Our game plan during the excavation is to get the hard work out of the way… early in the day and spend the rest of the time troweling (except for Pete who is mostly digging a hole.. but carefully and there is definitely robust troweling involved).
This morning we went to the west end of the reception hall Room 25b and removed 2m of topsoil down to the terram we laid on the mosaic in 2014.
A glimpse of the west end of the room beneath the terram. The mosaic tight against the late 4th century kerb stones.
To a gathering audience I peeled back a corner of the terram and demonstrated the scale of the room we were dealing with. We have often pointed out the length of the room but seeing the same mosaic at both ends is believing.
We shifted turf and topsoil until 11am and went back to the east end and cleared Roman rubble from the mosaic and mortar bedding.
Florence and Sue found a rare mosaic survival in the central portion of the room. We thought it was a small remnant but as the day moved on it expanded and grew into a group of woven designs amongst the blue lias swastikas.
Then….both found coins. Sue a 1957 sixpence and Florence a tiny copper alloy late Roman coin
With Amy at her graduation ceremony today, Fay pressed on along the corridor. The mosaic here is fading and we hope to finish this part of the uncovering in the next couple of days and move back to Room 21..
My steel toe-capped Cotswold Way walking boots back in their natural environment today. They are not allowed to walk on mosaics so they stay on the grass when I am drawing.
Archaeology National Trust SW 