Today has been a very exciting day for those in Area H as four burials have been uncovered, all within a very small space. Two adults have been found with a minimum age around their late teenage years; this can be determined from the Iliac Crest, part of the pelvis, which is present in both skeletons and fuses between the ages of 15-17 years. Luke Roberts who has just finished his first year of BA Prehistory and Roman Archaeology uncovered the first adult which was originally found by Dave Stewart, a site supervisor, when cleaning back the site. Luke was then assigned to the feature and has started exposing the skeleton as well as a brooch which was found sitting on top of the chest area of the body. At this stage, the brooch in a style of the La Tène culture, which is a decorative style of art that originated in Europe during the late Iron Age and therefore highlights the continental links of the site.
Luke exposing the adult skeleton with the brooch
The Bronze brooch found in a burial
The second adult was found by Jack Peverall who is studying BSc Archaeology and just like Luke, this is also his first dig.
Jack excavating the second adult skeleton
The other two burials are perinatal and were both found by second year students. This is the first time that Arias Jordens, studying BSc Archaeology, has never found human remains despite this being his second year on the dig. He is very excited about and so is Dandy Kennard who discovered the second perinatal burial.
Arias carefully exposing a perinatal burial
Dandy is also studying BSc Archaeology and discovered the perinatal in the same feature that yielded the first perinatal burial in Area H this year; found on day four. For all four of these students, it is the first time they have ever excavated human remains however it is now very near to the end of the day. The four burials will therefore be covered over tonight until they can be further exposed and hopefully lifted and recorded tomorrow.
Dandy exposing the second perinatal remains