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
Diary
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 2 – cleaning back.
Once everyone had arrived at the site a brief talk was given by the Site Directors, Miles Russell and Paul Cheetham. During this they highlighted the importance of ‘cleaning back’ the trenches as a precursor to excavation, a process which involves trowelling back the trench surface which aids a preliminary identification of features while defining… Read more » about Day 2 – cleaning back.