Now that a week has past, the excavation of features is advancing; sections of several of the shallow features have been fully excavated. At this point, the excavated features (and their contexts) are recorded in a section drawing (scale 1:20) and in a plan drawing (scale 1:10). Section drawings are vertical records of archaeological features,… Read more » about Day 7: recording features and conxtexts
2015
Daily news and discoveries from the 2015 field school
Day 6 – site briefing
This morning was marked by the first site briefing conducted by the project directors Paul Cheetham and Miles Russell. The students and volunteers on site gathered around each trench for an overview of the progress of the excavation so far. Miles advised that the features will become increasingly baked and hardened as the week progresses, owing… Read more » about Day 6 – site briefing
Day 5: ‘its a hard rain’
Hard rain fall from the preceding night has dampened the trenches, creating a distinctive contrast between archaeological features and the Cretaceous chalk. The definition of the features and different context compositions within them was greatly increased and clear. The moisture in the soil caused it to become much more soft and permeable, enabling easier means of… Read more » about Day 5: ‘its a hard rain’
Day 4 – burnt flint
Today saw the continuation of the excavation, environmental sampling and the processing of finds. As the students progressed onto the lower stratigraphic layers of the features, further finds in the form of faunal remains and ceramic sherds were discovered in both of the trenches. Trench B supervisor, Derek Pitman, concluded that there has been a… Read more » about Day 4 – burnt flint
Day 3 – slow progress
Progress of the excavation Today, everyone returned to the task of ‘cleaning back’, which had reached its final stages by the afternoon. Once this was completed, pairs of students were tasked with firstly strongly defining the edges of each of the features, followed by their identification and sectioning, in order to enable their viewing in… Read more » about Day 3 – slow progress