Museum celebrates 10 years of award-winning archaeological archive

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The Museum of London’s Archaeological Archive and Research Centre (LAARC) celebrates 10 years with a series of hands-on events at the Museum of London from January 16 to 23 March 2012. Last year, the LAARC won the prestigious Museums and Heritage award ‘Best Educational Initiative’ for the Visitor Inclusion Project. This year it’s back…and it’s bigger and better than ever!

The LAARC opened in 2002 with the aim of making London’s archaeology accessible to all. The archive stores artefacts and records from over 7,500 sites that have been excavated in London. Finds from Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre, the Roman amphitheatre, Nonsuch Palace and Heathrow’s Terminal 5, are just some of the items cared for by the LAARC and its numerous volunteers.

The Visitor Inclusion Project is returning to the Museum of London from January and will be encouraging visitors to discover more about London’s archaeological heritage, whilst helping the LAARC to care for the objects in its collections. Those taking part will meet experts from conservators to osteologists at ‘Archaeology Exposed’ and ‘Hands-On Archaeology’ sessions. This is a rare opportunity to handle real artefacts and learn how to identify, sort and store items from the archive.

Follow the progress of the project via a blog series on the Museum’s blog site