Archaeology Live! 2008 - Site Diary (Weeks 1-6)

[YAT]

WEEK 1

The area at the west end of H1 is being excavated by Ben and his team.

Elena is working to the east of H1 and at the south of the new area we opened.

Artemi is working over the rest of the new area, with input from Pam and the tasters.

In Ben’s area this week his group continued the excavation of a sequence of possible rubbish pits. All the finds from this area, including animal bone and pottery, suggest these pits are early Medieval in date.

Graham excavated the top of a small cesspit. This feature was found to include two separate backfill deposits.


The team working hard to remove the backfill from a massive pit next to the graveyard


This week Elena’s group spent a lot of time cleaning back the area using mattocks, as warm weather and the access route through the site meant that the ground was very dry and trampled, making edges practically invisible.
Josh excavated the remnants of a highly truncated pit, probably Medieval in date, and Kathy cleaned up a pit which is possibly part of a larger feature. It was decided that this pit would not be excavated as it is very close to the access ramp for the site, so she also got to excavate another, smaller rubbish pit which produced some nice finds.


Will and Jon spent most of the week excavating a large clay extraction pit which was undercut on one side. It was very deep and a lot of hard work – even when we thought we’d reached the bottom (at about 1.5m) it turned out that this was just a step down to another, deeper layer! This feature was not fully excavated as it also continues into the access route through the site.

Will and Jon also got the opportunity to clean and plan another greyish pit which had been truncated by the clay extraction pit and could be seen in the section.
Finds this week included animal bone and pottery which suggest a Medieval date for these features, and the clay extraction pit proved worth its effort when it produced a nice piece of worked antler.

Planning a pit backfill using showing the use of a planning frame and offsets


Artemi’s group also spent this week cleaning back the area they were working in to find the edges of new features.

Cleaning back over a medieval oven with a quern stone set into its base


Possibly the most important feature found in this area this week is another well, probably late Medieval in date. The well gave up some good finds, including a crested ridge tile.


Here is the team.



It has been a busy week, so time for a cup of tea...

[YAT]

WEEK 2

Monday was pretty wet, and things looked rough for the rest of the week, but thankfully the predicted maelstrom didn’t materialise, and some good progress had been made in all three areas by the time the rain finally did arrive on Friday.

Elena’s group did a lot of cleaning around the north eastern edge of the trench, which revealed many new features, including lots of large, regularly sized possible clay extraction pits. The cleaning also revealed a shallower pit-like feature, which when excavated contained lots of finds, including some flint.



Jon having a think


Emma and Jen excavated the pit truncated by Will’s pit, which produced medieval finds and had a strange lumpy backfill. Phil worked on a linear feature, which was very regular in shape and good to dig. This produced some Roman finds, mainly brick and pottery, but some flint as well.

The joy of context cards!




Overall this week, we have made good progress finding new features in Elena’s area, despite the limited amount of excavation.

Ben’s group completed the excavation of the rubbish pit started last week. Work continued to define and remove deposits associated with graveyard boundary, which was defined last year.

Jackie finished the small cesspit started last week, and samples were taken from the backfill to be processed. This week, two large cesspits have been found which are earlier in date. They are both similar in size, and have similar backfills, but one is possibly much deeper than the other. These backfills contained charcoal, animal bone and pottery. There has also been the odd bit of eleventh century gritty ware, and these two pits seem to be joined by a gully, which will be excavated next week.



At the beginning of the week Artemi’s group did a lot of cleaning back, revealing a lot of new pits which had not been previously spotted due to the dry conditions. We did some work around the quern stone area and found a fairly shallow pit, at the bottom of which was a nice late medieval pot. Another pit revealed an oddly shaped organic deposit at the base. Finds this week have included a flint knapping core, some nice animal bone, pottery and lots of nails.





Another lovely pit!


The weather this week did its best to put a dampener on things, but the wet conditions have made features more visible and easier to excavate, and there is still plenty of archaeology to do.

This week's team:

[YAT]

WEEK 3

Week 3 opened with poor weather, but undeterred we forged ahead in Block H. Artemi was away for a week, so Gary was called upon to cover, and rose magnificently to the occasion at short notice. Welcome to Archaeology Live!

Tom seems quite proud of our big pump


Gary, demonstrating correct supervisorial use of a shovel


In Artemi/Gary’s area week 3 began by cleaning back. Rain over the weekend had blurred the deposits and made it difficult to make out different archaeological features. The cleaning allowed Gary’s team to see where to record and excavate next, revealing two massive possible clay extraction pits. A test pit was dug within one of the features, showing it to be at least 6ft (1.8m) deep. Artemi/Gary’s area has produced an array of small finds this week, such as horn, antler, more iron nails, a riveted piece of bone (possibly a handle), and an unusually shaped copper alloy ring.





Once again, the wet weather limited excavation in Ben’s area, as the clay became very slippery and the deep cesspits looked particularly unpleasant to fall into! The placements spent a lot of time painstakingly pumping out groundwater and rainwater from the deeper pits to allow the trainees to record and excavate the features. Nevertheless there is some progress to report. Kevin and Lola excavated 2 large cesspits, one of which had two separate backfills deposits to record. These two pits are possibly connected by a linear feature which seems to run between them, but investigation into this will begin next week. Two other truncated pit features, which contained mostly domestic rubbish, were also mattocked out. Finds have included animal bone and pottery, including some residual Roman Samian ware, and also a rather nice decorated bead, which Emily found whilst mattocking.

There's an edge here somewhere ...






Lots of progress was made in Elena’s area of the trench. April, Charlotte and Ellie began work on a large possible clay extraction pit, which produced medieval finds. Simon began to excavate a much smaller, truncated pit. This produced a lot of finds (mainly pottery, tile and animal bone) and it is thought to be earlier in date due to the presence of cobbles and pebbles in the backfill deposit. Emma T and Ellie also recorded and began to excavate another pit with two separate backfill deposits, which was largely truncated by the cut for the barrel well.

Yes, it was rather wet!




Jon began work on another pit feature which had been truncated by the pit with the two backfills. The finds suggest it is also medieval in date. He also finished recording one of the kilns, and it was found to have a large fragment of green glaze pottery in its base that was decorated with a hunting scene of a dog snapping at the neck of a deer. Jen and Emma W started working on a large refuse pit that may have initially been used for clay extraction but was backfilled with a rubbish deposit. This pit was also highly truncated but it produced some nice small finds including a small blue glass bead and a copper pin. Towards the end of the week, Emma T began excavating a much smaller pit feature that yielded some good Roman finds, including more Samian ware and a big piece of tile.


Once again good progress was made despite the weather, but for every pit we excavate, we soon find plenty more to take its place, giving us more and more archaeology to think about!

And finally … Ben became a married man on Friday. We wish him and Fiona every happiness and look forward to seeing them very soon.

This week's team:

[YAT]

WEEK 4

Lots of progress was made this week as the weather decided to brighten up, allowing us to enjoy the sun while we worked and providing perfect conditions for the end-of-week BBQ…

Work in Ben’s area this week has focussed on a number of features. In the north-western corner Lola and Juliet worked on excavating some much deeper deposits in the cesspits. As they went deeper they encountered an increasing number of waterlogged deposits, with good wet preservation of organic materials. These mainly consisted of twigs and small wooden fragments, although there are also possible stakes. One pit in particular had to be half-sectioned due to rising groundwater, but despite this lots of progress was made. Finding edges and defining the sides of features was frequently challenging, because so many pits are inter-cut, but also because some of the sides had slumped on top of the primary deposit, making it more difficult to define what was pit and what wasn’t.



The series of domestic rubbish pits which were started last week have now been finished. These features also had good preservation of organic remains, which had been sealed by the sides of the pit as they slumped, collapsing in and preserving deposits beneath them. As a result there was an impressive range of small finds from this feature including nails, a possible key, a pair of bone ice skates, and part of a leather shoe!

Work was begun on another large possible cesspit, which produced a very large amount of animal bone, including cow and pig skulls. There is no evidence as yet that this pit was wicker-lined, but there are 3 wooden posts at the sides of the backfill deposit which may have held a lining of this sort in place.



Toby also helped out on site this week, cleaning out a pit that was started but left unfinished a few months ago. Members of Ben’s team then worked on a feature at the north eastern end of the pit at the boundary of the graveyard. Finds of animal bone and pottery suggest it was a domestic rubbish pit.

"...and this button is for the ejector seat"


This week Elena’s team continued to work on a number of pit features in the south eastern corner of the trench. Abby and Louise finished emptying a large clay extraction pit near the site access ramp. They worked really hard to clean out the backfill, particularly towards the base of the pit where natural clay had been re-deposited.



Janet finished working on the small truncated pit which Simon had been working on last week. This produced some really good finds despite being so truncated by other pit features, including several large pieces of worked antler. Paula and Naomi continued excavating the large square pit which Jen and Emma had begun last week. This turned out to be a cesspit, with one thick sandy deposit as a sealing layer on top of the cess and most of the finds coming from the backfill deposit above the sealing layer. By the end of the week the pit was almost 2m deep and it still wasn’t empty! Janet and Abby then stared work on a small sub-square shaped feature nearby. Sharon also worked on a nearby small shallow pit, the function of which is uncertain, but it produced some glass, possibly Roman in date.



Jon finished excavating the truncated pit near the barrel well. This did not produce many finds and also had an organic cess-like layer towards the base. One of the main conundrums this week was being excavated by Emma and Ellie at the eastern edge of Block H. It consisted of a confusing sequence of pits with edges which were very difficult to define. It is possible that they were all open at the same time as the backfills were similar throughout. There was a nice assemblage of finds, with residual Roman pottery, including Samian ware, late medieval pottery, small antler off-cuts, iron fragments and flint.



This week Artemi’s team continued their sterling work excavating the two massive pits in area H2. These pits are so large that it is taking a long time to remove the backfill deposits even when there is a team of people mattocking; this week’s warm weather this week made it even more tough going. Work was also started on one of the post-medieval well. This is proving to be a very interesting feature as it shows a beautiful construction technique and the use of different brick types. Two of these bricks jut out into the well itself and may have been used to support something across the top, a feature not seen in any of the other wells on the site.



Excavation was also started on one of the probable late-medieval ovens, with another being located during cleaning back. A quern stone set into one of the ovens was removed on Friday. Small finds from Artemi’s area this week have included a copper hair or brooch pin with an unusually shaped head, and a metal box which is possibly a barrel from a lock.

If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire ... the A Team!


All the trainees have worked very hard this week in the glorious sunshine, and we look forward to more progress and good digging in the weeks to come!

This week's team:

[YAT]

WEEK 5

The British summer officially arrived this week, with glorious sunny weather welcoming a new batch of eager trainees. The warm and dry conditions actually made parts of the site much more difficult to excavate, but of course, in true British summer style, there was a downpour towards the end of the week which soon cleared things up and made the archaeology much easier to see and work with.

Cess, wonderful cess ...


Despite the much drier and warmer weather, the watery battle continued to rage in Ben’s area this week, with trainees and placements fighting to stem the tide of groundwater flooding their pits. Many of the timber remains of stakes and posts were excavated this week, with two pits producing three each. One of these pits had been started last week, and it was discovered that it had one stake driven in at its eastern corner, and two posts set in postholes in its northern and southern corners. The western corner, however, yielded no timber remains, and this is thought to be because the solid natural clay that the pit was cut into at that corner meant that extra support was not needed. The other sides of the pit were truncating other features, cutting into backfill deposits which were less stable, and thus they needed reinforcing.



In the south-eastern corner of Ben’s area, Lucy and Rosie completed the half section of the really deep pit that was begun last week and started excavating the other half, to recover more dating evidence. It was found that a later pit, not been visible further up due to slumping, was truncating it on the eastern side. Finds were indicative of domestic rubbish and suggested a 10th – 11th century date for this feature. The pits in this area appear to be different to those in the other half of Ben’s area, possibly indicating a property boundary. Trainees also began work taking off a spit of soil from the middle section of the area which was used as the walkway. This revealed a number of features ready for future trainees to work on.



A glass bead from one of the medieval cess pits in the area supervised by Ben. At the moment we have got specialists working on where it may have originally come from - so keep watching for an update.


Work continued this week on the range of pit features in Elena’s area. Dee and Kirsten took over from Emma and Ellie, excavating a large pit in the eastern corner of the trench. This is beginning to make much more sense now, particularly after the rain on Thursday which really helped to define the contrasts in the soil. The backfill is still very mixed but the feature is much clearer and two different pits can now be seen. Finds from this pit have included Medieval pottery, animal bone, iron fragments (most likely nails), and a worked horn core.

A field archaeologist in their natural environment ...


Janet finished excavating a small but very interesting pit that was begun last week. The pit was found to have two separate backfill deposits, both of which produced some good finds including lots and lots of worked antler, part of a quern stone and a fairly complete pot which is possibly Viking. In the north-western corner of Elena’s area this week’s new trainees have been cleaning back and working on a new series of pits which are fairly small in comparison to the large clay extraction pits in the other parts of Elena’s area. Towards the end of the week Louise and Janet began excavating another large pit, but this has not produced many finds so far to give any idea as to its use. Significant progress was made when the plan for the buried soil deposit was finished. This was a fairly complex task as the deposit covered 6 grid areas, but it was very good practice and all useful experience for the new trainees. Excavation was begun and the finds so far have mainly been Roman in date.

These are antler off-cuts that have come out of a, possibly Viking, pit where Elena is working. The two bits on the left are not the correct shape for making anything, and the bit on the right side of the picture may have a flaw that meant it was not used.


In Artemi’s area work continued on one of the massive pits. Finds suggest that both of these pits were used for clay extraction, and this neatly ties Artemi’s area to the activity Elena’s group are excavating in the eastern corner of the trench.





The team also began cleaning back a new area around the Victorian well which was excavated last week, and this revealed a series of Medieval features with finds including pottery, a range of worked bone objects and lots of metalworking finds. One of these pits produced around 30 small finds! Excavation was also begun on an oven which was truncated by the well. Marianne and Kath worked very carefully on this feature and were rewarded for their efforts by finding a very nice pair of copper tweezers. There have been some other good finds from Artemi’s area this week, including a complete horn core sawn off at the base, rim sherds of Norman pottery, slag, nails, a roll of lead and a piece of amber.

Instead of Charlie's Angels..... we have got Chris's Meercats



With the heavy rain on Thursday afternoon we had a big team working inside.




All in all, the archaeology has presented a few challenges, but by the end of the week features and sequences were much clearer and the archaeology became easier to follow, this time helped by the weather, for once. Next week looks even more promising!

This week's team:

[YAT]

WEEK 6

Week 6 has been relatively quiet, but heavy rain and flooding made it difficult to stay out on site some days. Many finds were washed! But first, some news just in …

Bead update -

It is a type called Eastern Mediterranean or Middle Eastern or sometimes "Islamic period" which were made between c. 8th-12th centuries. They have previously turned up on Viking burial sites in Scandinavia - so the pit may turn out to be a Viking one (wait and see what the pottery says). They also show up in Western Africa and were probably made somewhere round the eastern Med.

This picture shows the team working with Ben in the foreground, Elena at the top right and then Artemi top left.



Ben’s area is no stranger to flooding and this week was particularly bad with all of his pits overflowing. Work did continue, however, with the pump doing some serious overtime! One particularly large pit ended up being almost 1 metre deep. The backfills were extremely rich in organic material and the preservation was amazing with pieces of very fresh looking wood. The pottery found in this pit was from around the 10th/11th Century. Also present were a few bits and pieces of leather, and half of an amber bead, found by Hannah, one of Ben’s placements. This pit was interesting as it was different from its neighbours. It had a clay lining that would have been used to stop it from slumping; however this wasn’t enough to survive Ben’s shovelling and it partially collapsed anyway. Elsewhere, Graeme has finally made sense of his confusing area, uncovering 3 wooden posts which will be excavated next week. A number of other pits have also been cleaned and are ready to be recorded and excavated by this week’s new trainees.

Ben, waving goodbye as he goes ever deeper ...


In the central area a large area of trample was mattocked off and then cleaned back, revealing something other than pits! There may be structural features, with a suggestion of in-situ burning and a possible beam slot. This area is producing more questions than answers at the moment and will be something to tackle for future trainees.



In Elena’s area the trainees have been trying to understand the sequence of inter-cutting pits, most likely to have been used for clay extraction. Work has also started on another large possible cess pit containing a large quantity of animal bone. In the NW area trainees have been cleaning back in order to see if there are any features present, and have uncovered another sequence of intercutting pits, which will be the focus of excavation in the coming weeks.



There are some different pit types in Elena’s area. A number of small discreet pits have been excavated and yielded almost no finds at all. These smaller pits are thought to be earlier deposits. Finds from Elena’s area include a copper needle found by Clive’s trainees, a ceramic glazed roof tile, and a triangular piece of metal. Even though the weather has been wet this week, Elena’s trainees were still keen to get out on site and carry on digging, with the help of Ben and his pump of course!



Artemi has also made progress, despite the weather. His team have started to excavate a clay-lined pit that is producing a number of finds, including the skeletal remains of a cat. Next to this is the Victorian well. Excavating this has revealed that it cuts through an earlier oven feature with a baked clay lining to show where it has been fired.





Artemi’s team are also still grappling with the sequence of possible clay extraction pits that have contained a number of iron finds in their backfills. Some other finds from this area this week included a full medieval roof tile, which the team were rightfully very proud of!



There is lots of archaeology to be tackled next week and plenty of opportunity for the new trainees to get their hands dirty! (and their boots, and knees, and face…..)

And before anyone asks, yes Ian is still at work, and no, there isn’t any baby news yet! Watch this space …

The team this week -