Wheelbarrows full of mud: Improvising a learning programme on a community archaeology project.

What happens when you are asked to run a learning programme for young people on a community archaeology project, at the very last minute and with minimal resources? This paper is an overview and critical review of the programme that we and some of our students coordinated for a group of local children in the village of Villanueva de Santo Adriano, Asturias, Spain. It describes the planning and delivery of the five-day programme of activities, some of them standard fare for archaeological education and others improvised or designed for this specific site and excavation project. The paper looks at the feedback and aftermath of the project, including a shocking episode of vandalism, and reflects on the lessons and outcomes of the project.

Archaeological education. Community archaeology. Ecomuseum. Public archaeology. Vandalism.