Later Roman ‘elbow’ pestle

Once again the weather has been on our side today as we have continued to clean back the surface of the site exposing the clean white chalk, which contrasts against the dark cut archaeological features. We are fortunate in that many first years have experienced finding at least one item with many artefacts being spotted despite the fact that we are not yet digging into any features! What appeared to be the arm of a statue of a human figure has been found in Area F. However, it turned out to be an ‘elbow’ pestle to be used with a small Purbeck stone mortar (a number of which have been found on the site in previous years) , which are so-called because they are made in the shape of an arm. Also from Area F is a small piece of ceramic tile with a pattern painted directly onto it. This highlights the Roman activity in this area of the site which has not been previously produced much Roman material. A piece of dark glass has also been found which appears to be black but shines a dark green when held up to the light. Once again, the Roman activity of the site is highlighted and it is very exciting that we are finding Roman artefacts from this area of the site. Also in Area F, a peri/neonatal burial has been found which is unfortunately rather disarticulated and damaged due to ploughing. As this burial is very close to the surface, the preservation of the bones is quite poor and some of them have even been sliced through causing great frustration to the students excavating. They worked over to lift the remains by the end of the day in preparation for the long bank holiday weekend. A similarly badly truncated adult crouched burial was excavated in area G. Elizabeth Craig, one of the project’s anthropologists, oversaw the recording and removal of the human remains. Overall, the first three days of excavation has been very successful and it looks like this year, once again, the site will yield many finds.

Site overview day 3 showing the locations of the burials described in the text