If you want to investigate a Dark Age murder in the Skeleton Pit at Canterbury Museum on July 12 or explore “the sense of touch in archaeology” in Chichester on July 20, then log on to www.nationalarchaeologyweek.org.uk. National Archaeology Week (NAW) “is your chance to discover and explore that archaeological heritage of the UK”, says the Council for British Archaeology (CBA), one of two main sponsors of this month’s events. The other is the Young Archaeologists’ Club (YAC), the only UK-wide group for young people of 8 to 16. Tony Robinson from Time Team is the president of NAW, and almost every occasion is either designed for, or open to, children.

The 2008 NAW runs from Saturday, July 12, until Sunday, July 20, and includes events on digs at ancient sites open to the public and some not normally accessible, as well as in museums. In Cornwall there will be a “Lizard Fogou Day”, when visitors will be able to examine a newly discovered underground fogou as well as the well-known Halliggye fogou.

St Nicholas Priory at Exeter has a stencil day designing Tudor wall decorations, and the discoveries at Bristol Castle will be on view and the archaeologists who dug them up will be present.

At Wimborne Minster you can meet the Flintstones and uncover the Stone Age truth behind the cartoon, and at Gloucester Museum visitors are invited to look into “Rubbish: Now and Then”, to see what the Romans threw away and how they coped without plastic.

Somerset is using its libraries and museums for a series of free talks about the county’s archaeology, while the Bishop’s Palace in Wells will be opened for “Diggin’ Around” in the gardens. Julian Richards from Meet the Ancestors will be at the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum, where he will be building a trilithon in a Stonehenge spectacular.

Lewes Castle offers “What Does an Archaeologist Do?” on two days, one for four to eight-year-olds, the other for the eight to twelves, and Silchester Roman town has a range of children’s activities on its open days on July 12 and 26. For adults, the Royal Logistic Corps Museum at Deepcut in Camberley, Surrey, has a one-day conference called “Not Just Rust and Dust: New Directions in Conflict Archaeology”.

The University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology has “Sounds Amazing: the Archaeology of Music, with archaeologists, singers and other musicians” — perhaps to learn what song the sirens sang. Colchester Castle Museum responds with a display of 43 miniature terracotta warriors on loan from Xuzhou, and live Chinese warriors to tell you about life in the Han Dynasty army more than 2,000 years ago.

London, as always, has an enormous range of attractions at museums and elsewhere, of which the most intriguing is “Midden of Mystery” at Benjamin Franklin House in Craven Street by Charing Cross, where you can learn how ordinary objects give clues to the past and how they can be misinterpreted.

In Yorkshire, Knaresborough Castle has the equally enticing “Looking for Archaeology of the Future”.

In the Midlands the battlefield archaeologist Glenn Foard will explain his new work on locating the real site of the Battle of Bosworth, where Richard III offered his kingdom for a horse, at the Battlefield Heritage Centre. At Pershore an 18th-century latrine will be dug, supported by a display about lavatories through the ages.

Cumbria’s museums will have handier objects identified on a series of finds days by Dot Bruns, the county’s finds liaison officer. Information from this goes into the invaluable Portable Antiquities Scheme database which has been transforming knowledge of British archaeology in recent years.

The National Museum of Wales is offering “When the Digging Stops” at three venues, asking how archaeologists use the results of digs and finds made by the public to learn about our past. Rhyl Museum asks: “What is Archaeology?”, and numerous other sites around the Principality will be open for hands-on events. See what’s on near you in mid-July.

National Archaeology Week is for everyone, whether you like your archaeology dirty or cleaned up in the laboratory.

www.nationalarchaeologyweek.org.uk

www.britarch.ac.uk

www.britarch.ac.uk/yac