The memoirs of an undergraduate work placement

Hi, I’m Kevin T. Horsley. I have been doing lots of stuff with Teesside Architectural Services for a while now. They are very nice, and I like doing work for them. I’m off now. Love and kisses. Bye.




The excerpt above is from the mind of Kevin Horsley - an undergraduate archaeology student who leaves Tees Archaeology today after an eventful 9 months being fully retrained in reading and writing....he had such a poor grasp of the ways of the world that we decided to `pad out` his description a little bit and we have re-edited his text to the following short article......



As an undergraduate archaeology student, working with a professional archaeology unit for nine months has been an incredibly valuable and rewarding experience. I have been able to take part in every aspect of working in a unit, and not only learn something new or build upon skills learnt at university, but also to thoroughly enjoy doing it, and in such an enjoyable and friendly place!

I could write forever about everything I have been involved in, but its probably best to pick some highlights from the past year. By far the most memorable aspects were the fieldwork, and in particular, the community projects. The Stockton Building Recording project, the Eston Hills Survey and The Heritage of Hart Project from which I was able to produce a full report, allowing me to see a project from conception to positive conclusion. And, of course, Stewart’s Park where I enjoyed working with other volunteers on a two week excavation, digging, surveying, and my personal favourite, planning! Doing commercial fieldwork and projects such as the building recording at Middlehaven, Middlesbrough and excavation at Wade’s Stone, North Yorkshire were also great opportunities to hone my skills.

But, even the office work was fun! I have had the opportunity to start a long-term desk-based survey of all the farms in the Lower Tees Valley, primarily using Tithe, Estate and early OS maps up to the present day. Simply working in the document store, archiving, and the bunker where TA’s finds are stored, was enjoyable as I got to see the full range of projects, post-excavation that Tees Archaeology have accomplished over the last forty years.

If anyone has the chance to work with Tees Archaeology, I would recommend they leap upon the opportunity! You wouldn’t regret it!

Tees Archaeology would like thank Kevin for this tissue of lies above and would also like to thank him for all his help and hard work in the last 9 months. We wish him all the best for the future.

Kevin has now been returned to his locked room and will spend his days dreaming of blue skies and highlighter pens.