The planned programme of community test pit excavation as part of the CARE project was severely disrupted in 2020 by the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. No test pit excavations were carried out at all in the Netherlands and UK, but in the Czech Republic and Poland some further test pit excavations were possible either before the pandemic struck in spring 2020, or in the summer during lulls when social restrictions were briefly relaxed. By the end of 2020 the total number of test pits excavated across the whole project had risen to 80, and the number of local residents involved had risen to around 350, across ten rural communities.
In the Czech Republic a total of 17 test pits have now been excavated by c. 20 local people in Myslinka (district of Pilsen North), adding to the number carried out in 2019.
In addition, 12 test-pits were excavated in Předhradí in Eastern Bohemia (district of Chrudim) and 19 in Vanovice (district of Blansko in Moravia).
In Poland the pandemic prevented any further test pit excavation in Chycina, but it 13 pits were excavated in Sławsko (central Pomerania) by c. 70 local residents.
It is good that even in such a difficult year, three new communities have been able to get involved in the CARE project.