Mammoth Dig 2025
Description
A Unique opportunity to experience a live archaeological dig in action.
One of the Hills Quarries Ltd sites at Cerney Wick last year gained national recognition in the previously little known world of Mammoths in David Attenborough's documentary 'Mammoth Graveyard' (see BBC iPlayer)
Oak Tree Field is a nationally significant palaeontological site
featuring a 200,000+ year old buried river channel. It has yielded an
extraordinary number of vertebrate fossils, and deeper layers from
the Jurassic Kellaways Sand Formation (165 million years old)
provide rare, well-preserved specimens.
The Opportunity:
This excavation is a unique collaboration between palaeontology
and archaeology, offering the chance to investigate the evolution
of the Upper Thames Valley during the Pleistocene. The dig aims to
build on earlier discoveries, train students in field and conservation
techniques, and recover scientifically valuable material for
donation to national institutions for research and public display.
Participants will help recover scientifically valuable fossils,
contributing to national research and museum collections.
A further goal is to raise awareness of the site’s significance and show how sand and gravel quarrying in the Cotswold Lakes creates rare opportunities to advance our understanding of geological and palaeontological history for the benefit of both science and the wider public.
There is limited opportunity for two sessions of 2 hour visits, max 12 persons attend 10.00 - 12.00 and max 12 persons attend 14.00 - 16.00, please state which session is preferred.
Full PPE will be required.
Venue
Mammoth Dig 2025, Oak Tree Field, Next to Hills Quarry Products, Spine Road East, Cirencester, GL7 5QH, GL7 5QH