Leah and Zoe excavating the crouched burial

Another crouched inhumation burial was uncovered today after it was discovered yesterday by Rachelle Gray, a first year student studying AAFS (BSc Archaeological, Anthropological and Forensic Sciences). The burial is most likely to be Iron Age as some black burnished ware pottery has also been recovered from the grave cut and the position of the burial fits in with typical Iron Age burials. Despite this, the skeleton is laid on its right side orientated with the head to the east facing north, which is unusual as they are more often orientated head to the north and facing west. The skeleton has been exposed today with the help of Leah Harding and Zoe Ward, who are both first years also on AAFS, and they are all extremely excited to be excavating a burial.

The inhumation burial fully exposed

In a pit that is cut by this grave, a nice piece of Iron Age black burnished ware was found which had a complete handle on it. This was found by second year student placement Beth White, who is also studying AAFS.

Beth with the black burnished ware pottery found in area H

In Area F, another housing platform has been uncovered with a neonatal burial amongst it. This will be uncovered tomorrow as it is approaching the end of the day. Features in this area are being finished and planned, finalising the excavation process, and the students are being moved onto new features. The housing platform on the east side of the ‘banjo’ enclosure is progressing well with the ‘banjo’ ditch now exposed. It is the aim to excavate a section of this ditch to try and see the terrace cut in the remaining platform of soil.

In Area G, progress on the Roman villa is slow, due to its very complicated structure, yet steady. All the industrial features of the late Roman period have now been looked at and the later phases of the villa are now attempting to be traced despite them hardly being visible. A plan is also underway to draw the entire villa including every single flint that is visible which will hopefully be completed by Friday.