Nov. 24 | Operation Nightingale: Cyprus to Catterick 2014–15 | Phil Abramson and Steve Sherlock 7.30pm at Stockton Central Library TS18 1TU. Guests are welcome for £4 each on the door.

This talk will present the latest updates about a leading-edge initiative to provide training
skills and rehabilitation for people who have been involved in conflict. Members of all three military services have participated in archaeological projects on MOD sites, learning new skills after facing life-changing injuries and challenges After successful projects in the south of England on Salisbury plain with Wessex Archaeology, this presentation concerns a follow-on project in Cyprus during 2014 and one planned for Catterick in 2015. A dig was scheduled to take place at Marne Barracks, involving a commercial organisation and the Highways Agency for the first time. The results from these excavations will tie in to the current programme of work to upgrade the A1 in North Yorkshire.

About the speakers
Phil Abramson is an archaeologist for the Defence Infrastructure Organisation. Steve Sherlock is Clerk of Works for the archaeological programme underway on the A1 motorway scheme in North Yorkshire. As TAS members will be aware, this particular double act is guaranteed to provide an informative and entertaining evening.

About Operation Nightingale

The Defence Archaeology Group and Operation Nightingale was founded in 2012 to utilise both the technical and social aspects of field archaeology in the recovery and skill
development of soldiers injured during the conflict in Afghanistan.
“It is less of a leap of faith to think that archaeology might be a discipline perfect for soldiers.”
There is a close correlation between the skills required by the modern soldier and those of the professional archaeologist. These skills include surveying, geophysics (for ordnance recovery or revealing cultural heritage sites), scrutiny of the ground (for improvised explosive devices or artefacts), site and team management, mapping, navigation and the physical ability to cope with hard manual work in often inclement weather conditions.