Unearthing History: Community Exhibition Opens at the Roman Army Museum
The Roman Army Museum in Greenhead will open a new exhibition this autumn celebrating local creativity and heritage. “Unearthing History”, running from 3 October 2025 to 5 January 2026, showcases the results of a unique community project that has brought people together through archaeology, pottery, and storytelling.
The exhibition is one of the outcomes of the Magna Project, which has linked local group Zigzag Days, a social support group for adults in the local community to the Roman Army Museum, and residents of the Ipse de Bruggen care facility in the Netherlands. Each group worked with their local museums, and archaeologists from both the Roman fort Nigrum Pullum, near Ipse de Bruggen, and the Vindolanda Trust. Over the past year, participants have taken part in hands-on workshops, cleaning and cataloguing pottery fragments from the Magna site, and even creating their own Roman-style ceramics under the guidance of Potted History.
One Zigzag Days participant summed up the experience as “interesting, educational, enjoyable”, a sentiment shared by many who found new confidence and skills through the project.
Visitors to the exhibition will see pottery sherds excavated at Magna Fort, alongside replica vessels, drawings, and records made by the community team. Together they tell the story of how artefacts are discovered, studied, and brought to life for the public.
The Vindolanda Trust, which runs the museum, says the project highlights how heritage can bring people together: “This is about more than Roman history. It’s about connecting people, building skills, and giving everyone a chance to take part in uncovering the past.”
“Unearthing History” is included in the standard admission ticket to the Roman Army Museum. The site is fully accessible, with free parking and facilities for visitors of all ages.
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About the Magna Project
Magna, a unique Roman fort on Hadrian’s Wall, under the care of the Vindolanda Trust, holds some of the keys to understanding the biggest questions about the people of the Roman frontier. Magna has it all and includes half a milecastle, part of Hadrian’s Wall, the Vallum ditch, a large town, rubbish dumps and pits, cemeteries and the fort itself. It’s the junction point between three Roman roads, the Military Way, the Stanegate and the Maiden Way. The site covers an area larger than Vindolanda and has the same preservation layers of organic remains and it is now under threat from climate change.
The Magna project is a five-year research project which commenced in 2023. It will examine three areas of the site, from north to south, building up a profile of the way the land has been used from ancient to modern times. It combines archaeological investigation with non-intrusive survey, and it builds and improves on the previous geoarchaeological investigation work that has taken place. The legacy of the project will be an informed management plan for Magna which provides the Vindolanda Trust with the knowledge that it requires to help preserve this irreplaceable landscape for years to come.
Zigzag Days, a Haltwhistle Partnership project, was launched in 2017 to support adults not in employment and at risk of suffering from social isolation – filling the gap between youth clubs and older people’s coffee mornings! Many Zigzag members face multiple challenges related to disability, mental health, or physical health. The group meets fortnightly for outings, activities, lunch and chat.
Nigrum Pullum was a Roman Limes fort located in the modern village of Zwammerdam, Holland. Today, The Nigrum Pullum ad Vitam Foundation aims to bring the glorious past of Nigrum Pullum and the original site of the unique six Zwammerdam ships to life, making them attractive to the public and residents of Hooge Burch.