| Entry: | Another Saturday break from digging to catch up on paperwork and begin work on sections. We are now down to c.1000.0 to 999.5m OD the variation arising from a pronounced almost 1 in 3 slope downwards from north to south which I am assuming reflects the underlying topography. Jez and I have removed a series of dumps, (5294) to (5317) so far. These are generally quite thin and lack clear boundaries. Generally the density of cultural material seems to be going down in all categories, we also haven’t found any cut features in the last half metres. Both of these suggest that the area under excavation is increasingly peripheral to the actual settlement. We may attempt to answer this by coring horizontally which would be another novel technique. We have come across a few spreads of burnt material, (5314) and (5417), which have discoloured the underlying layers but do not seem to have scorched them so they probably don’t represent in-situ burning.
Ian has been wondering if either of the gullies (5269) or (5295) were structural. There was nothing associated with them, ie other features / surfaces / demolition layers, to suggest that they were. It is impossible to state categorically that they were not structural but if they were, which I have doubts about, then they must relate to some very insubstantial temporary structures which could have been largely removed by periodic flooding. They certainly don’t relate to the red painted plaster we are finding in these lower levels. This painted plaster, some of it on stones, suggests impressive structures at a very early date. If the gullies we have found are structural they relate to very peripheral structures and do nothing to change my belief that we are some distance from the core of the early settlement. Some of the painted plaster is on stoned which suggests that it comes at least partly from floors. These are presumably quite distinct from the later buildings we have excavated so far.
Another topic of discussion has been whether or not any of these layers are water lain. Visually there is nothing at the macro level to support this and the bones and clay objects show no sign of being particularly water worn. If there is flooding of this area I think it is probably quite minor. Some of the lower layers that we haven’t excavated yet look much more like they may be water lain. We will probably end up taking some samples to try and answer this.Entered By: Craig Cessford |
