Day 18: Romans and Doughnuts

Today, Chiara, Dan and I gave ourselves a challenge of excavating the remaining fill of the medieval ditch at the southern end, and we succeeded with the help of Mavis (a mattock)! However, the southern end of the ditch has now become a mystery. At the end of yesterday we had recovered a large number of Roman pottery and building materials, which was unusual considering that we are excavating a ditch that dates the medieval period. This has led us to believe that there may be a Roman feature that the ditch has cut through! It is very exciting!

Some amazing finds have been excavated out the ditch fill from numerous animal remains to pottery sherds and metal objects (mostly thought to be nails). The most exciting find so far for me has been several large pieces of Cistercian ware that were excavated yesterday and today. The vessel is broken, however it is thought that is may have been a ‘portable brewery’. Hopefully tomorrow (our last day on site L) will give us a chance to find even more amazing things in the potential Roman deposit! 

The sun was shining and although this is welcomed compared to the rain, it made it very difficult to swing the mattock or shovel loose for more than two minutes without needing to drink water or sit down! 

Doughnuts were delivered by our lecturer Amy during the morning break, which were amazing (Raspberry jam doughnuts are superior to any other!).

Jenny