So, a few days ago, we put tools down and brought an end to the formal excavations in Llanfihangel Tor y Mynydd for this particular season. Anyone following this blog though will not be surprised to know that this is far from the end of the story. Indeed, we are planning to resume excavations on somewhat of an ongoing basis, looking to pick up days when appropriate, because there is plenty left to be done. One of the reasons for that is lunch on the final day. Having committed to our two week block of excavating, we made the fatal mistake of sitting down in a pub on the final day, and very nearly never got back up again. Such was the sheer volume of rock and spoil that we have collectively shifted, the prospect of shifting anymore after lunch proved too much for most, and we generally settled for a very civilised extra pint, rather than ploughing on any further.
That being said, we still made excellent progress on the final morning, and while we have not exactly resolved many questions, we have got a clear cut set of targets to approach for when we do return. On this final morning, we focused in on five parts of the site, and we’ll try to summarise each of those sections below:
1. The floor below the floor: Claire did some excellent hard graft for us on the last couple of days, sinking some of the less rewarding sections through the internal floor surfaces of the main building. Perhaps unglamorous, and rather light in terms of finds, these sections were important. At the end of proceedings, these sections did finally produce a reward, in the form of an additional floor surface, or what’s left of it. It would appear that beneath our reasonably well preserved flagstone surface inside the main part of the building, we have now come down on to a second, highly disturbed floor level. An additional section elsewhere might be required to confirm this, but it certainly looks like we have multiple phases of flooring inside the structure.
2. The tunnel: This is the finds rich area, running between the external wall of the main building, and our so called ‘retaining wall’. This area has not been without its challenges, with sections edges becoming somewhat mythical, as loose stone collapse continued to undermine the trench edges. Still, we had by the end of the day, removed the bulk of the rubble fill, and exposed what looks like another disturbed surface. In this ‘hallway’ between the walls, we had identified a reasonably well preserved floor surface. This surface seems to now run up hill as it heads towards the oven/furnace. We clearly need a section here, because one surface seems to be running under the other, but at the very least we have another example of multi phase activity going on here.
3. The wall that might not be a wall: Further down from the retaining wall, and towards the ‘pigsty’, we had identified a couple of wall like features earlier in the week, outside of the main building. Further investigation on the final day did not really confirm or dismiss this concept. With Andy in charge, theories were being postulated that this could be a drainage feature, but for other members of the team, at least one half of this feature looked awfully like a wall. Contention then, and no resolution...another target for our return.
4 (and 5). A similar lack of resolution was to be had on the other side of the building. Roughly a week ago, we uncovered two wall like structures abutting the main building. Initial theories suggested these could be buttress supports, but the more we excavated, the more it seemed to be the case that these ‘buttresses’ ran on, and were surrounded by robbed floor surfaces. As with earlier in the week, spoil tips proved to be problematic, and required removal, which eat into precious time. By the end of the day, we could only really say that these seemed to be more complex than buttresses, but beyond that, further questions remain.
In our defence, even had we not had an indulgent celebratory luncheon, there is a good chance that we still would not have figured out how all these latest features relate to the main building. What we can say is that this structure has proven to be far more complex than we could ever have hoped to imagine, and that we will be back to finish this site, once and for all.
For those involved, and anyone who fancies giving this a go, we will try to let people know a week in advance of any days that we do pick up on site over the rest of the summer. Even if it’s only four or five days spread over a month, we will be trying to conclude parts, if not all of this site. So if nothing else, keep abreast of developments on these pages, because there will be a lot more to come!
That being said, we still made excellent progress on the final morning, and while we have not exactly resolved many questions, we have got a clear cut set of targets to approach for when we do return. On this final morning, we focused in on five parts of the site, and we’ll try to summarise each of those sections below:
1. The floor below the floor: Claire did some excellent hard graft for us on the last couple of days, sinking some of the less rewarding sections through the internal floor surfaces of the main building. Perhaps unglamorous, and rather light in terms of finds, these sections were important. At the end of proceedings, these sections did finally produce a reward, in the form of an additional floor surface, or what’s left of it. It would appear that beneath our reasonably well preserved flagstone surface inside the main part of the building, we have now come down on to a second, highly disturbed floor level. An additional section elsewhere might be required to confirm this, but it certainly looks like we have multiple phases of flooring inside the structure.
2. The tunnel: This is the finds rich area, running between the external wall of the main building, and our so called ‘retaining wall’. This area has not been without its challenges, with sections edges becoming somewhat mythical, as loose stone collapse continued to undermine the trench edges. Still, we had by the end of the day, removed the bulk of the rubble fill, and exposed what looks like another disturbed surface. In this ‘hallway’ between the walls, we had identified a reasonably well preserved floor surface. This surface seems to now run up hill as it heads towards the oven/furnace. We clearly need a section here, because one surface seems to be running under the other, but at the very least we have another example of multi phase activity going on here.
3. The wall that might not be a wall: Further down from the retaining wall, and towards the ‘pigsty’, we had identified a couple of wall like features earlier in the week, outside of the main building. Further investigation on the final day did not really confirm or dismiss this concept. With Andy in charge, theories were being postulated that this could be a drainage feature, but for other members of the team, at least one half of this feature looked awfully like a wall. Contention then, and no resolution...another target for our return.
4 (and 5). A similar lack of resolution was to be had on the other side of the building. Roughly a week ago, we uncovered two wall like structures abutting the main building. Initial theories suggested these could be buttress supports, but the more we excavated, the more it seemed to be the case that these ‘buttresses’ ran on, and were surrounded by robbed floor surfaces. As with earlier in the week, spoil tips proved to be problematic, and required removal, which eat into precious time. By the end of the day, we could only really say that these seemed to be more complex than buttresses, but beyond that, further questions remain.
In our defence, even had we not had an indulgent celebratory luncheon, there is a good chance that we still would not have figured out how all these latest features relate to the main building. What we can say is that this structure has proven to be far more complex than we could ever have hoped to imagine, and that we will be back to finish this site, once and for all.
For those involved, and anyone who fancies giving this a go, we will try to let people know a week in advance of any days that we do pick up on site over the rest of the summer. Even if it’s only four or five days spread over a month, we will be trying to conclude parts, if not all of this site. So if nothing else, keep abreast of developments on these pages, because there will be a lot more to come!