In August and September ASHA hosted two workshops in Melbourne that were a great success!

The workshops were a beginners guide to historic artefact identification, and conservation basics for archaeologists.

Both events were fully booked with 40 attendees, and waiting lists for extra places.

Dr Christine Williamson, Bronwyn Woff and Holly Jones-Amin presented respectively on ceramic artefacts, glass bottle basics and in-field conservation first aid.

We would like to thank Heritage Victoria and their staff for the use of the Artefact Centre and the archaeological collections as well as their assistance in helping with the events.

If you would like to suggest or help organise ASHA events in your region, contact events@asha.org.au

Victoria Unearthed: updated with more data and better usability.

Victoria Unearthed is an easy to use interactive map which brings together environmental and historical information. It has been developed by the Department of Environment, Land Water and Planning (DELWP) and Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) to help users investigate potential and existing contamination of land and groundwater.

The historical business information in Victoria Unearthed includes over half a million historical business records dating back to the 1890s, digitised for the first time as part of this project. These come from Sands and McDougall directories (Victoria’s original 'phone books') and can provide clues on where past business activity may have resulted in legacy contamination. The information included in Victoria Unearthed is derived from directories published around every 10 years between 1896 and 1974 and involves only information listed in the trades and business directories – not the residential sections.

The environmental information in Victoria Unearthed includes several EPA datasets: sites with EPA licences, sites on EPA’s Priority Sites Register (locations with known environmental issues), groundwater restrictions, planning overlays of potential or identified contamination (environmental audit overlays), and the location of past and present landfills.

For specialist users, all this data is also being made available in spatial formats through DataVic or Spatial Datamart.

You can find out more about Victoria Unearthed at www.environment.vic.gov.au/victoria-unearthed and access the map via mapshare.vic.gov.au/victoriaunearthed

ASHA's Inaugural Trivia Night - May 2019

The team at ASHA HQ decided to try something a little different for National Archaeology Week this year, by testing our member's knowledge of their field.

With assistance from the Big Dig Archaeology Education Centre, ASHA hosted a classic 'Pub Quiz' style trivia night for our Sydney contingent.

Content for the evening was provided by dedicated ASHA member, Jayden van Beek, who worked hard to ensure a variety of questions sure to stump even the most accomplished archaeologists.

Hosted by the talented David Ellis, the trivia night saw a good turn out, with four teams competing for glory.

Questions started with a focus on international archaeology and a Time Team themed "Who Am I?", followed by a devilish Australian Archaeology round which kept the teams on their toes. Finishing up with a general knowledge round, the teams were fairly well matched throughout the competition, although one clear winner stood out.

1st Place was awarded to "Glitch in the Matrix", a team that screamed ahead on bonus points after snapping up both the 'Who Am I?' and 'Where Am I?'questions.

Taking home the coveted wooden spoon prize, a stunning bag of plastic dinosaurs, were youngsters "I'm Smartacus".

Those in attendance unanimously agreed that the event would be held for National Archaeology Week in 2020, with the hope that this would become an annual event, where consultants and academics alike could compete for bragging rights.

If you were unable to attend this year's quiz, we encourage you to keep an eye out for details next year.

If you are interested in getting involved in ASHA in Sydney, please join us for 'Archaeology in the Pub' on Thursday July 25th from 5.30pm, at the Shakespeare Hotel in Surry Hills.

If you would like further details of this, or other ASHA events, please contact events@asha.org.au