So today, day 8, the baton of writing up the site blog falls to me, Claire the finds supervisor, who has nowhere near as much experience in the field of archaeology as the site Directors, Ray and David (no pressure then!). Anyway, here goes…
I may as well start with what I was working on at the end of day 7, continuing into day 8. Yesterday I stared a 50 x 230cm trench in the main internal floor surface of the structure, with the intention of better understanding the underlying stratigraphy. I quickly realised that the heavy clay was not going to give up its secrets easily, and apart from flecks of coal and plenty of gravely sandstone, there wasn’t much else to see by the end of the day. Anyway, today the plan was to go a little deeper in the second half of the trench. So mattock in hand, I took the trench down a little further. Here it got interesting! Troweling back was a very slow process, however, I had appeared to have got through the gravely sandstone layer and had hit upon what looked suspiciously like a stone slab… and then another… and then another! Needless to say, this trench was extended after lunch.
So at the end of day 8, taking into consideration the apparent disturbed stone slab surface, the multitude of coal and charcoal, some of which is clearly sealed in the facing section directly below the upper stone slab floor, and the almost wax-like consistency of the clay at this lower level, this evidence would suggest an earlier third floor surface. I have one small corner to finish tomorrow, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for some hard dateable evidence.
Today was also the day the team finally cleared the loose rubble between the rear of the structure, the retaining wall, and the rear of the bread oven, providing clear access to the entire length of the building. Again this area provided us with a wealth of finds, especially some lovely dateable pottery, ranging from the early medieval to the 18th century. As well as the pottery, there was a significant amount of bone unveiled, possibly from a cow.
What was surprising was that the retaining wall which was assumed to have run the length of the building also, cuts off several meters before the rear of the bread oven. Nevertheless, the laid stone floor in this area remains intact past this point. Apart from some loose ends in this section, all obvious features have been well explored.
The wall feature that was unearthed yesterday which followed on the length of the building, past the ‘pig sty’ eventually stopped after approximately 250cm. After having a chat with Andy who has been working in this area, he feels that it is a possible drainage feature of the building as it heads directly towards a decline in the topography. I’m not sure of the overall length of the complete building (I’m sure David and Ray do though), however I do know that it seems to be growing on a daily basis.
The growth of the site is not limited to the length of the building but also the width. Before you could say “rapidly expanding site”, a spoil tip (which as David has mentioned previously, was in a sensible place at the start of this excavation process) had been moved first thing this morning, and was revealing all sorts of lovely pottery, and more disturbed flag stone flooring. However in the final throws of the day, a coin emerged, possibly dated 1727, but a closer inspection needs to be undertaken before that can be confirmed.
So there you have it, my (very) brief run-down of the day. I must say this small responsibility did leave me a tad anxious this morning, but I have enjoyed it, and am pretty chuffed at being trusted with the responsibility. Anyway, tomorrow is the final official day of this seasons dig, and you know what that means don’t you… pub!
Cheers, Claire J
I may as well start with what I was working on at the end of day 7, continuing into day 8. Yesterday I stared a 50 x 230cm trench in the main internal floor surface of the structure, with the intention of better understanding the underlying stratigraphy. I quickly realised that the heavy clay was not going to give up its secrets easily, and apart from flecks of coal and plenty of gravely sandstone, there wasn’t much else to see by the end of the day. Anyway, today the plan was to go a little deeper in the second half of the trench. So mattock in hand, I took the trench down a little further. Here it got interesting! Troweling back was a very slow process, however, I had appeared to have got through the gravely sandstone layer and had hit upon what looked suspiciously like a stone slab… and then another… and then another! Needless to say, this trench was extended after lunch.
So at the end of day 8, taking into consideration the apparent disturbed stone slab surface, the multitude of coal and charcoal, some of which is clearly sealed in the facing section directly below the upper stone slab floor, and the almost wax-like consistency of the clay at this lower level, this evidence would suggest an earlier third floor surface. I have one small corner to finish tomorrow, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for some hard dateable evidence.
Today was also the day the team finally cleared the loose rubble between the rear of the structure, the retaining wall, and the rear of the bread oven, providing clear access to the entire length of the building. Again this area provided us with a wealth of finds, especially some lovely dateable pottery, ranging from the early medieval to the 18th century. As well as the pottery, there was a significant amount of bone unveiled, possibly from a cow.
What was surprising was that the retaining wall which was assumed to have run the length of the building also, cuts off several meters before the rear of the bread oven. Nevertheless, the laid stone floor in this area remains intact past this point. Apart from some loose ends in this section, all obvious features have been well explored.
The wall feature that was unearthed yesterday which followed on the length of the building, past the ‘pig sty’ eventually stopped after approximately 250cm. After having a chat with Andy who has been working in this area, he feels that it is a possible drainage feature of the building as it heads directly towards a decline in the topography. I’m not sure of the overall length of the complete building (I’m sure David and Ray do though), however I do know that it seems to be growing on a daily basis.
The growth of the site is not limited to the length of the building but also the width. Before you could say “rapidly expanding site”, a spoil tip (which as David has mentioned previously, was in a sensible place at the start of this excavation process) had been moved first thing this morning, and was revealing all sorts of lovely pottery, and more disturbed flag stone flooring. However in the final throws of the day, a coin emerged, possibly dated 1727, but a closer inspection needs to be undertaken before that can be confirmed.
So there you have it, my (very) brief run-down of the day. I must say this small responsibility did leave me a tad anxious this morning, but I have enjoyed it, and am pretty chuffed at being trusted with the responsibility. Anyway, tomorrow is the final official day of this seasons dig, and you know what that means don’t you… pub!
Cheers, Claire J