CAER: Chester Amphitheatre Environs Research Project

Just to prove that you never know what you might find amongst the 'rubbish' of demolished buildings, Team 2014 turned up a few unexpected treasures in a day's work... Our trench at the end of Week 2: the Roman road is visible in the foreground and in the vertical section in the centre of the photo, running underneath the possible medieval structure left of centre. Jordy With the string of nice weather alongside the introduction of a football on site, today was set up to be another entertaining day on the dig. This was however quickly proved wrong although the sun was still shining. John informed me as soon as I got on site that a) I had broken his glasses accidentally during the football game yesterday and b) Tom got injured also during the game (Which is apparently my fault although these things happen!). The morning mainly involved me and the rest of group B catching up on the washing of finds and marking them. Functioning on the little sleep I had as well as my un...

Some pics courtesy of the CWAC archaeologists.. thanks guys! Look at them all... in the sunshine...dirt beneath their nails... ah the life of the archaeology student!

Freya The nice weather continued today, much to everyone's relief! We started the day by trowelling, meaning many finds were discovered all round. The sun got hotter as the day went on, which led to one of the highlights of my day, in the form of Matt smearing mud across his face when trying to put on sun cream. For a change of pace in the afternoon, Jon and I began drawing up a plan of a section of the trench, which we will hopefully finish tomorrow. I think everyone is wishing that the weather will stay nice! Laura Today did not disappoint with some great finds, impressive weather and hard team work. Upon arrival, a few of us were separated into groups. Some went to wash finds, others to record the site, take measurements and continue trowelling. I was a troweller, and I loved every minute. The sun was shining and I couldn’t wait to uncover my next find! Late on in the day, after the final break, another colleague and I were chosen to engage with the public and tell them ab...

Finally, a sunny day in the park! Let the proper digging commence! Dave is thrilled about his medieval tile find. Tom After the recent weather, today was a welcome change as waterproof clothing was changed for t-shirts and sun cream. Dave, Callum and I were sent to mattock down a layer of soil that was baking quickly in the hot sun. After 20 minutes or so we decided that it would be safer to trowel the layer down after a number of bones were narrowly missed with the mattock! Progress in this part of the site was rather slow due to the sheer volume of finds coming up with pieces of bone, slate and pottery ranging from Roman to medieval dates. After lunch and more importantly ice creams my favourite find of the day was discovered which was a piece of decorated medieval floor tile found by Dave excavating next to me (see above). The afternoon break was spent wisely playing football. All in all, it was greatly appreciated, and after the fun that was had today I hope the weather cont...

You can now come visit the Grosvenor Park excavations and see Team 2014 in action! Although Grosvenor Park remains closed, you can now enter through the gate behind St John's as indicated by the blue marker on the map below. This will be open to visitors Monday to Friday, 10am - 4pm.

After the flood, finally Team 2014 get a sunny break. Quick, trowels out before the weather gods change their minds! Jessica The second week of the dig continues and it's safe to say I'm thoroughly enjoying being an archaeologist! After becoming one with the rain yesterday, we were all glad of some real work to do today. The morning brought puddles of muddy water, which were cleared quite efficiently with a good dose of teamwork! Before lunch, troweling commenced on the quickly drying areas of the site - the best way to work up an appetite in my opinion. This afternoon (after a...lovely lunch) Team C were washing finds at Albion Street, a surprisingly relaxing and valuable learning experience. We were also introduced to the somewhat frustrating process of labeling finds, but important for post-excavation. All in all, a good start to the second week of excavation, and fingers crossed for more lovely weather in the coming days! Adam After the setback of yesterday's seve...

The weather was even more Cestrian than usual, with a particularly bad afternoon hailstorm driving Team 2014 indoors... Nathaniel mastering the art of bone-washing Bradley Bit of wet weather today so we had to wait the morning for the conditions to improve. Getting on site in the afternoon, most of the trenches were filled with water which prevented us from working straight off, and a bit of teamwork was needed, forming human chains to bucket the water out of the trenches. Luckily the area I was working on was finished so was able to trowel till break, finding a lot of charcoal and a few large pieces of bone. Unfortunately the rain joined by a bit of thunder and hail came along soon after, resulting in an early day for the diggers. Scott Slow start to the morning as the rain caused us to be stuck inside (thankfully), leaving us to complete section drawings and fill the silence with classic banter. Following lunch when everyone went back to a presumably filthy site, me and the ...