CAER: Chester Amphitheatre Environs Research Project

Holly M reports from Trench 4… Today we continued with the cleaning of the Roman road as well as uncovering the roadside gully and the cleaning of the surface in order to be able to record it at a later time. We were also visited by some school children who were shown the site and some of the artefacts by two members of our team. They asked lots of questions and showed a keen interest in the subject. We also had a visit from a dog named Fen which brightened up our day. Well-behaved canine visitors are always welcome! Jake gets a taste of recording in trench 8… Now midway through the final full week of the 2019 Grosvenor Park excavations [ eek! ] and recording has commenced in Trench 8. Today team bee were finishing off any ditches they started excavating from Tuesday. Once that was completed, recording of them was required. In particularly a mortar feature was recorded in the trench, this included making a section drawing as well as taking levels. Team bee had a study peri...

Robert and team C continue to dig deeper… today we tried to find the bottom of what might be an Anglo Saxon ditch. We had many interesting finds such as Roman pottery some of which may have been from an incense burner and containers, there was also plenty of animal bone. Although the soil was difficult to take out of the ground, the sun was shining and ice lollies were provided at the end of the day so on the whole it was a great experience. A well deserved ice lolly at the end of a hard days work! Edward reports for the A-Team… today we were tasked with taking height measurements or ‘levels’, and drawing plans of areas of Trench VIII. I also took part in excavating a suspected post-hole. There were also large groups of visitors at the site today, including some from a school, all of whom seemed interested in the site’s history, and what we had found. The rain water that had collected in Trench IV was needed to make the trowelling more easy, but the nice weather made ...

Sammy reports from Trench 4 and the continuing case of the mystery ditch… Today's activities built upon what was achieved last week, the lowering of the ditch fill to expose more of the wide Roman/early-Medieval cut. Amongst the deposit filling this cut we found a variety of material, mostly animal bone and Roman pottery, particularly Samian and Black Burnished Ware. In recent days we have found bone which is believed to belong to a juvenile pig (pictured). Note the size of the bones, in particular the jaw bone, along with the black appearance due to discolouration from the surrounding sediment. Pig bones from the ditch fill Due to the trench now being entirely below the natural water-level we are finding conditions difficult. Jack has thus far best summarised the weight of the waterlogged 'sludge' as being "the heaviest thing in the world". Only time will tell if conditions will improve! Jessica gets a drier spot to work on… Today was a relatively...

Jack E is finding a bit of rain makes things easier in trench 8… Rain has finally graced us with its presence. After many days of harsh sunlight, excavation can now continue at a somewhat normal pace. With the soil now removable at a faster pace Team A has finally begun to enter the next context. Showing brick, bone and clay, things are looking promising in the trench. Morale is good because of the progress being made, so throughout the trench things are at an all-time high. It's Friday - ending the week on a high! The archaeology in trench 8 looking super clear as Dan gives his end of week round-up. Kayleigh reports from trench 4… Today started off gloomy with light rain but this was followed by a sunny afternoon, so waterproofs and sunscreen were both needed! Me, Connor and Abby started to excavate in between the ditch and the Roman Road to reveal yet more of the road. Whilst Holly M, Kimberley and Jess worked hard by cleaning a huge section of the trench revealin...

Kimberley has some dabbling visitors… Today we started with bailing out the ditch we had been excavating which had accumulated some groundwater overnight, luckily this didn't take long and we were able to move on quickly. After this we continued to use mattocks and shovels to get deeper into the ditch. During our break we were visited by some ducks which is always a cute addition to the day. A couple of mallards hoping to have a dabble [ geddit? ] at archaeology perhaps? Lucy had a cracking day… Once I’d finally managed to get the hang of getting in and out of the trench without falling back in, today’s task had me and Holly focusing on the area alongside the possible Anglo-Saxon ditch. We were trying to find the cut of the larger ditch and dig down to the same level, all while trying to keep the water that kept seeping into the ditch at bay. One of the highlights of the day was when Holly uncovered a pig jaw bone with teeth still attached!! With cracking weathe...