Day 12 Finds and features for a feel good Friday! Matt, Abbi and Amelia report…

Matt...

Friday morning saw Neil and I mattocking away at the densest part of the demolition layer in Trench VIII, with detectorist Colin nimbly avoiding the swinging blades to check newly exposed layers for metal finds. The quantities of roof slate, mortar and brick made for hard-going and comparatively few finds other than animal bone and the odd rusted nail. Even our ever-present friends the clay pipes seem to have deserted us; maybe an indication that we’re reaching 16th century layers that pre-date widespread tobacco smoking. One new find was the discovery of three striped escargot snail shells, close to a cluster of oyster shells. Classed as neither fish nor meat, snails made the ideal snack food for Lent, though they might be eaten year-round by the poorer members of society.

Group B’s afternoon was spent classifying and marking the finds we’d previously cleaned. Splitting them first by material type (ceramic, metal, glass, bone, pipe-clay) and then each material by period (Roman, medieval, post-medieval, modern) we soon had the artefacts sorted into piles. Identifying labels were written for each pile, and then a summary of all the finds was entered into a recording sheet.

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Washing and marking-up the finds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly I spoke with Dan the site director regarding a 3D model of Trench VIII that I’d made from photos taken on the previous Friday; he’s happy with the model and interested in capturing Trench IV the same way as soon as its ready to be recorded. The complex multi-layered surface should make for an interesting challenge. You can see the model of Trench VIII here.

 

 

 

 

Abbi…

What a day! Great morning for team A of labelling finds from a post medieval context today, with a few residual pieces of pottery and ceramic from the medieval and Roman periods in my tray!

The afternoon started with a chill but soon warmed up as Team A set to work covering at least three features across the site, A possible floor is found, is it medieval? Most likely. Do we know what it is? Not just yet. But soon an interpretation can be matched to it next week! The charcoal deposits and sandstones in the clay like soil was difficult to remove as Jess and I, with the handy help of Dave the supervisor, revealed bit by bit the solid sandstone flooring of a possible medieval building, the first sign of an occupational context for Team A yet!

A stone floor is revealed???

Keep alert for following posts from Team A, and have a fantastic weekend :) 

Amelia….

Team A spent the morning doing another finds session, this time labelling the separate types of finds, identifying what they could be, then followed by another go at finds washing.

The afternoon saw the group in three sets of two this meant that Sophie and I were back working on our pit, now named George. Thankfully the weather was warmer and a lot drier than previous days,  which made recording the pit a lot easier. After drawing the second half of the pit it was time to take levels using the dumpy level and fill out the context sheet. Once this was done it was time to start excavating another pit that ours cut through. It’s going to be exciting to see what this shows us!!

Now everyone can have a relaxing weekend and will be refreshed for more digging on Monday.

Continuing excavation of the earlier pit or gully...watch this space