Post by YAT on Jul 1, 2011 10:10:31 GMT 1
Week 1
So it is the start of a new summer season of Archaeology Live! and we are getting into the archaeology on Block H for what will be the last time before it is finished.
Ben is picking up where he left off in spring and last year, chasing into the construction of a viking building and excavating the features around it.
His team have been excavating the last of the medieval features in this space, including this pit which has produced lots of good finds.
Inside the house there is lots of recording to be done as they work out the sequence of construction and alteration.
We have evidence of possible reinforcement of the structure (which makes Tom very excited!). This picture shows what could be a diagonal brace within the structure.
Gary has taken over the central area which he looked at in spring (yorkdig.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=photos&action=display&thread=423)
The team started off giving the area a good clean over to make sure the edges were clean.
Once this was done they began the excavation of a massive foundation at the front of another viking building. This is different from the others as it is a footing for a larger wall, rather than walls supporting the sides of an entrance into a sunken featured building.
Once this was completed more recording took place on the next features to be excavated. This was a massive pit which may pre-date the building.
Gary also had some people working on the excavation of a burial nearby. We have had a team from York University come out to take samples to try and find out more about what you can see in the soils that surround burials (www.york.ac.uk/archaeology/research/current-projects/interarchive/). What was a little bit unexpected is that the burial appears to be viking in date, and not Roman as we expected. We may have another chapter to the story on site.
Arran is working to the east (as he was in spring) examining another pair of viking buildings and the archaeology around them.
Here there is a feature that is looking like it may be Roman in date, one of the few Roman features which is not a burial!
This is a nice small lead weight which came from it.
Elsewhere a large pit, similar to that dug by the team working with Gary, has been excavated with great care. It looks like there may have been large fragments of burnt timber within the backfill.
A big thank you to the team for making the first week hit the ground running. It has been a great effort by all involved, and if the summer continues this way it will be over in a flash!
Apologies for being behind schedule in sorting the T-Shirt for this year, but as consolation here is Arran and the gang pointing the way to the beach!
So it is the start of a new summer season of Archaeology Live! and we are getting into the archaeology on Block H for what will be the last time before it is finished.
Ben is picking up where he left off in spring and last year, chasing into the construction of a viking building and excavating the features around it.
His team have been excavating the last of the medieval features in this space, including this pit which has produced lots of good finds.
Inside the house there is lots of recording to be done as they work out the sequence of construction and alteration.
We have evidence of possible reinforcement of the structure (which makes Tom very excited!). This picture shows what could be a diagonal brace within the structure.
Gary has taken over the central area which he looked at in spring (yorkdig.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=photos&action=display&thread=423)
The team started off giving the area a good clean over to make sure the edges were clean.
Once this was done they began the excavation of a massive foundation at the front of another viking building. This is different from the others as it is a footing for a larger wall, rather than walls supporting the sides of an entrance into a sunken featured building.
Once this was completed more recording took place on the next features to be excavated. This was a massive pit which may pre-date the building.
Gary also had some people working on the excavation of a burial nearby. We have had a team from York University come out to take samples to try and find out more about what you can see in the soils that surround burials (www.york.ac.uk/archaeology/research/current-projects/interarchive/). What was a little bit unexpected is that the burial appears to be viking in date, and not Roman as we expected. We may have another chapter to the story on site.
Arran is working to the east (as he was in spring) examining another pair of viking buildings and the archaeology around them.
Here there is a feature that is looking like it may be Roman in date, one of the few Roman features which is not a burial!
This is a nice small lead weight which came from it.
Elsewhere a large pit, similar to that dug by the team working with Gary, has been excavated with great care. It looks like there may have been large fragments of burnt timber within the backfill.
A big thank you to the team for making the first week hit the ground running. It has been a great effort by all involved, and if the summer continues this way it will be over in a flash!
Apologies for being behind schedule in sorting the T-Shirt for this year, but as consolation here is Arran and the gang pointing the way to the beach!
