CSI Sittingbourne: An Anglo-Saxon museum with a difference

[Nihil]

I was watching the BBC "Digging for Britain" programme last night and it showed
a section from a fascinating project ongoing in Sittingbourne, Kent (UK):

CSI: Sittingbourne is an almost unique community project in that it is the
one of the first times that public volunteers have been used to conserve
archaeological objects. It is also the first time the public has been
allowed to see the conservation process in such a public domain, making this
truly interesting.
...
The project aims to not only conserve the artefacts, but to also involve the community and raise the interest of their important and often forgotten history. The discovery of this site and the subsequent CSI: project is an exciting and valuable commodity for Sittingbourne and the area of Swale and will hopefully attract more visitors to the area.

The project also aims to promote the conservation profession. The profession
is often hidden and some may say forgotten, but the fact CSI: is so public
ensures that people know what we do and how important the profession is to our
understanding of so many things. Hopefully this project, by being so public,
will signal the start of similar projects in the future as well.

http://anglosaxoncsi.wordpress.com/
http://anglosaxoncsi.wordpress.com/welcome/background/

(If you want to visit the lab and archaeological exhibition, it is located
in The Forum shopping precinct in Sittingbourne, Kent. Admission is free
and it is open from 10am to 5pm Monday to Saturday.)


(Programme info: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tjps6)
(iPlayer link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00tnpy8/Digging_for_Britain_AngloSaxons/)

There was a lot of other good stuff in the programme too including some
lovely close-ups of items from the Staffordshire Hoard and a report from
a dig at Berkeley castle (which I had additional commentary: my son was
there at the time - though not in shot - so he expanded on the necessarily
brief reports from his tutors in the programme!).