| Entry: | End of another week and only one more to go until the half way point of the season. The start of this week definitely dragged and we didn’t seem to be making any progress but today most of the canvas for the shelter went up and I started digging material below building 18. We will only be digging to the south of the deep sounding and have stepped in by 1m to allow for shoring. I took off the remaining lower spit of makeup/infill below building 18 as a separate spit (4708) which has been prioritised. I took three flotation samples; one at the eastern end, one in the middle and one at the western end, which I will continue to do where feasible in the hope of finding spatial patterning. Once the others dig building 23 they will be able to extend this westwards. Below (4708) is the banded ‘stabling’ deposit (4710) which looks like being the cause of much interest. It is cut by a large pit at the western end and possibly by a smaller feature at the eastern end which I will have to investigate first.
Looking back at the records I found that in just under two months since the start of May, not allowing for a weeks holiday and some time spent working in space 173, when I moved into this area I have managed to go down approximately 2m from c.1005m OD to c.1003m OD. This was quite reassuring as a metre a month was our original schedule and although a lot of this was simple 1960’s backfill, which I had a lot of help to move, I have done almost all the actual excavation of archaeology in buildings 16 and 18 myself. I still think that we will have problems getting to natural but at least we are going downwards at a respectable rate.
Working today it was clear that we will run into labour problems as it will require a lot of manpower simply to move soil let alone sieve it. We effectively only have four workmen on site most of the time and if I am removing thick deposits I could keep that many busy by myself, so what happens when all the other spaces need workmen as well? Sieving may also become a problem as the workmen don’t like dealing with damp soil.
Effectively almost everything that I dig from now on will probably be a priority but as all the other spaces will probably be down to digging floors etc at the same time it looks like there may be a glut of priorities. I’m not sure how it will work out, the arrival of more specialists for the summer will help but this will presumably be cancelled out by the commencement of work in other areas. I think that we will probably need some form of strict triage system for priorities, personally I think the bit that I am working on is the most vital as it is the earliest material that the current project has ever looked at and may be our only chance to look at it for a long time. But then again perhaps I’m biased. On reflection I am certainly biased but I am also probably still right.Entered By: Craig Cessford |
