Today has been a busy day for the students as they began troweling back in Trench E.

Troweling back is where archaeologists will clean the dust and dirt from the surface of the site; this is done by using the edge of a trowel to scrap everything back and them moving into a bucket. Its important that this is done before starting any excavations because it allows archaeologists to get a clearer image of the features on site.

Students worked hard today to get as much troweling back completed in Trench E to then be able to move onto Trench D.

The students were also given a guide on understanding archaeological finds. Finds will always be found on an archaeological site, so showing the students what they need to look out for is vital.  They were also soon how to collect and record these finds, so that they can later be analysed.

The students were also lucky enough to get a crash course on zooarchaeology by Bournemouth University lecturer Ellen Hambleton. Animals bones are the most found find on an archaeological site and being able to have a slight idea on what is being found allows for a better understanding on what have occurred in the pass. The students really enjoyed being able to get hands on with some example of animal bones which might be found.

Behind the scenes of the trenches the placement students were getting the finds and environmental huts ready for samples being collected.

Hopefully the digging will start soon!