PalaeoPixels: Future Climate Pioneers

PaleoPixels: Future Climate Pioneers will enable local young people and teenagers, and the wider public, to explore the discoveries behind the exciting new BBC One documentary Attenborough and the Mammoth Graveyard, and what they mean for our climate.

How do climate scientists reconstruct ancient environments? What combination of skills do you need to become a climate scientist? And how do you communicate your learnings with the public?

Our team recently excavated the remains of a ‘Mammoth Graveyard’ at a former gravel quarry near Swindon where two amateur fossil hunters had spotted a Neanderthal hand axe along with several mammoth bones, sparking two seasons of careful excavation and an exciting new BBC One documentary presented by Sir David Attenborough and Prof. Ben Garrod.

This project has been made possible by support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Working with a team of geologists, and climate scientists from five different universities, our excavations revealed that this mammoth graveyard lay buried within the shoreline of an ancient river, which once flowed through the site over 200,000 years ago.

They also revealed that these mammoths had lived and died during a period of dramatic climate change when Britain was still occupied by Neanderthals, but as temperatures began to plummet, the species shrank in size and the Neanderthals were forced to move away.

Evidence collected from the site, including landscape changes, stone tools, and palaeoenvironmental samples containing snail shells, seeds, and insect remains, can give us a snapshot of this ancient habitat. What was the climate like back then? How quickly did it change? And how did mammoths and Neanderthals respond?

PalaeoPixels: Future Climate Pioneers aims to break down some of the traditional barriers to science, and give young people the skills, confidence, and inspiration to become Future Climate Pioneers.

Using a combination of digital skills and detective work, our students will use the evidence to reconstruct an ancient landscape, and create a virtual exhibition to share their discoveries developing practical skills across a huge range of disciplines in the process.

Our students in Swindon

PalaeoPixels will work with a group of young people aged 11-19 attending Churchward School in Swindon, close to where the discoveries were made. Using archaeological data from a local excavation, our students will learn about their surrounding landscape from a Palaeolithic perspective.

They will learn what the climate and environment was like over 200,000 years ago, and use archaeology to find out how climate change impacted the lives of those living off the land.

The project goes far beyond just giving young people an understanding of their local Palaeolithic archaeology. Through hands-on learning with our team, our students will use digital skills to recreate an ancient environment from archaeological evidence, and while also learning more about how climate change can impact their own lives, and sharing this knowledge with a broader audience.

Reconstructing a Palaeolithic landscape

Using Minecraft, the students will recreate the Palaeolithic landscape in which the modern quarry now sits. Based on real world archaeological findings, they will map out the path of the ancient river, reconstruct the flora which dotted the landscape and show how the inhabitants of this area interacted with their surroundings.

Short Films

The students will also learn the basics of creating their own short documentaries about the excavation and climate change. Through a series of workshops, they will learn how to write scripts, shoot and edit their documentaries while also gaining valuable interviewing skills with experts in the fields of climate and archaeology.

Virtual Museum

In addition to recreating the ancient landscape in Minecraft and creating short documentaries, the students will learn how to create 3D models of artefacts found on the dig.

These models, along with their short films and reconstructed landscape will all be tied together in a Virtual Museum, designed by the students.

This museum will highlight the students’ skills and knowledge with a global audience, while also demonstrating the significant findings of the dig and the impact of climate change on the environment from the perspective of today’s youth.

Want to get involved?

As well as working with local young people, PalaeoPixels will also invite the wider public to learn more about the Palaeolithic and the link between archaeology and better understanding climate change.

We will be running a series of events which will engage a broader audience about these timely topics and to demonstrate the importance of studying the past to anticipate the future.

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