And we survived week 1, and though we may have had to deal with scorching heat waves followed
swiftly by huge thunder storms, we are still here and working hard! We
gained a few more trainees over the weekend, some new faces and some old! Great
to see returnees coming back for more, they must be gluttons for punishment J
So
with the new week what news is there? Well In Trench N they have uncovered a
lovely mortar step in the eastern end of the chapel. The stones have been
robbed out from the step but you can still see the impressions in the mortar
where they once would have sat. In front of the step you can also still see the
impressions of floor tiles. These tile impressions seems to be at the same
level as those tiles found in Trench P. Sadly, none of the tiles seem to be left, but a piece of marble has been uncovered which may have been a part
of a larger group to create the step.
(marble
fragment from Trench N)
They
have also finally got the last of the backfill out of the north and south ends
of the trench and started cleaning back. This clean back revealed some more
nice finds including a iron ox shoe.
(Ox
shoe from trench N)
Over
in Trench P there has been a lot of planning in this trench over the last 2
days, and then some levelling in the northeast corner and cleaning back. During the trowelling some lovely window glass has come out of these areas. In the west
end of the trench the cobble path way also has now been cleaned (see below for
photo).
(Cobbled
path in Trench P and a piece of painted glass window from Trench P’s North East
corner)
Over
in the naughty corner (Trench U) they have now dug out the construction cuts
next to where the structure was built (as spoken about previously) and they are
beginning to take down the layer inside the structure to see if they can find
the floor surface.
(Structure
in Trench U)
Down
at the eastern end of the trench there is a very large wall which has just
started to be uncovered, this wall may link up with Trench L which was in this
area a couple of years ago.
(Wall
in Trench U)
Finds
wise a lovely copper band fragment has come out of the western end of Trench U
that holds a lovely flower design on it.
(Copper
floral band fragment)
So in all a fantastic start to the new week and continue for the rest of it. However presently a great week looks like it may be thwarted by rain and thunderstorms, lets hope this passes over us quickly!
