hopefully recruit the next generation of archaeologists from Dominic College.