1. Review of The Story of Alderley Edge website
- Author
-
Don Henson
- Subjects
Early Bronze Age ,Aderley Edge ,copper mining ,AELPHER ,Archaeology ,CC1-960 - Abstract
Alderley Edge is an example of an archaeological site that defies easy categorisation or definition. An area of copper mining since the Early Bronze Age, it is the focus for the Alderley Edge Landscape Project. This collaboration between Manchester Museum and The National Trust has been given an extended life by providing heritage and educational resources through the website The story of Alderley Edge. The project behind the website is AELPHER (Alderley Edge Landscape Project: Heritage and Educational Resources). The AELPHER project is led by The Manchester Museum, with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Carnegie UK Trust, Manchester Airport Community Trust Fund, Macclesfield Borough Council, the Duchy of Lancaster Benevolent Fund and the Robert Clutterbuck Charitable Trust. Quite rightly, the original landscape project focused not only on the mines but on the whole landscape of the Edge, including its modern settlement, and this continues to be the focus of the website project. The website (http://www.alderleyedge.man.ac.uk/) is an attempt to draw together a large amount of different kinds of information relating to the Edge: its 'geology, mines, archaeology, plants and wildlife, geography, history, legends and literature'. As the site also says, it will present 'the stories that make up Alderley Edge'. This is a welcome recognition that people do want narratives to help make sense of the world they live in. This goes against the grain for many archaeologists, whose training is in writing reports and analyses rather than the creation of stories.
- Published
- 2006
- Full Text
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