CAER: Chester Amphitheatre Environs Research Project

And so, we get to the bittersweet end of our dig. In fact, is our last day as second-year students, but as the weeks at the dig site have progressed, the routine and the work has grown on us, and it is with mixed filings I now have to end this year. I don’t know if I talk for all of us, but I would say that I would miss this experience. Most of the people that I have shared a trench with this month I did not even know that well beforehand, and now the only thing I wish for is that we could have gotten more time together before the year ends. But enough nostalgia, today me and Adam were excavating a context filled with a lot of stones. It seems to align pretty well with the wall in the neighbouring trench (just a little bit higher up). So, who knows, there might be something interesting for next year's students to find down there. Apart from that, just as the title suggests, the rest of the day pretty much rained away, and most of the remaining time left to us went i...

The final day of the dig for Team D consisted filling out the context sheets and completing the section drawings for Trench IV.   The afternoon rain flooded the trenches, making the trench very slippery underfoot, which made today’s tasks difficult to carry out however we managed to finish the section drawings, plans, and context sheets as a team.   Team F found the bottom of the Early-Medieval ditch, which was in the trench we were all working in.   The speculated bottom of the Early-Medieval ditch   A highlight for our team was finding the Roman flagon neck and the handle to go with it, which was found in Trench IV, near the sondage, yesterday.  Another highlight was finding Roman glass, found by Kelly, which is believed to be from a perfume bottle.  We also found a piece of iron that looked like it could have been a key. The flagon spout and the handle     Our overall experience as a team is positive; we ha...

Today was the much anticipated open day, where members of the public would be allowed on site to see the results of the months hard work. All teams strived to show off our excavation skill, and eagerly showed visitors what we had found. On display were various Roman and Medieval/ Post Medieval artefacts from both trench VIII and IV, including samian ware counters featuring makers marks, bone dice, and decorated tiles.  Team A have all enjoyed May's excavation, and are sad that it is now coming to an end. Thanks to all those involved in making this years dig a great experience! Team A