Today saw the end of excavation of many more features. The house platform in area ‘A’ has almost been fully excavated except the narrow baulks, and is still producing a large amount of ceramics from the Roman era as well as possibly recycled material from the stone buildings nearby. It is also producing more high status finds, including today’s discovery of a copper alloy object. First interpretations suggest that this is a ‘terret ring’ from part of the riding tackle of a horse, but it is yet to be cleaned and analysed more closely.

In contrast to the many horse and cow remains deposited together, the femur (upper leg bone) of a cow has been placed close to that of the same bone from a human. Other skeletal remains include another neonate in area ‘C’, and also a dog (named ‘Holly’ by students) which will be further excavated next week. In area ‘A’ and ‘B’, more pits and gullys are being discovered within the ‘banjo’ ditch sections as they continue to be excavated.

Following the planning of completed feature excavations, excavators are being assigned to new features, which means that most of the site will be excavated and recorded by the end of the project. We are well on the way to another very successful season at Winterbourne Kingston.

Lauren and Zoe

Day 18: Pot washing in the sunshine, complete black burnished ware pot, animal bone deposits, dog burial, and decorated copper alloy object