CAER: Chester Amphitheatre Environs Research Project

Lucy and Jack’s group get to the bottom of things in trench 4… Lucy… Today the main focus in our section through the ditch was to remove the last remaining large stones from the fill, and to hopefully reach the bottom. This afternoon after many attempts we finally managed to get the last sandstone out (shown in the photos below), which nearly led to some missing toes. Overall today has been a fab day in the trench, as all our hard work over the last few weeks has paid off, with us managing to reach the bottom of the ditch. This has led to a feeling of accomplishment amongst me and my group, as for a long while it was debated if we would ever reach the bottom. Team work and some rope skills required... A sense of achievement in visual form?! Jack…Today our group had a study leave break for the morning, so we were not on site until the afternoon. This left us feeling refreshed and ready to work in the lovely weather, and the ditch we were excavating was slightly ...

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...

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. Mos...

Day 13 has been another day of exceptional sunshine and heat, which made excavating fairly difficult as the soil had become hard, requiring plenty of energetic mattocking, especially in the west end of trench IV..  After another long day spent digging (and sweating profusely) in Grosvenor Park, we are still nowhere near the bot tom of our early medieval ditch and have been left with aching muscles, sunburn and mosquito bites.  This rather brings to light th e meaning of a certain  quote  we encountered (and ignored in disbelief) during first year : “Archaeology can be very boring, distressing and physically uncomfortable”  - unfortunately, it’s true (especi ally for Connor ,  who fell down Dave’s test pit  and was  promptly followed by a wheel barrow full of soil!) .   A piece of (very blue) Roman glass On a slightly more serious note, today’s finds include a piece of Roman glass, substantial Roman pottery, a medieval Cistercia...