Attendee at the 50 Years of Discovery conference (Norfolk County Council)
As an aspiring archeologist it was very exciting for me to immerse myself in the professional atmosphere of this field for the first time. As I was at the beginning of my studies, I was able to use the conference as an experience to gather some ideas for my own academic approaches and to hone my own interests. The section themes of Landscape, Communities and Artefact research are areas I am interested in exploring during my masters degree, and I greatly enjoyed the chance to discuss these ideas with like minded people who are already immersed in their fields. I was positively surprised to find a broad mix of themes, and it was great to see the contributions from the academic, professional and community sectors come together and show how it is possible to create an atmosphere of cooperation when discussing topics such as heritage at the regional level, something exemplified by the fantastic resource that is East Anglian Archaeology. I also very much enjoyed the focus on volunteering and community groups, as involving the public and democratising local history is something I am passionate about and I was pleased to see this philosophy given such a platform.
While all the papers presented were excellent, some stand out highlights for me were the unforgettable Roman villa at Necton, the Breckland LiDAR study and the work of the Sedgeford Research Project. Finally, as someone who has very fond memories of living in Norwich, being able to see the newly restored Norwich Castle was a wonderful experience, especially after hearing about all the meticulous details of the restoration process. As a student early on in my career as an archaeologist, it was an excellent window into the types of meaningful work I hope to be doing in the future and I hope to one day be able to personally contribute to the discussion. I would like to thank the whole team at Norfolk County Council and CIfA for making this very valuable experience possible.
Chris Quinby
MA student - Field Archaeology, University of York