Big Heritage, an award winning educational social enterprise, visited the school on Thursday 30th January to deliver a Roman Medicine Workshop to year 10 GCSE History students.

The workshop began with an introductory exercise in which students had to decide whether a series of statements about health and medicine applied to Roman or modern times or both and they found some surprising answers.

Dean, the presenter, explained how archaeological finds, including bones, provide evidence of the lifestyle, health and medical practices of the Romans.

There was plenty of opportunity for the students to handle artefacts and take part in some practical demonstrations. Students were able to see and try on replicas of Roman costumes. This included chainmail armour and the students saw how it provided protection from sword strikes.

The workshop was a multi sensory experience with some of the Roman aromas (including that of rotting flesh) a little too strong for the students' tastes.

Roman hygiene practices really came to life with a practical demonstration of using the 'Roman Toilet' by Joe in year 10.

A highlight of the workshop was watching the Roman surgical procedure of trepanning being performed on another year 10 student. This involves cutting out sections of the skull to relieve pressure in the brain. [NB No year 10 students were harmed during the workshop!]

The interesting subject matter and charismatic and highly knowledgeable presenter made the workshop very memorable and it is sure to help the students with this part of their GCSE history.

Photographs of the workshop can be seen below. Please click on an image to enlarge it.

Mr L Mackin

Teacher of History