Archaeology Live! 2009 - Site Diary (Weeks 7-12)

[YAT]

WEEK 7

After some rather gloomy forecasts the weather this week was surprisingly warm and sunny. This week a lot of progress has been made across the site on features old and new and there is still plenty of archaeology left to dig!



Week 7 in Ben’s area has had work divided up between three different clusters of archaeology. The first was focused towards the south-west portion near the walkway and the edge of the excavation. Here a circular pit was recorded and excavated which contained multiple fills. However, as more was dug away it now seems that it could be a well as the lower backfill appears to be continuing downwards. A small wooden stake has also emerged towards one side of the feature and it will be interesting to see if any more appear lower down.

Elsewhere, the feature which contained the stone lining continues to go downwards and has yielded some exciting discoveries. Towards the start of the week a series of stakes emerged and were arranged in a rectangle with the remains of a wicker lining preserved between them. The timbers appeared to be in good condition and hopefully more of them will be uncovered as the team continue to dig down. From one of the feature's multiple fills a very nice and almost complete comb emerged which is thought to be 10th century in date.


The burnt timbers from the Anglo-Scandinavian building.

Perhaps the most exciting developments were related to the Anglo-Scandinavian building. The final part of the greenish clay levelling deposit were removed which had slumped into a nearby pit after being carefully recorded. This allowed the backfill of the building to be recorded and excavated which revealed a layer of burning underneath. Interestingly the burnt spread appeared to have occurred in situ rather than having been dumped in at a later date. After a careful clean back several burnt timbers emerged which look to be part of the building which has burnt and then collapsed inwards preserving it in its current position. This layer is in the process of being recorded and excavation will begin at the start of next week.


The very nice comb!

The team has been very busy in Elena’s area with work being carried out on a large number of contexts. A fairly discreet shallow feature truncated by the Victorian well was recorded and excavated. The context was a burnt spread that appears to have been used as a levelling deposit for an indentation in the ground and looks to be just above the banded deposits from across the site.



The large medieval pit returns again this week and the wicker step was further excavated and recorded as the week progressed. A clean back of the section of the pit also revealed another large feature which looks to be cut away by several different features and also seems to have a heavily degraded wicker lining. To the north-east of the evaluation trench a series of medieval features were excavated, one of which was a shallow refuse pit containing a medieval pot.

In the area next to the large medieval pit a smaller feature was excavated which could well have been a cess pit but poor preservation has limited the number of finds emerging from it. In the borderlands between Artemi and Elena’s area a spread of material was removed and a possible stone footing was recorded which may relate to the boundary plots. A spread of stony material close to a boundary plot was also recorded but contains larger stones and cobbles than the others which suggest it may be later.


Excavation of the medieval pot.

Once again, the corner of Artemi’s area near to the ramp has been flooded and couldn’t be worked in. After a lengthy bailing session during the week the area should be ready to be worked in if the weather permits.

The area close to the tent has been finished for the time being and has revealed a very organic occupation layer. Alongside this a post hole was discovered in the centre with a clear clay filling as a result of the post decaying. The shape of the feature is also very rectangular which suggests that this could be part of a building though the inspection chamber nearby truncates a significant part of the deposit preventing further investigation.



In the central zone a large deposit is in the process of being removed which is taking some time due to the very dry conditions. A posthole has appeared in the centre which lines up with the previous two which could be further evidence of a possible building. Towards the ramp leading down to the site work has gone into recording and excavating several 14th century pits that had previously locked the potential house. Now that these have been excavated it will allow more work to be done in the central area in the next few weeks.


The very nice worked jet item which was found in Artemi's area.


Thank you to everyone who has helped out in Week 7!

[YAT]

WEEK 8

A lot of progress was made in Ben’s area this week with plenty of exciting archaeology emerging. After recording the burnt timbers in the backfill of the Anglo-Scandinavian building last Friday, they were removed at the beginning of the week. The timbers were rather badly charred which made lifting them a slow process due to their relatively fragile condition. Once the wood was out of the way the team gave the area a thorough clean back before temporarily leaving it until more features have been excavated.

A heavily truncated feature that is part of the building was also recorded and excavated during the week. This deposit, on the edge of the trial trench was a burnt spread similar to the material found with the timbers. More work is planned for the building next week as currently there are several other features which need to be investigated beforehand.



The feature where the Viking comb was unearthed has gone much deeper and revealed an impressive wicker lining. The material inside is very organic and is contained by wicker panels, around 30 to 40cm in length, which are largely very well preserved. One side of the feature seems to have slumped in and, interestingly, it seems that the wicker has been constructed facing a different direction. Alongside the wicker there are preserved timbers which appear to have been used to reinforce the lining. A lot of work was spent carefully cleaning the lining and planning each aspect of it in preparation for its excavation next week.

Towards the edge of the excavation what appeared to be a well has been recorded and excavated. The upper sections contained multiple fills and the feature was both circular and deep. However towards the base two timber posts emerged and the earliest fills were very organic suggesting that this was a cess pit rather than a well. Towards the back of the area a small horticultural feature was finished and contained mainly late to post medieval features.

A late medieval well near the limit of excavation was recorded and excavated to a depth of one metre that had a clay lining. There were a lot of finds in the context including a nice piece of a ridged roof tile. Finally the tile edged hearth near the Victorian sewer cut was cleaned back and a large pit excavated next to it. This pit also contained a similar piece of ridged roof tile which could indicate that the backfills of this pit and the clay-lined well were relatively contemporary.





Elena’s team has been hard at work with lots of recording and excavating on a wide array of features. At the beginning of the week a limestone and cobble feature close to the inspection chamber was recorded and excavated. It consisted of a mixture of smaller cobbles contained in a shallow cut above a layer of larger stones underneath, which can be seen in the section of the inspection chamber. A dark spread close by was also recorded and dug which revealed a very shallow deposit beneath it. The functions of these features are currently unknown although further archaeology in the surrounding area may help to shed some light on their purpose.



An early medieval feature near the large Victorian spiral well was dug and contained large quantities of pottery and animal bone. The pottery suggests medieval dates and it seems highly likely that the function was as a refuse pit. On the edge of the very big medieval feature a pit with a clay filling was recorded and excavated with very few finds inside.





In the very large medieval pit in the centre some interesting developments occurred. After a very thorough clean back, due to the heavy rain, three features appeared at the base. One contained two preserved timbers which were recorded and removed in order to begin the conservation process. The central feature contained very few finds other than a single piece of Viking pottery but has proved very useful. The pit contains very large quantities of cess in laminated layers which are being heavily sampled. These should give us lots of information once analysed providing an insight into diet and disease. The preservation is so good that there are still green leaves and pieces of animal hair in it! The downside is that work is slow due to the careful cleaning of the preserved wicker lining and the very unpleasant smell!



The corner of Artemi’s area closest to the tent was finally dry enough to get back to work in after the mammoth bailing session last Friday. Here work was carried out on a levelling deposit which was recorded and then excavated. Later in the week a dump deposit was also dug which has really helped to understand the complex sequence of features that have been found in this section of the site. A thorough clean over the whole corner has revealed several new features which will be looked at and started after the weekend.



Much of this week’s work centred on excavating the huge levelling deposit over the potential house. A section was dug out of the end of the possible structure in between it and the inspection chamber. This allowed the team to gauge the archaeology and to get a better idea of how the various deposits relate to one another. With the complex sequence of features it was necessary and has allowed everyone to assess the extent of the various deposits, especially as it now seems that the large levelling deposit is sloping in one direction. This work should help greatly with excavation next week and hopefully will clear up the relationships of the various contexts. Finally, a feature in between Artemi and Elena’s area was recorded which seems to be a wall and floor. There were very few finds when the context was cleaned which gives little indication of date or function so it will be interesting to see what this turns out to be in future weeks.




A big thank you to everyone who has helped out during Week 8!


Happy Birthday!

[YAT]

WEEK 9

Work in Ben’s area was focused on unlocking new features away from the centre of the area. A tile-edged hearth on the limit of the excavation, that was recorded earlier this summer, was given a very thorough cleaning. This proved very useful as it has revealed a number of features nearby that needed to be planned and excavated before the hearth can be removed. One of the features appears to be a backfill containing large amounts of tile fragments which was photographed and recorded. It appears that some of the feature will run beyond the edge of the excavation which could mean interpreting it will be problematic.

The second feature is a mixed pit backfill which seems to have a charcoal lining around the edges that was also photographed, planned and levelled during the week. Adverse weather on Friday meant that they couldn’t be excavated and will most likely be dug towards the start of next week. Nearby, a series of medieval pits close to a second tile-edged hearth in the centre of the area were recorded and excavated. Alongside the two features, the hearth itself was planned and more work will be carried out on the context next week.



Work in the Anglo-Scandinavian building continued with the removal of more backfill from underneath the charred timbers. There has been a lot of progress here with the dark organic material providing lots of useful finds as well as revealing some more timber, though not necessarily related to the construction. A number of pieces of Viking and Roman pottery, a scrap of leather and some Roman glass were all found inside the backfill which will hopefully be fully excavated by next week. This will allow for the next stage of recording to commence and could hopefully reveal some more interesting finds.

Lastly, the wicker lined pit has been prepared for sampling and removal, with plenty of recording being done. Sketch plans were done for each of the sides and photographs were taken for the records. The wicker itself is very well preserved, some of the best that has been seen in York, and is comparable to similar linings found during the Coppergate excavation. Potentially the timbers could provide us with dating information but also data on the species and the season it was cut down during. This would provide and insight into woodland management of the time to see what trees were being exploited which would be very useful.



The cess pit in the base of the large medieval feature in Elena’s area continued to provide lots of unusual finds. The very organic deposit continues to be very smelly but has contained moss that is still green, a small piece of a comb, large quantities of seeds and a big section of a pot. More of the wicker lining has also been revealed and is in fairly good condition, although the upper sections are slightly degraded and damaged. At the time being the team is unsure of weather the wicker lining was made and then placed into the hole or whether it was built up inside. Hopefully with more excavation around the construction cut it will become clear which of the methods was used.



Next to the large medieval pit, a small ridge of material was recorded and excavated. The deposit seemed very similar to those found inside the feature so it is likely that it relates to the pit in some way. Elsewhere in the area two more medieval features close to the Victorian well were recorded and excavated, one of which contained a small bone item. Finally between Elena and Artemi’s area, a deposit which contained a lot of charcoal was recorded and is possibly a burnt spread relating to boundaries.



In Artemi’s area the potential house is making a great deal more sense, largely due to the section that was put in last week. This has identified a possible cut of the house with some slumping towards the eastern side. Hopefully, after removing more of the deposit above, the edge will become more defined. Next to the slumping to one side, a small burnt area with lots of charcoal was recorded and will be looked at in more detail next week.



Towards the corner of the area, yet another series of dump and levelling deposits were recorded and excavated. Beneath these there is the possibility of a structure where two timbers were discovered that are roughly similar to some found in Ben’s area. It seems that the timbers could be in good condition as they appear to have been sealed by a layer of hardened cess which is a positive sign.

Finally, in the corner of Artemi’s area closest to the tent a hearth was recorded and excavated. The feature seemed to be dug into a Roman deposit and could be around 9th or 10th century in date and is an interesting shape. The hearth was in very good condition and had very clear and defined sections including a clear construction cut, sandy lining and an interesting stone in the centre. The rock had a small, shallow indentation in the centre which was most likely functional, possibly for resting some form of pot on.




The weather this week was slightly mixed!


The team from week 9. Thank you to everyone who was involved!

[YAT]

WEEK 10

Week 10 proved to be rather damp with rain on several days and a storm of almost apocalyptic proportions. Despite this the team has worked very hard with several challenging features on site being recorded and excavated, often during the adverse weather conditions.

In Ben’s area the rain has meant that work has largely been shifted away from the building and focused on other features. The building has had a thorough clean and some final sections of a backfill were removed, bringing it down to the same level. Until the weather improves, its excavation has been temporarily put on hold while other parts of the site are investigated.

The wicker-lined pit was cleaned up thoroughly towards the beginning of the week and excavation and sampling began on Wednesday. The wicker is in excellent condition, so the team is ensuring that they are recording as much information as possible from the feature. Each rod (horizontal piece) and sail (vertical piece) is sampled with a 10cm section being taken. The timber uprights from the corner of the feature were also cleaned and by Friday afternoon, only two were left.

In an interesting development on two sides of the feature, the prefabricated wicker panels had been inserted sideways at a 90 degree angle. However on the other sides the panels were placed in normally rather than being rotated, at the time being the team has no idea why this was! The adverse weather has meant that work on this feature has been rather slow especially as it is a time-consuming process but hopefully it will be finished by early next week.



Towards the rear of the area, the team have been working on a number of features, including several which were started towards the end of last week. The context which contained a great deal of tile fragments has been fully excavated and was much larger than was originally anticipated. The pit close to the tile-edged hearth continued to be excavated with a very mixed backfill with large quantities of mortar and tile.



A new section of the site was cleaned which revealed a new context close to a section of a Victorian drain cut. The feature was cleaned, photographed, recorded and excavation began although at the time being it isn’t clear what the pit was used for. Finally the Victorian sewer cut which runs down the centre of the area was recorded, which was no mean feat as it was spread over a significant number of grid squares. This was a great effort by several people and will prove useful in the next few weeks.



Elena’s section of site took the brunt of Tuesday’s cataclysmic rainstorm with the very large medieval feature filling with water very quickly. Despite this slight setback, a lot of archaeology has been recorded and excavated. Next to the large pit a heavily truncated and mixed feature was recorded and once digging began, revealed the remnants of a degraded wicker lining. It was especially difficult to define the edges of this context as there were several very similar deposits close by with similar inclusions. The pit yielded mainly animal bone and a mixture of pottery with some Anglo-Scandinavian shards uncovered.



The feature adjacent to the spiral well, which was begun last week, was finished and seems to be a medieval refuse pit. A second truncated context nearby was also recorded and excavated that also contained lots of animal bone and pottery which would suggest a similar function for this feature. Several medieval inter-cutting contexts were cleaned back and at the base a few earlier features showed up. One of these contains burnt material that could be fairly early in date.



In between Elena and Artemi’s areas a composite plan was drawn up covering the cobble blocks to help understand the features better. Currently these contexts are still confusing and complex but hopefully over the final two weeks, some more excavation will shed some light on their functions.

The wicker lined cess pit at the base of the very large medieval context was carefully excavated and required small tools to clean up the wicker sections. Unfortunately the deluge of rain on Tuesday completely submerged the pit which means it will be left until the weather improves and the water inside can be bailed. Hopefully the water will help to preserve the wicker so it can be photographed and recorded next week.



In the bottom corner of Artemi’s area the hearth was finished completely with a few additional contexts being recorded. Close by the bottom corner of an earlier pit was recorded and excavated which contained two different fills consisting of fairly organic material.



Excavation continued in the house and a lot of progress was made in determining the extent of the building. One side appears to have been truncated away by a series of pits which have been recorded but not excavated. Inside the house there have been several mortar deposits dug out which could constitute another levelling deposit. The opposite side of the building now has a defined edge and could have a step down into the structure.

Outside the house a pit was started which could have contained a lining deposit. There was a large amount of tile, mortar and brick inside the context which suggest that it is later in date than other features around. This week has been very successful, especially in defining the extent of the house which has previously proved to be confusing. During the excavation in the area two game counters were found both of similar sizes with one slightly larger.




The team from Week 10. A big thank you to all who have helped out!

[YAT]

WEEK 11

Last week’s wet spell has thankfully ended and instead we have had plenty of glorious sunshine during the penultimate week of the training dig. Once the aftermath of the wet weather was bailed out of the pits a great deal of progress has been made in each of the areas.



The team in Ben’s area has focused mainly on the Anglo-Scandinavian building which has had some interesting developments. Work centred on recording and excavating the pit which has truncated the north-west corner of the structure. Excavation was a careful process removing the backfill slowly which has paid off as there have been a number of interesting finds. Alongside several pieces of timber that had been thrown into the context there were pieces of leather, lots of Anglo-Scandinavian pottery and a hone stone. There appear to be multiple fills to the pit including what appears to be part of a degraded wicker sheet.



A lot of work went into clearing the trial trench next to the structure which has allowed the building backfill to be excavated. Several thin, gritty deposits were recorded and removed which seem to be related to the infilling of the building. They seemed similar to trample and suggest different phases of movement as people backfilled the house. On Friday excavation began on the deposits inside the house as well as one on the edge which could relate to its demolition.

The wicker-lined feature was finished with the remaining two sides being sampled. The wood was in excellent condition and one of the remaining sides had very substantial uprights which were removed. The remaining two large timber uprights were also removed and it appears that their ends were slightly sharpened before they were driven straight into the natural soil. Finally, the material pushed in behind the wicker panels (the construction backfill) was recorded and excavated leaving a very large feature with a significant cut. The sections of the feature have proved very useful and have shown a deep and narrow pit in the north-east corner which has been truncated by the wicker-lined pit.

Towards the rear of the area work has centred on the tile-edged hearths. The one closest to the edge of the excavation has been dug revealing a layer underneath which will be recorded at the beginning of next week. The second hearth near the Victorian drain cut has also been excavated and seems to have been involved in a number of different uses. There appear to have been three phases in its lifespan, each of which was recorded and dug away. Several late/post medieval pits were recorded and excavated at the very back of the area with each containing lots of ceramic building material and pottery.



With Elena the team have been very busy on all sorts of different things. The possible stone lined toilet has been recorded and partially excavated, showing that one of the walls had collapsed inwards as it was taken out of use. A whole series of other medieval features have been investigated.



A lot of time was spent recording and excavating the wicker lined feature within the giant pit. You can see from the photograph that it was not the easiest feature to draw, but the team did a fantastic job on it.



We are still unsure about what the specific use of this wicker feature was, though it looks like something has been 'stirred' within it......?!



Artemi and co. have been working on features within the Viking structure, as well as ones which appear to continue beyond the northeast extent.



From what we can see it appears as if the southeast side of the building has been modified at some point during the life of the structure. Burnt deposits join up with where timber survives as stains in the ground and it may indicate that the construction and/or demolition was a lot more complicated than that seen in the building further up the street.



Once again thank you to the team who were with us during week 11.

Another massive thank you should go to Chris Wakefield. He has been creating the site diary for every week so far this year, and has obviously been doing a fantastic job! Cheers

[YAT]

WEEK 12

So we get to the final week of the summer season of Archaeology Live! 2009. The weather is dry and bright for all the trainees and the team on site, whilst the archaeology continues to be interesting.



Ben's team continue with the pit in the top corner of the Viking building and the pit continues to let us know more about what happened in that area. Digging this feature has shown us an awful lot about how the building was put together, so it is not just the action of digging and filling the pit that has been useful - it is what we can see in the sides of the cut.



The other parts of Ben's area have continued to give us more information about the medieval period and later. Underneath the tile hearth next to the edge of the trench a pit has been excavated showing a tile rich backfill, suggesting it was used to dispose of building material.



With Elena the team have continued to record a very complex series of pits and features...



Which takes a lot of concentration. However, we need to make sure that all the plans fit together properly and the records we produce can be used to interrogate the archaeology during the post excavation processes.



Just to the north of the really large pit another sequence as been taken to bits, revealing even more pits at the base! This photo shows 4 separate pits in the dark area at the centre. Undisturbed natural sands can be seen at the right of the picture.



To the south, with Artemi, lots of work has been completed. A big clean up over the area where the build is has given us a better idea of what is going on in with this sequence. It looks like there may be more surviving than we initially thought, as what we previously interpreted as a floor could in fact be part of the backfilling sequence.



Running across the centre of the building there appears to be another plank which may indicate that the building was shortened. If it wasn't shortened it means there is a very strange construction sequence. Whatever the case it will be fun taking it to bits over the coming weeks.



Further south we have been looking at a very unusual pit. To be honest it makes no real sense at the moment, but if it turns out to be Roman in date it would not be the first unusual Roman feature we have seen.



We have also had chance to clean up in the possible 3rd building from the Viking period. We are looking forward to really getting into this feature.



Thank you to the team from week 12, great work once again.

I must also take the opportunity to thank the team Elena, Ben, Artemi, Arran, Gary, Danni, Pam, Pete, Ann, Nicky, Ailsa, Steve, Mags, Ian etc etc - Basically everybody involved in the project! 2009 would not have been the same without them.




Now it is time to have a look at the records!