Residents’ paper pyramid a winner in archaeology competition

A PAPER Great Pyramid of Giza created by Bolton care home residents has won second place in a national archaeology competition.

Residents at Lever Edge Care Home, in Great Lever, built their own pyramid after entering the Festival of Archaeology “Rubbish Art” competition, run by the Council for British Archaeology.

Instead of hauling and stacking millions of tons of stone, however, they chose to build their pyramid from old bits of paper and cardboard – in keeping with the theme of the competition.

Photos of the creation were submitted to the Council for British Archaeology before they were announced as the winner of the runner up prize – a £25 Hobbycraft voucher and a certificate.

Alix Isherwood, activities coordinator at Lever Edge Care Home, said: “We are all thrilled to win second place in the Festival of Archaeology Rubbish Art competition.

“The residents are delighted their hard work was recognised by the competition judges. They had a lot of fun building our entry.

“The project sparked up some interesting debates about how pyramids were built without the technology that we have today.

““The voucher will be used to buy supplies for our regular arts and crafts sessions.”

The competition entrants were asked “to get crafting and recreate your favourite archaeological sites and objects out of things you would otherwise throw away.”

The shortlist came down to two options for residents at Lever Edge – either the Great Pyramid of Giza or Stonehenge.

After making their decision, they spent the day researching their subject, using the internet to find photos and videos of the pyramid before they recreated it in miniature.

Residents folded and stuck down paper for the bricks before mounting the finished wonder of the world on a cardboard desert complete with tiny cardboard camels and a backdrop of hieroglyphs.

James Crawley, 84, was one of those who helped build the mini paper pyramid. He said: “The pyramids are fascinating. They will have been so difficult to build back in those days.”

Edna Sutton, 77, said: “The pyramid looks beautiful. We’ve done a good job. I think we should all go to Egypt and see the pyramids. It would be lovely and warm over there.”

Dorothy Armstrong, 87, said: “My favourite part of the sculpture is the little camels that we made. I’m glad we won.”