Touch the Past

Dorset Diggers Community Archaeology Group

 presents 

 TOUCH THE PAST 

 a talk by CHRISTOPHER J. TRIPP BA (HONS) MA 

 Stratton Village Hall, Dorchester , DT2 9WG 2pm, 15th November 2025

 Chris Tripp founded Dorset Diggers in 2012 . He has helped local people discover their heritage through hands on experience of archaeology at locations in Dorset: Nether Compton, Maiden Newton, Stalbridge and the Isle of Purbeck. Chris will talk about the work of Dorset Diggers and lead a handling session of the latest finds from a Deserted Medieval Village in Purbeck. Chris is an award winning archaeologist with decades of experience in Community Archaeology. He graduated from The Institute Of Archaeology (UCL) in the 1980’s, then worked with MOLA ( Museum Of London Archaeology ) where he started working in community archaeology. He won The Culture, Media and Sport Award for The Best Schools Project in 2003 . 

 DDCAG Members : Free Visitors : £5 

 RSVP : media.dorsetdiggers@gmail.com

No If's But Butts

Last year, in our 5m square trench, we had a series of intercutting small ditches running east-west. This year we confirmed that these ditches have butt-ends, or if you are posh, termini. 

The thing is, that in archaeology it is the features that count, with finds being used to date them. Finds are okay in themselves, but it is the context in which they were found that is of interest to archaeologists, as they have been constructed by people when setting up a settlement. 

When these not very exciting looking features are all dug they will allow us to understand how the village was set out several hundred years ago.