Fay determined to sort out what is happening in Sir Ian Richmond’s trench
Well, our skin is getting lovely and soft due to the damp clay soil we are covering ourselves with at the moment. Not a clean knee in the house! Thankfully we did get chance to excavate deeper and find some lovely things……
Alex came back for more and was very glad she did, as she removed the broken up opus signinum floor she found two coins! One Victorian half penny and not very far away a 4th century Roman coin. The opus signinum was very worn in places and I am sure the Victorian coin was in one of these ware patches, hence it was from the same level as the Roman coin and also seemed to be under the roman floor!
A very happy Alex Roman coin in hand
A close up of Alex’s Roman coin
Martin had chance to excavate in trench B and was soon pulling out large chunks of painted plaster and even mosaic! all mixed in with rubble filling the area around what could be pilae. We had to get the big plastic boxes out to put it in!
Martin in trench B with Alex in trench C behind him
Martins mosaic
Harry carried on taking away the fill of the probable early plunge pool/water feature and like Martin found a lot of painted plaster. Sue and Jan spent time cleaning some of the finds from day 9 on day 10, so tune in tomorrow for some more exciting finds and the painted plaster revealed in all its glory and a very interesting piece of mosaic 🙂
A large fragment of painted plaster leaning upside down against the wall of the probable plunge pool
Archaeology National Trust SW 