In the last few months I’ve realised that I have an interest in archaeology. Tracing it back, I came to the conclusion that a single book was responsible for my trips to Avebury and Stonehenge, my need to see the Uffington White Horse, my fascination with standing stones, my interest in flint-knapping and earnest desire to learn how to do it. When I discovered that I could use the eyeTV doodad to record Time Team (which I had watched once or twice in the past, but I’m useless at remembering to watch television) I soon got addicted to that.

I recently visited my parents and Dad fetched this book down from the loft and I confess to getting all sniffly at being reunited with it.

So here began my fascination with the past. I’m a bit unsure whether my main interest is archaeology or anthropology, but it’s possibly where the two intersect that’s of most interest to me. I’m particularly fascinated by the prehistoric, and the challenges to understand the motivations and needs that caused the great monuments to be created.

I therefore dragged the husband off to Peterborough to see Flag Fen, which seems to have a shiny new website since I last looked. A great improvement. I confess that the previous incarnation made my eyes bleed.

I deliberately timed our visit to coincide with the event to mark the end of National Archaeology Week, in order to take advantage of the additional activities, but it would have been an amazing visit even without these.

Anyway, I finally got to try my hand at flint-knapping, with the excellent Will Lord of Beyond2000bc.co.uk as an instructor. Needless to say, I was completely hopeless, but I think it takes more than an hour before you get to learn how the flint will fracture and where the right places are to strike. But I had tremendous fun and now need to procure more flint for experimentation with. Luckily, Berkshire is made of the stuff.

Flag Fen itself is amazing, and we were blessed with a beautiful day with infrequent rain showers, that made the visit an absolute joy. The joy was tempered with sadness though, when we were told how fast the archaeology is vanishing due to the drainage of the fens for agriculture.

Photos from our visit are in my Flag Fen Flickr set

I’ve joined Archaeology in Marlow and am starting a short course in Landscape Archaeology in October.