Anglo-Saxon CSI: Sittingbourne
Community Science Investigation project on the finds from the Meads
Anglo-Saxon CSI: Sittingbourne is an investigative conservation lab working on finds from an Anglo-Saxon cemetery found at the Meads, Sittingbourne. It is a unique community-led, public heritage conservation project. It allows public access to the conservation techniques involved in creating objects from an archaeological dig. The project has been a local initiative involving locally-based conservator, Dana Goodburn-Brown, Canterbury Archaeological Trust and Sittingbourne Heritage Museum, backed by Kent County Council.
Following excavation by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust at the Meads between May and December 2008 (see KAS Newsletter no.79, Winter 2008/09), the cleaning and conservation of the large quantity of finds from the site presented a major challenge. Many of these were of metal, predominantly iron but also including finds of copper alloy, silver and gold. Many objects were heavily corroded or had been lifted in blocks of soil. Organic products such as wood and textiles were likely to have been preserved by mineralisation where they were in contact with the metal finds and the analytical potential of the objects, if properly cleaned and conserved, was very high. However, quotes to get the finds dealt with in a conservation lab were in the area of £200,000. Given that the site had been an unexpected discovery, the financial pressure on the project was (and remains) great. Dana Goodburn-Brown then suggested an innovative approach involving the creation of a laboratory for the project in Sittingbourne itself, employing local people as volunteers under professional guidance to carry out much of the work. This suggestion has evolved into Anglo-Saxon CSI: Sittingbourne.
innovative response to the problem; set up a conservation facility in the heart of the town and train and supervise local volunteers to carry out the conservation of the artefacts. CSI: Sittingbourne was born.
After much preparation and a long search for suitable premises, the project finally opened in September 2009 in a vacant unit within the Forum shopping centre in Sittingbourne, with an associated exhibition in an opposite unit providing background on the site and excavation. Since opening more than 7700 people have visited. The shop units were generously provided at no cost by Tesco’s, the owners of the Forum. Funding was provided by Kent County Council Heritage Conservation along with one of the developers, Marstons Inns and Taverns. The project would not have been possible without the help of other businesses and individuals, both local and national, and without donations of equipment from museums and collections. In particular, it has been reliant on the hard work and dedication of over 50 local volunteers, both to carry out the conservation work and to keep the exhibition open. Overall, the project has been a superb example of what can be achieved when a community works together for a common cause, in this case the preservation of a spectacular range of artefacts so that future generations can study and enjoy them.
CSI: Sittingbourne aims to not only conserve the artefacts, but to also involve the local community and raise interest in Sittingbourne's important and often forgotten history. The discovery of this site and the subsequent CSI: project is an exciting and valuable commodity for Sittingbourne and Swale as a whole and will hopefully attract more visitors to the area.
The project also aims to promote the conservation profession, which has not hitherto enjoyed a reputation as the most accessible part of the heritage sector! This has all changed with CSI: Sittingbourne. The fact that the project is so public ensures that people know what conservators do and how important the profession is to our understanding of the past. Hopefully this project will be the first of many that bring the hidden science of archaeological conservation firmly into the public consciousness.
Disc brooch after conservation
CSI volunteers
Found in a male grave with weapons, this mystery object has not yet been identified
Inset: Gilded copper buckle after conservation