Excavation of Area F of the site has revealed many Roman house platforms as well as Roman pits which all lay outside of the area of the ‘banjo’ enclosure. A human skull has also been uncovered in a part of a feature this afternoon, but will remain covered until the other section is excavated tomorrow, which will hopefully reveal the rest of the skeleton. This was found by a very excited first year student Sara Gwynne, studying BSc Archaeological, Anthropological and Forensic Sciences. A dog mandible and a possible sheep mandible have also been found in the same section of the feature.
In Area G, in Jane Randall’s feature (see Day 7 entry and pictures) the almost intact black burnished ware pot was actually sitting directly on top of a human skull. After further excavation, a full skeleton has been uncovered, thought to be a female at this stage but will be confirmed once further analysed. Martin Smith, one of the site’s Anthropologists is currently supervising Jane while they expose the rest of the skeleton.
Martin Smith and Jane Randall exposing a human skeleton
First year students George Kightley, Alison Roberts and Freya Gulliver, all studying BA Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology uncovered a Roman timber ‘dog’ which is likely to have been used like a giant staple for two pieces of wood.
Roman timber ‘dog’ found by George, Freya and Alison
The Roman villa in Area G is also coming along nicely, supervised by John Milward, and currently shows two very clear phases to it. The first phase includes a ‘tegula’ room with lots of roof tiles however the floors and walls have been ‘robbed’ but this could be due to something simple like the occupants wanting to renovate their villa by removing foundations of one part to use in another. A robber trench that runs through the foundations has yielded a unuasually well preserved and complete bronze finger ring with an intaglio still set in it (an intaglio is small engraved gemstone often having carved in it a representation of a deity (a god)) that was found by Leah Harding. Leah is a first year student studying BSc Archaeological, Anthropological and Forensic Sciences and never expected to be digging on the site straight away! The second phase of the villa includes a stone roof and a burning area by which some pottery and bones have also been found.
Roman building foundation courses in Area G
Recording of certain features has continued today, lead by Harry Manley, who explains that as well as traditional recording techniques, global positioning system (GPS) surveying equipment has also been used to record the features. The data can then be uploaded to a geographical information system (GIS) for instant analysis and interpretation which can be completed in the field thus becoming a much quicker integrated process.