In archaeology, you have some days when the Fates appear to
smile on you. Contexts are clearly defined, pot sherds await your every trowel
stroke and every hypothesis you make about the remains before you is promptly
proven. Then there are the other days, in which trenches lie frustratingly
empty, finds are few and far between and your theories are consistently
confined to the spoil heap. This has been one of those days.
Trench N
 |
| Cleaning in Trench N to reveal more rubble |
Trench N does not appear to have an undercroft. Two sections
excavated over the large depressions at the western end of the trench have
revealed yet more rubble. However, this is identical to the surrounding rubble
and is also fairly compact, which is not what you might expect of a
rubble-filled, void-riddled undercroft. As a result, we are currently revising
our theories about the building within this trench, although in reality only
further excavation will answer our questions fully.
 |
| The Trench P floor |
Trench P
The rubble in Trench P has been planned and is starting to
be removed from the trench. This has revealed a broken tile floor in the
southeastern part of the trench, but in the southwest has raised more questions
than it answers. Walls which formerly appeared to be clearly defined appear to
be more rubble than structural, and in places seem to disappear altogether.
Although perplexing, now planning has been completed we should be able to
resolve our difficulties quite quickly as the removal of building debris will
hopefully reveal the structures beneath.
Trench R
Trench R is beautifully clean and utterly, utterly empty.
Removal of the linear rubble revealed an equally linear robber cut which had
presumably been excavated to purloin the stone and bricks from the building
that once stood on the site. This was achieved so successfully that the few
stones which were visible a few days ago were the only structural material
remaining. However, in the eastern return of the robber cut were large
fragments of medieval pottery, including the base of at least two Humberware
jugs and a cistern complete with spigot hole. Despite this, the rest of the
archaeology in the trench is apparently absent, with a single orange layer now
visible across its entirety. Having planned this, we will now begin to remove
the layer in spits to check that there is nothing of archaeological interest
underneath.
 |
| Uncovering the wall in Trench S |
Trench S
Trench S has received (yet another!) extension in order to
reveal more of the wall running north-south within it; however, in contrast to
initial impressions, it is composed of chalk rather than limestone and is thus
similar to the first wall we found. Removal of the rubble in the western part
of the trench has also revealed the foundation course of the wall running
east-west, which demonstrates that, following its disuse, the building has been
robbed thoroughly. As a result, there is little remaining of the original
building and, therefore, it may be impossible to ascertain its former use.
 |
| It's nice, but is it a drain? |
Trench T
To our great disappointment, Trench T may not contain a
drain. Removal of a soil layer to the north of the collapsed structure revealed
more soil, not the collapsed drain vaulting we hoped we might have. Despite
this, there is still a vaulted structure within the trench, as evidenced by the
collapsed masonry which is mortared together and has an arched appearance. It
has been suggested that it may be a bridge, although its location makes this
moderately unlikely. However, tomorrow we will start to investigate the rubble
around the feature to try and understand this feature further and we should
hopefully have some more answers soon.
At first glance, today’s post may appear to be slightly
downbeat, but there is still cause for optimism. All our trenches have interesting
archaeology in them, even if doubt has been cast on our hypotheses about them.
As straightforward trenches can be quite boring, in many ways we should
probably be celebrating their mysterious complexity! In any case, we still have
plenty of time to fully understand the remains we have been presented with and
it shouldn’t be too long before we come up with some more theories about the
origins of the structures we are currently uncovering.
 |
| A beautifully clean and empty Trench R |
