CraftWell

Aims and Objectives

We aim to use the YESI Fellows scheme to find out more about how linking students to outdoor archaeology-based activities might benefit students’ health and wellbeing. Students will have the opportunity to attend one of two workshops (bead making or pottery making). Bead making workshops will involve recreating stone beads using the materials and techniques that archaeologists think people used 11,000 years ago. Those who attend the pottery workshop will make pots based on Anglo-Saxon types used during the 5-6th Century CE.

We are interested in students’ experience of these activities and how they may benefit participants. We aim to do this by asking participants to complete two questionnaires. The first questionnaire will be completed before the participant takes part in the workshop and the second questionnaire will be completed after the workshop. The questionnaires will obtain information on various domains, including mental health and wellbeing, social connectedness, inclusion and isolation, and engagement with the outdoors. A select number of participants will also be invited to take part in a follow-up interview to explore their perceptions about their experience of the activity, potential health and wellbeing benefits, and the role of social learning about heritage craft.

This information will help to increase awareness of the benefits of outdoor archaeology-based projects and potentially encourage more investment in similar schemes in the future.

Project Outputs

The YESI Fellows funded Craftwell study, explored how outdoor heritage crafting which combined archaeology, creativity, and nature can potentially support mental health and wellbeing.

At the York Experimental Archaeology Research Centre we tested the feasibility and acceptability of delivering immersive workshops to student participants who engaged in Mesolithic bead-making and Anglo-Saxon pottery in a woodland setting. What did we learn?

✳️ High participation and retention rates
✳️ Strong engagement with creative activities in nature
✳️ Positive impact on loneliness, social connectedness, and nature connection

Craftwell shows the potential of integrating heritage-based craft activities into wellbeing interventions as part of community and place-based mental health support. Our next task is to understand if this approach can be scaled up, perhaps within social prescribing initiatives.

Read the full paper here: Craftwell: a feasibility and acceptability study of outdoor heritage crafting for wellbeing and mental health (2025), Frontiers.

Emily Shoesmith, Patricia M Darcy, Stephanie Piper, Piran C L White, Andy Needham, Aimée Little, Gareth Perry, Peter Coventry.

Project Partner