The Ancient Technology Centre has a great team of volunteers who support our work and teaching.

Like us, our volunteers enjoy the unique setting of the site and understand the importance of this style of education and public interaction.  Their work directly benefits the many school children that visit us every year and is vital in the organisation and running of our public events.

Our volunteers are a diverse and interesting group of people, some of whom help out during the week, some of whom help out at weekends and some of whom do both!  The range of jobs is as diverse as the people who do them.  Volunteers are free to choose their direction at the centre, some enjoy the carpentry and building side of things, some enjoy the teaching and demonstrations, some excel at giving public tours and some do everything!

Our new History@Work open weekends have been designed to allow the visiting public to see the inner workings of the site and all of its processes.  Our aim is to recruit and maintain more volunteers who are specifically interested in learning traditional skills and working methods.  The weekends will blend a range of seasonal and essential maintenance tasks that seek to improve the site, tools, and costume with our need to accurately record all of those processes to cast light on the details of ancient life.  

Volunteers will work in small teams that seek to perform a task, record it in detail and engage with the visiting public.  All of those processes (including training) will be visible to visitors to improve a general understanding of the experimental archaeology process, the questions it asks and the information it yields.

In simple terms, every tool and process will be researched, made and used on site in real activities.  This of course will take time, but we aim to eventually produce a huge variety of items from tools to buildings to shoes - that allow us to accurately portray the lives of our ancestors in detail.

We are looking for keen people of any age (above 16 years) who would like to learn and take part in a wide range of crafts and skills and who can attend our History@Work days or weekends.  The tasks and your roles within them will vary tremendously and build on your existing skills and knowledge, or allow you develop entirely new areas of interest.  

Our volunteers survive on a heady mix of cake, tea, chat, hard work and dedication - we simply could not do without them.

If you feel that volunteering at the ATC would suit you, why not come and visit us? – we can show you around, you can meet us and see what you think.

Contact us at atc@dorsetcc.gov.uk

You can download our volunteer policy here.