Cardiff University project wins distinguished archaeology award
16 December 2025
Cardiff University's Teffont Archaeology Project has won the prestigious Council for British Archaeology (CBA) Learning, Training and Skills award for 2025.
Teffont began as a research project collaborating with the local community in Teffont, Wiltshire, to investigate a previously unknown Roman shrine.
The project has since grown to a major archaeological research effort, discovering and investigating Roman temples, villas, and settlements across southern Wiltshire, and training over 650 people in archaeological skills.
Teffont Archaeology Project Director, Dr David Roberts said, "I’m delighted that the collaborative work of our team and volunteers has been recognised by the CBA."
We’ve genuinely changed lives through helping people learn new skills, built confidence and wellbeing, and enabled people to access archaeology who would otherwise have experienced barriers to entering the sector.
Dr Roberts continued, "Huge thanks especially to the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Salisbury Museum, Cranborne Chase National Landscape, and our other funders and partners".
Dr Denise Wilding, project co-director, emphasised the role of volunteers in delivering the project, "Dr Denise Wilding, project co-director, emphasised the role of volunteers in delivering the project: “the project’s volunteers are the backbone of our efforts, with returning participants building on their training to develop their own skills and research. I’m so thrilled their efforts are being recognised by this award”.
Project associate director Adrian Green, Salisbury Museum said, "We’re pleased to have worked closely with and supported the Teffont project for many years, including hosting their 2024 co-curated exhibition in our Wessex Gallery”.
These projects are just two examples from Cardiff’s substantial portfolio of work in changing lives through archaeology. In 2023 Caerau and Ely Rediscovering (CAER) Heritage Project won the Engagement and Participation category at the awards, and in 2025 Guerilla Archaeology and Teffont were also both nominated in the Engagement and Participation category.
Formerly the British Archaeology Awards, the Archaeological Achievement Awards are coordinated by the Council for British Archaeology (CBA) with the support of a judging panel, celebrating archaeological achievements from across the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Find out more about studying archaeology and conservation through our undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
