Day 18 – the last chance to investigate those areas and layers that just need a little bit more excavation to glean the last drop of information from the site before recovering it with soil and turf.
A little bit more digging in Robs drain trench, to look for any iron rings that may have been used to connect wooden pipes that the large stones may have been protecting.
We also sectioned part of the ‘hearth’ to see if we could recover any charcoal for dating, find any clues to its use and also to see how it was constructed.
Part of the ‘hearth’ sectioned, under the tile was ashy soil and then more box flue tile
From the other ‘hearth we have taken a sample of the very burnt and fractured quern stone, we can then find out what stone it is and were it has come from.
Ashy soil can be seen in the section on the right
Day 19 – Today the back-breaking back filling of the trenches is going a pace with many called in to help, even an odd hour is very much appreciated.
Alex, John and Nick covering the boundary wall trench first with the breathable geo-textile then the soil that was taken out goes back in
We put down a breathable geo-textile on top of were we stop excavating, this stops plant roots but allows water through and is great if we do uncover it again as we can dig down to the cloth and then peel back to were we stopped last time.
Pete’s deep trench and Martins complicated wall phasing trench in room 27 all back filled
We put a bottle, from our celebration when we finished yesterday, with various objects in it, as well as a message to the future in the deepest part of Pete’s trench were the glass had been found. A kind of closing ritual we usually do when back filling trenches.
Our message to the future, the fizzy wine bottle with messages and coins and other objects inside it
Hopefully we will not have to stay into the evening to finish the ‘putting to bed’ of the site, a very heart-felt thank you to all who have helped us this year with special mention to the back filling crew Fay, Carol, Amy, Pete, Harry, Alex, Nick and Nick, John and John.
Farewell until the next dig, were ever that may be……………..
Some of the core team Harry, John, Martin, Fay. Amy. me, Carol and Pete
Archaeology National Trust SW 