Day 13
Today is our weekend Open Day. I had expected it to be a very quiet day with not much interest but I was wrong. Shortly after setting up and officially opening at 9am, we had a visit from Yasmin and her two boys, Alex (6yrs old) and Theo (3 yrs old).
Yasmin informed me that Alex, was really interested in history and archaeology. I showed them all the piece of iron slag that Tim had found on Friday and another piece of Iron slag that I had found last year in a field whilst out field walking along one of the public footpaths.
Alex asked me on of THE best questions about the iron slag that I hadn’t even considered, but which I thought, from now on, I need to do this. He said to me, “How much does it weigh!” It stopped me in my tracks and I thought, I have never thought to weigh anything before. I told him that I didn’t know but I would weigh it over the weekend and I would email his mum to let him know. This young man is only 6 yrs old and he was SO on the ball. Drum roll please….. the weight of the iron slag that I found last year is:……. and the weight of the iron slag that Tim found is:……………… I'm sorry! I can't reveal that information yet, as I told Alex he'd be the first to know! :-)
Today, I was lucky enough to have with me, Mili and Liz from Wessex Archaeology. Liz brought her microscope and the boys enjoyed looking at seeds close up that had been found on another WA job. Liz kindly explained to us all how soil samples are taken from excavations and once back in the lab’, they wash the soil in a sink with a filter in it, that releases any seeds and bugs from the heavier soil which drops to the bottom as it is massaged by hand, and the seeds and bugs float to the top and are then removed for drying and inspection under the microscope.
The seeds can tell the archaeologists exactly what people were eating on a site; which species of plants were growing at that time etc., and they can understand how the environment has changed and how people lived. It was fascinating to look under the microscope at a grape seed that looked as large as a balloon.
Helping us today was Alison, another volunteer from the village. Mili had said it would be a good idea to get any volunteers and visitors to help (if they wanted to), by moving the spoil heap at the side of trench 7 as we want to extend it on Monday and also clear the undergrowth around it.
Mili gave Yasmin and her two boys a tour of the site and explained to them about our bank and ditch feature before showing them the wall.
Whilst that was happening my pal, Kev turned up to have a look around and then our volunteer Sarah, turned up with her mum, Sue, and her daughters, Alice (12yrs) and Annie (3yrs). They had come to look around but also to help move some soil. Even Alice had a small shovel and scooped soil and helped to move the spoil heap. She also helped her grandma, Sue, carefully brush the dirt off the wall. It was a fine family effort and it will speed up the process ready for the arrival of the rest of the WA archaeologists on Monday morning.
As Sarah and her family were doing that, another visitor from the village arrived, Jo, who also chipped in and enthusiastically helped to move the spoil heap. And then Jo’s husband John arrived. Even a Robin flew down to look at our wall! It was great to see so many interested people come to have a look around.
After moving the spoil heap and brushing the stones clean, our visitors went back to visit Liz and have a look through her microscope.
With the spoil heap gone, Mili decided to start extending trench 7 to see if the stones continued and they did. It’s a shame that we have a tree directly in our path, however, the archaeologists will work around it, as they have done so expertly in other trenches.
Sadly, I had to leave Mili, Liz and Alison at 1pm as I had some family commitments to attend to. However, I will be back on Sunday afternoon when I know that more people will be coming from as far away as Stoke to have a look at our site.
Although, our wall is very exciting, I am tinged with sadness because I know that we are on the final stretch. This is our last week, but come what may, I know it will be a good one!
