Day 9
There was quite a lot of recording today. We also back-filled trenches 1 and 3. Trench 2 was back-filled yesterday and the topsoil was scattered over the top this morning.
Trench 6 was photographed, recorded and the levels taken. A drawing of the Section and a plan will probably be done tomorrow before that too is back-filled.
Trench 5 will also be photographed and recorded and the levels taken and drawings done before being filled in tomorrow.
Trench 4 (our bank and ditch) has finally reached the natural and more pottery and a lump of lead came out of the bottom of it. A large piece of glazed pottery with the handle intact came out of the bottom of this trench. WA could probably reconstruct most of it with the pieces they have found. The archaeologists think it is post medieval which covers a long period of history, but basically, the finds appear to be no earlier than the 19th century upon first glance.
The reason why the bank and ditch is there is still a complete mystery at the moment, so we will be opening another trench, trench 8 a few feet away tomorrow to see if the bank and ditch continues, or if it was an isolated feature.
Also tomorrow, a team of archaeologists and volunteers will continue to look at the stone feature that our volunteer, Si, uncovered the other day in trench 7.
The stones are on the correct alignment (according to me) with the feature that we can see on an aerial photograph entering the wood from the fields. Some of the archaeologists think it is probably natural, however, more work has to be done on them to be absolutely certain. So, late this afternoon they extended part of that trench in the area where the stones were discovered by 1 metre x 1 metre to see if the stones continue, and they do.
Tomorrow we will be splitting the team into two groups and moving to another part of the wood where we have spotted some more interesting features that we want to investigate.
If anyone would like to come along and help, or see how an archaeological dig is carried out, then please let me know and tell your friends. I promise you, you won’t regret it. Every day is different and incredibly interesting. No one has to dig if they don’t want to, there are so many different jobs to do.
If you just want to have a look around, then we will be open on Saturday and Sunday from 9am. Mili, the Wessex Archaeology Manager and some volunteers will be on site at the weekend to show people around and tell them more about what we are doing and what we are looking for.
This afternoon, Kate and Jonathan from WA did some more experimental archaeology and recreated a bit more of the Iron-Age footpath using broken branches and leaves and grass to make the path more stable underfoot and it works a treat!
Today we only had two volunteers to help out, Ted and myself and as we were mostly back-filling trenches today it was probably a good job.
There was a lot of laughter on site today, just like every other day. Who would have thought that digging holes in the ground and then filling them in again would be so much fun. To be serious though, it is all down to the WA team. They are so friendly and helpful and willing to answer any question and share their knowledge. They do everything with a smile on their faces and everyone, (males and females) can shift a lot of soil effortlessly! I’m thinking of telling them that i’ve found some Roman coins on my allotment just to get them to turn it over for me!!
I wonder what tomorrow will bring?
Click the photo below to view a photo slideshow.
