ABSTRACT
This chapter is based on a series of research projects and workshops with primary school students in which the children engaged with objects and spaces from both the present and the past in a variety of ways. We wanted to challenge, on a practical level, the ‘top-down’ model of education, along with the ‘top-down’ manner of archaeological interpretation, and so the children were encouraged to define their own priorities of engagement. If archaeology is about human behaviour and relationships, then a top-down model is not only insufficient for widening access, it is insufficient for explaining human relationships themselves. The result for us as archaeologists was a renewed enthusiasm for the value of unexpected interpretations and approaches to explaining the human past. Drawing on our work with the students, we provide a glimpse into their experiences and the ways they chose to engage, express and interpret. The chapter also offers some ideas about how we can truly encourage constructive, multiple interpretations of the past that allow and empower all to participate as active agents in the present.
