Oxcavation - October 2016

After producing events aimed at adults and young adults, we decided to broaden our horizons and create an event for families. We had all engaged with families in some way as part of our volunteering, whether in Explore Oxford, or at one of the Museum’s family days, but we had never designed and delivered something on this scale. Challenge accepted!

The next Museum’s at Night event would fall close to Halloween, and we discussed the possibility of creating something spooky for families. We discussed creating a trail with spooky stories of the city and its history, but were very aware of the need to create something age-appropriate – we didn’t want to frighten children too much! After getting our thinking caps on, we decided that we particularly liked the idea of a trail, and wanted to use an unusual object to tell a wider history of the city. Oxford Archaeology had recently displayed objects found as part of the Westgate dig, and we partnered with them to borrow an object from the dig. What better way to tell the history of Oxford than with an Ox skeleton?

Inspired by the history of the West of the city, and Oxford Archaeology, we set to work on designing a series of activities for our young archaeologist guests , including colouring an image of Oxford’s crest, creating an alchemy-style galaxy bottle and a tissue-paper stained-glass window (–both inspired by the West of the city), object handling and a sand-pit with a digging and cataloguing activity. Each activity was accompanied by a question, and all of the answers combined presented a special clue.

With the special clue in hand, families would be directed to the ‘mad professor’ and the Ox skeleton. The clue would help the professor discover whether the mystery object in his study was a horse skeleton or an ox skeleton, and the wider significance of the object in the city’s history.

After creating our information sheets, testing the craft activities, promoting the event, and decorating the space, we were set to go! As families came in, we donned hi-vis jackets to become archaeologists, helping the young archaeologists and their families to do the activities and complete the trail. We had no idea how many families would arrive over the course of the evening, and whether they would be intrigued by our trail. There were lots of excited little faces during the night – including our own!

Thanks must go to Oxford Archaeology for lending us the Ox skeleton and lots of equipment, and David, Euton and the Museum for helping us to design and deliver our most complicated event yet!