….. it is now! – day 12

The Tawny Owl calls as the last shovelful of soil is thrown into the trench, we load up our tools and finds and head home exhausted but happy with the last two weeks excavations.

We have had some wonderful finds and have uncovered lots of new information about the life of the villa and the changes the owners made over time.

Martin found a series of floors in the plunge pool, trench F and also the drain opening.

The floors of the plunge pool

 

The hole for the drain, still full of soil, in the wall just left of centre

Scale drawing the sides (sections) of the trench

One volunteer we need to mention is John, who spent three days trying to get to a floor surface in trench A, he was nearly there by the end of the day. Martin needed to get in the trench to draw the wall and sections so John climbed out one last time and left for home.

John in trench A

While troweling the wall to see the stone more clearly Martin cleaned up the bottom of the trench and found a stone flagged surface! John had been so close to his goal!

The flagged floor

The main group of volunteers worked tirelessly on shoveling all the soil back into the trenches, and re-laying the turf.

The plunge pool filling up – just not with water!

Lois taking a water break before re joining the guys back filling

Trench F. In a few weeks the grass will recover and the ground will settle

Time passed, each trench was lined with geo-textile and filled. Nathan and Lois had to leave by five, leaving the rest of time team who stayed until seven fuelled by ice-cream and cold drinks.

The last trench backfill group picture. Back row : L to R, me (reflection in the window), Tony, Mike, Martin. Front row L to R, Harry, Alex, Tony and Fay

A big thankyou to all our lovely volunteers who helped over the two weeks, as ever we could not do this work without you. Rain, mud, and the odd day of baking sun did not deter you, your dedication, enthusiasm and joy reminds us of why we love archaeology.