Learning about real archaeology
A good way to enjoy a summer week while learning about “archaeology and creating memories worth keeping”. This is how Sofia Pejoan remembers her stay in the archaeological excavation by the Faculty of Geography and History framed within ArqueUB, the project that allows high school students to take part in an activity on archaeological research in Barcelona, in the Raval district. This summer is the start of a new excavation campaign in the site, located in the current Faculty of Geography and History of the UB, where the remains of Antoni Tarrés workshop -an important potter from the 19th century- are. Apart from the archaeological work carried out by the students of the bachelor degree on Archaeology, this year the activity welcomes pre-university students like it did with Sofia Pejoan, and there will be open tours for the neighbours to show the task done by the archaeologists.
A good way to enjoy a summer week while learning about “archaeology and creating memories worth keeping”. This is how Sofia Pejoan remembers her stay in the archaeological excavation by the Faculty of Geography and History framed within ArqueUB, the project that allows high school students to take part in an activity on archaeological research in Barcelona, in the Raval district. This summer is the start of a new excavation campaign in the site, located in the current Faculty of Geography and History of the UB, where the remains of Antoni Tarrés workshop -an important potter from the 19th century- are. Apart from the archaeological work carried out by the students of the bachelor degree on Archaeology, this year the activity welcomes pre-university students like it did with Sofia Pejoan, and there will be open tours for the neighbours to show the task done by the archaeologists.
After having taken part twice in ArqueUB editions, Sofia focused her professional future on archaeology, and is now a student of this bachelor degree in the Faculty of Geography and History. “I had always known I wanted to study Archaeology after high school”, she says. Taking part in the ArqueUB project helped her to “get an approach on what I would study and see what I would work on as a future archaeologist”. She would recommend ArqueUB, in general, to those youngsters who like archaeology because “itʼs always a fun experience and provides knowledge and memories: you will enjoy a great week”. “It brings you closer to what archaeology really is, which is different than what we see in the movies”, she concludes.
Until July 19, twelve high school students (three per week) will do the same Sofia did in the site. They will participate in excavation tasks tutored by bachelor degree students of Archaeology and will create a digital field journal to be published in the website of ArqueUB. The project is jointly organized by the Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit (UCC+i) and the Section of Prehistory and Archaeology of the Faculty of Geography and History of the UB, supported by the Barcelona City Council. Registrations are done filling this online form.
Apart from these stays for young pre-university students, the site will open its doors for the general audience on Fridays, July 5, 12, and 19. Registration is free and completed via the online form in the website of the project. Guided tours will be carried out by UCC+i, the Culture Institute of Barcelona and Barcelona Libraries.
Also, visitors will see two canvas with texts and illustrations on the archaeological vaue of that site and the activities that are carried out there, as well as photographs of the pieces that were found in the site during previous years.
The site keeps the old workroom of Antoni Tarrés, whose works are seen in many buildings around Barcelona. Although he worked on bricks, vessels, ornaments for facades and ceramics, Tarrésʼs talent was mainly the sculptural decoration in terracotta. His workshop became the first factory to produce such ornamental elements to be added in the cityʼs architecture. The site has other phases previous to Antoni Tarrésʼs workshop, although excavations of other periods have to be done carefully so as to not damage the remains of the potterʼs workroom.
Having such a site in the Faculty of Geography and History offers the students an almost exceptional chance to carry out their practical lessons in the same center where they study, thanks to an agreement between the University and the Barcelona city council, who owns the site. The site in Raval is one of the eleven places where UB students of Archaeology can course their mandatory practical lessons. These sites are located around Catalonia and cover all periods: Prehistory sites of Abric del Xicotó (Alòs de Balaguer) and Can Sadurní (Begues), Iberian sites in Puig Castellar (Santa Coloma de Gramenet) and Burriac (Cabrera de Mar). Roman sites of Camp de les Lloses (Tona) and Torre Llauder (Mataró); medieval sites of Santa Margarida (Martorell), lʼEsquerda (Roda de Ter) and the castle and monastery in lʼAlguaire. Excavations in Born, Barcelona, belong to the modern period, while the site in the Faculty of Geography and History is framed within the contemporary period, like the excavation in the factory La Cloratita (Flix), from the Civil War times.