CAER: Chester Amphitheatre Environs Research Project

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...

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...

In all truth, today began well and ended brilliantly. This was the beginning that I think everyone was waiting for. Shovelling past all the backfill from last years dig in the previous three days was encumbering, unexciting and full of questionable quotes from the Simpsons, Back to the Future and The Office. However, I finally managed to pull out my £10 trowel and use it for the right reasons.  Although the weather had stopped shining, the clouds rolled in and the Cornettos remained in Tesco, (Thanks for the food by the way Mr. Pond, I’ll repay you in some way…) my burnt neck, which looks like it has been viscously slapped by the greatest (or worst) dictator on the planet - Kim Jong Cameron, was thankful for the cool breeze. One of the many highlights of the day took place during the 'introduction to public archaeology' workshop, where we visited King Charles Tower, which was occupied by a painter who produced pictures of storm troopers, Daleks and Darth Vader chilli...