Day 10
Day 10 already! We had 7 volunteers on site today including my friend Jude from Netherthorpe Airfield at Thorpe Salvin. I invited Jude over to have a look around the trenches and pointed out various bits and pieces. Whilst showing her around, I realised that I had picked up a brilliant new ‘technical’ phrase that the archaeologist’s sometime use to explain a feature. “It’s a something!” I said pointing to the stones that Si had uncovered in trench 7 a few days ago.
The archaeologists are still not sure whether these stones are natural or “a something!” Justina, one of the WA archaeologists who is slowly uncovering the stones with her trowel, when asked by me what the feature could be, she always says to me with a smile, “I am not sure what it is, but it is a something!” It makes me smile whenever I hear that phrase now and I find it just rolls off my tongue too when I am showing new people around the site.
Today, trench 6 was recorded and the Section drawn by Jamal and Owen. I “helped” them with measuring out the trench for their drawing and I must confess, I am glad that it was Owen who was drawing the Section and not me. The accuracy and double-checking that each of the WA team do when drawing the Section in the trenches where they have been working is remarkable. I did remark to Jamal that I could probably sketch or paint the trench but not to scale, however, measuring it with the degree of accuracy that they insist upon is remarkable. I think I will stick to my painting it is much easier!
Trench 7 where our stone ‘something' is, is being extended to see if the ‘something’ continues. Justina will peel away more layers tomorrow.
Trench 4, (our bank and ditch feature) where most of our finds have come from over the last ten days has also been drawn and recorded and whilst it was, for a while, referred to as a bank and ditch, that too has now turned into a ‘something!’
It was decided to open up another trench at the side of it to see if it continues, and it doesn’t, which means it isn't a bank and ditch. The archaeologists think it was probably a Fox Hole, dug by the Home Guard as a practice ditch where they could place a Bren Gun to defend the ridge during their training exercises. There are two similar depressions nearby looking down the slope. We will open up another trench over one of the other depressions nearby tomorrow to see if it is similar to trench 4.
Whilst most of the archaeologists were busy recording and drawing their trenches, Jonathan and Kate from WA were busy carrying out more experimental archaeology and recreating more Iron-Age footpaths for our new site in the wood where there are more lumps and bumps that we want to investigate. They carefully removed tripping hazards and marked out a path using white poles.
The wood will be open on Saturday and Sunday and Mili, the WA Manager and possibly another one of her colleagues will be on site to tell anyone who is interested enough to come down to the wood for a look, exactly what we have found. We will leave trench 7 open for you to look at. Hopefully, by the weekend we might know what it is, but even if we don’t you will be able to see that it is definitely “a something!” :-)
Click on the photo below to see more.