CAER: Chester Amphitheatre Environs Research Project

After a bit of a slow start quite a large assemblage of finds has been retrieved over the last 3 and a half weeks and predictably this week the excavation of part of a ditch running north/south across the site is producing bags and bags of animal bone and pottery. Last year’s backfill produced an amazing range of finds: clay tobacco pipes, lead shot, fragments of Samian pottery, as well as Westerwald stoneware and post-medieval Spanish olive jar and a variety of other post-medieval wares, including slipware dish fragments, blackware vessels and pieces of Cistercian ware cups. It’s interesting to see what ended up on last year’s spoil heap rather than in finds trays but it is easy to miss fragments when it’s wet and muddy. Once the backfill had been removed the quantity of clay tobacco pipes found fell considerably and stopped completely after the last of the 17th century demolition deposits were removed from the south side of the trench. It looks as if we are firmly in the 16th ce...

Catherine also reports on some more of Monday’s finds: On Monday I planned the section of wall that I had been excavating for the past week. I had to use a grid to draw each stone in the wall and lost my balance a few times almost falling into the supposed grave that was close by, much to Helen's delight! Later on in the day I moved on to digging with Maeve, Hayley and Rhianna, and Maeve found a Jet bead! Which was very exciting!  The jet bead! Lovely!  Rhianna, Maeve and Catherine on the look out for more finds