Cattewater Wreck: Re-interpretation and the Dog Puppet Project

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Citizen Science in Maritime Archaeology: The Power of Public Engagement for Heritage Monitoring and Protection" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The Cattewater Protected Wreck is believed to be the remains of an unidentified armed wooden Tudor merchant vessel. The excavation archive has been used to research the site, allowing new interpretations to be made.

It can be difficult to generate community interest in a site and for people to feel a personal connection with a wreck.

A community initiative was developed to help bridge the gap between artefacts and the community. Bones of a dog were recovered from the Cattewater Wreck, the only known casualty. This included puppetry workshops and a competition for local school children to give a name to the dog, and to create a piece of art. Hopefully, the children would create a personal connection and become an ‘owner’ of the story, leading them to having a greater interest in their local heritage and become future ‘guardians’ of heritage sites, helping to secure them for the future.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020   •
• Citizen Science in Maritime Archaeology: The Power of Public Engagement for Heritage Monitoring and Protection

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 801