The Time Travelling Treasure Hunters.

We are an expert team of archaeologists and historians, who have been tasked with uncovering the secrets of the past at Pentreath beach, in Cornwall. Alongside this, we endeavour to promote awareness of the importance of preserving seaside environments. 

An old cloth has appeared on the coastline…

The residents of Pentreath cannot believe the discovery that has been made on Pentreath beach, Cornwall. 
An old, tattered cloth has been washed upon the shore. Signs have been left telling the public to stay away until authorised personal arrive. What on earth could this be?

Creating the coastline. 

We decided to leave the site and come back the following day, however, we were worried we might forget where the cloth was. We thought about creating a map, but we wanted something that would show us the different features of a beach. Together we made a 3D model of Pentreath beach. We made sure to include the sea, sand and cliffs. We then focussed that the cloth was found on the coastline, where the sea meets the sand. We used an X to mark exactly where the cloth was found.

The newspaper.

We noticed a newspaper article, back at our HQ. As we began reading, we saw an image of the crowds at Pentreath, however there were no words or captions explaining what had happened. We decided to write about and publish the articles ourselves, as we were key witnesses of the events! 

Help wanted!

Further on in the paper, we noticed a “help wanted” advert. It said…

”Seeking a young, enthusiastic team to assist with an investigation on Pentreath Beach. Meet at the coastline in first light. Ask for Heather.”

We had a big discussion. Was this safe for us? Did we want to take a risk? What if it was dangerous? After a lot of debate, we decided we could go and meet with “Heather” and see what she had to say…

Laptops! 

We wanted Heather to take us seriously. We made sure we had any equipment we may need to begin our work.
 

We stepped out of the story and created laptops. First we used our maths knowledge of fractions to fold a black piece of paper into 2 equal half’s. Used our computing knowledge to identify different keys on the keyboard, colouring the letters of our name. Finally, we drew our own profile pictures. We were ready to meet Heather (after checking our emails of course!). 

Where is Heather? 
 

We used drama to walk down to the coastline, which we represented using different fabrics found in the classroom. When we arrived, rather than a person, we noticed a few objects, scattered along the coast. 
 

We carefully explored these, wondering who they could possibly belong to. What type of person were they? What did they use these items for? What job did they do? Could they belong to Heather? 
 

One of the team members found an envelope reading “The New Team”. We decided we should open it, as that’s why we were here! 
The letter explained that Heather was working further down the beach, but wanted us to become her team of Historical Archeologists! 
This was exciting. Heather was a member of the Royal Historical Society, the people who had left the signs on the cloth! Joining her team would make us one step closer to finding out what it was. 
We agreed that we would become the new team and pieced together the logo she had sent in her letter. 
We were officially the Time Travelling Treasure Hunters!

We are eagerly awaiting our first email from Heather. 

The Red Cross. 

An email from Heather stated we needed to explore and investigate some evidence left on the cloth… 

After discovering a sign on the cloth explaining the tools we needed to continue our investigation, we decided to step out of the story and create our own cameras, shovels, brushes, evidence bags and tape measures. 

We noticed there was an evidence marker next to a pile of sand. We began carefully brushing, scooping, measuring and collecting until we uncovered a Red Cross in the middle of the cloth. What on earth could this be?

Heathers response. 
 

We immediately took photographs of the cross to send to Heather. Whilst awaiting her reply, we noticed something important. The Red Cross matched the sail of a ship on our team badge….

Heather responded stating that the photos match pictures from the national archive, and it was likely that this cloth belonged to a ship from 1588, possibly Spanish or English. She wanted us to begin researching immediately…

The lighthouse.

We noticed a tall structure, in the distance, on Pentreath beach. We hadn’t noticed this before. We decided to use drama to walk towards it. Upon arrival, we were met with Heather. She was a busy lady, but had time to explain her lighthouse to us. 
 

It was her home, and had been in her family for generations. But there was a problem. The salt in the sea had worn down the pain, it no longer stood tall and proud. In the past, light houses had kept sailors and ships safe, guiding them across the sea. She explained that in 1588, the families light house was as important as ever. We decided to help her by restoring her home back to its former glory. 
 

We worked together, painting on the iconic stripes, fixing the windows, sorting a new light. She was so pleased with our work. 
 

Then, she told us… it wasn’t always the ships in danger. Sometimes, especially in 1588, the ships WERE the danger. 

The Rock Pools Ecosystem. 
 

We met Heather on the beach, near the cloth. We watched as she was peering into some water. She explained to us these small pools were called rock pools and they were highly important on the beach. She was worried that our investigations would interfere with the ecosystem and cause problems for the creatures. We assured her we would take time to learn and ensure we protected the rock pools whilst we learnt. Heather gave us some images to piece together of the types of creatures and plans that we would find in a rock pool. We learnt that these were limpets, crabs, butterfish, starfish, anemones and seaweed.  To learn more, we peered into the rock pool, but noticed, none of the creatures were there!  
 

We paused the story and created all the creatures and plants to add to the rock pool ecosystem. We used plasticine and recycled plastic materials to ensure the creatures were water proof, and then added water to make it authentic. 
 

Back in the story, we observed the rock pool and drew and labelled our own images of the ecosystem to send to Heather so she knew we were serious…

Litter on the beach. A message from the past. 
 

The next day, we met with Heather. She was in a flustered state. We asked what was wrong and she pointed to all the rubbish and litter that had appeared on the beach overnight. 
She had no idea where it could have come from. The team brainstormed that it could have washed up or people may have left it behind after a day out. Heather was not happy. The beach was important to her and us. We were eager to start cleaning when we suddenly heard Heather yell STOP!!

A large green bottle was hidden amongst the rubbish. She carefully picked it up, and we noticed something inside. She asked us to take it back to our office and remove whatever was inside. 
 

We peered inside, a map? A letter? A message? What could it be! We used tweezers to take the items out and carefully revealed them. They were photos! Photos of busy beaches, children playing, people swimming and picnics.. 

The last photograph had a note in scruffy handwriting…

“I love Pentreath Beach. It is so clean and fresh. We paddle in the rockpools” Glenn, age 7, 1975.

We decided that these photographs were from 51 years ago. We felt sad. The little boy Glenn described Pentreath as clean and fresh… not anymore. We used drama to speak how Glenn would feel if he could see the beach now. His memories would be spoilt. 
 

We decided this wasn’t good enough and we needed a plan to stop littering. We named this the Pentreath Protection Plan and together brainstormed many ideas. More bins, cameras, banning food. We drew these and placed them on our plan.