Day 8 and things are really hotting up on site…

Abigail’s group make a nice find in trench 4… Today we continued to dig down into the next context alongside the Roman road. Upon doing so we discovered a range of Roman pottery, building materials and animal bone. The discovery of a copper alloy Roman coin by Kayleigh was also a highlight.

A copper alloy coin dating to the Roman period. Keep an eye out for more info towards the end of the dig!

Alfie’s group find a big cat… Today Group C’s main job was using tools such as the mattocks, shovels and hand trowels to slowly work down the section in the supposed Anglo-Saxon ditch whilst occasionally cleaning it to see if there were any changes in the soil’s context. The main kinds of contexts we worked through today were mixed clay soils and a grey silty deposit. In terms of finds, many sherds of pottery, including samian ware and black burnished ware, were found along with ceramic building material all dating to the Roman period. Lots of animal bones were found as well. Most of the samian ware found was in good condition suggesting that the pottery had not been disturbed since being discarded almost 1800 years ago. The most impressive finds found by our group included a small Roman glass bead which had a greenish colour and also a piece of samian ware which had clear intact decoration on it - a horse’s head on the left of the sherd and a big cat pouncing in the middle of the sherd.

A sherd of Roman samian ware with a wonderful leaping puma(?)!

Natasha and Edward report from trench 8…

Natasha: Teams A and B continued working, using a variety of tools, from intense mattocking to delicate trowelling, to help uncover even more archaeology. Today was the second day of sweltering heat, application of sun-cream and frequent water breaks were a necessity. This week has seen a dramatic increase in community intrigue, with the good weather most likely a factor, which has allowed Team B to improve their public archaeology skills.

Jake perfecting those trowelling skills!

Edward: Today would be considered as hard going, but was improved by the weather. The majority of tasks for Team A involved removing layers of dry soil using mattocks and scraping away at the layers using trowels. The heat today reached about 22 degrees, which caused some sweat and sunburn. However we were well equipped with sun cream, water, and shade, which made the conditions ideal for sunbathing during breaks and lunch.  Finally, the visitors showed a good interest in the archaeology after being shown the findings from today, such as decorated floor tiles, pottery, and bone. They also asked valid questions regarding the layers of the trenches, such as how they were formed, and how we can tell the layers apart.

Teams A and B working hard in the sun!