Day 16: Meet our Metal Detectorist!

Everything is progressing well in the trenches today, with lots more levels being removed all across the site. We’ll give you more of a detailed overview tomorrow, but this evening’s blog post contains another special feature on our technological team. Tonight we’re talking to our onsite metal detectorist, Steve. 

A pewter flower mount discovered by Steve last week

He first got involved with University of Sheffield excavations nearly eight years ago to try find out more about the archaeological side of historic artefacts, although when we discovered his pre-existing passion for metal-detecting, he has become a frequent addition to our survey team. Metal detecting has a controversial history, due to the publicity given to irresponsible or occasionally even illegal detecting on protected sites. However, Steve’s years of volunteering with us have demonstrated how responsible metal detecting can be highly advantageous to archaeological research. By locating the position of metal finds in the ground before archaeological deposits are removed allows excavators to find the artefacts within a specific location, allowing for scatters of finds, such as nails to be identified. This is very useful in recognising areas of building collapse for instance, or other deposits. Steve is also often seen scouring the spoil heaps for nails and pieces of roof lead missed by even the most eagle-eyed of excavators. Steve’s experience and passion for history has also been very helpful in interpreting metal finds on site, particularly degraded metals. For Steve, one of the main benefits of working at Thornton is the ability to see the finds uncovered in their proper context, and to discover how the metals of a site play just one part in the full spectrum of material culture and traces deposited there. It is particularly rewarding on both sides to play a role in the strengthening of trust and the ending of animosity between metal detectorists and archaeologists.

Steve: Mini Bio

Years of experience: Steve has been metal detecting for 10 years with a metal detecting club, and registers his independent finds using GPS points and with the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

Favourite historical time period: Anglo-Saxon England

His favourite ever find: Fragments of a Roman Equestrian statue, which probably once stood in the centre of Lincoln. He uncovered bits of the helmet, parts of the gilded horse’s harness and the lead solder which would have held the statue together. When the metal fragments were first discovered, the local archaeologist thought it was bits of WWII shrapnel. Only after further pieces were unearthed with the aid of Steve and his metal detector, did they realise what an unusual find they had uncovered.

TV appearances: Steve appeared on the ITV program ‘Britain’s Secret Treasures’ discussing the equestrian statue, during the course of which a digital reconstruction of the entire statue was shown.

Dream find: One day Steve hopes to find a very rare Iron Age coin. Good luck!

Day 15: Rubble, Rubble and More Rubble

A short and sweet update today, mainly because most of the trenches are having large areas cleared and, as a result, there is very little to say about them. However, these are the latest developments on site:

Cleaning the rubble in Trench N

Trench N

We are continuing to remove the rubble around the exterior of the hospital and hope to reach the medieval surfaces in the next day or two. In the interior of the building, we have started to remove the post-medieval floor surface and possible stone pads for roof supports and, with a bit of luck, this should enable us to reach the medieval floor surface very soon.

Trench P

More rubble is being removed from Trench P, with particular focus on the brick building in the western half of the church. This has revealed a door slab set into the wall which may be a reused medieval gravestone; however, we can only confirm this by fully extricating it from the surrounding walls and turning it over. In the next day or so all the demolition rubble will be completely removed and we will be able to start studying the occupation levels in far greater detail.

Trench R

We have now completely emptied the cut for the structure which stood within the trench; this also contained pieces of mortar and stone which confirmed our suspicions of this being a robber cut for the walls which have now completely disappeared. At the moment we are excavating two slots through the internal surface of the building which show it is a shallow feature built on top of the sand which fills the rest of the trench. After these have been recorded we will start removing the rest of the floor surface and by Friday the trench should be empty once again.

Trench S

Trench S is also on the verge of being closed, although its end is somewhat more imminent than Trench R. All the surfaces within the various structures have now been removed to reveal pristine sand running throughout the trench. As a result, the trench will be photographed tomorrow before plans, sections and elevations of the remaining walls are drawn. These are the final actions to take place when excavating and mark the end of the trench, although with the amount of work left to do in some of the other trenches, Courtenay will still be very much in demand!

Trench T

The internal surfaces of the kiln have now been exposed. Initially we thought the kiln had been lined with clay, but it transpires that in fact the interior is of brick construction. All the rubble within it has now been removed and we are currently drawing the plan and sections of the kiln. Due to the instability of the trench sides our excavators will not be able to dig deeper into the kiln to reveal a possible floor surface but, given the importance of fully understanding this structure, we are currently investigating ways to resolve this.

By the end of the week, we will probably have said goodbye to at least two of our trenches: R and S, and T will also probably follow suit shortly after this. However, with the amount of work still left to do in N and P there will still be plenty to keep everyone, from diggers to supervisors, busy for the final week of the excavation!

Day 14: Spotlight on Finds

Today’s blog is dedicated to finds, the generic name we bestow on any item we retrieve from our excavations. These can be anything from an animal bone, a piece of pot or a King Henry III halfpenny (although the latter are extremely rare!). Whatever it is, each is carefully recorded, cleaned and packaged on site before being sent to specialists in each particular item for further study.

Recording finds in three dimensions

Step 1: Recovery

As soon as an object is uncovered, it is recorded in three dimensions. For finds such as animal bone, iron nails and shells, this means we are able to see their distribution within each context although these objects will then be collectively bagged. Other objects, such as pottery, window glass and window came (the lead strips which held the glass in place) are recorded in three dimensions as small finds, and are bagged individually. This enables us to be able to locate these particular items precisely within the trench and discuss dating and distribution patterns in greater detail.

Sieving for finds

However, it isn’t always possible to retrieve all objects that are deposited in a context. Some items might be too small to spot and sometimes the methodology employed to excavate the context may also restrict our ability to spot objects; there is an obvious difference between spotting a find whilst troweling and spotting one whilst mattocking! As a result, all the soil removed from each context is carefully sieved, revealing items that would otherwise have been lost forever. We also use the invaluable services of Steve, a metal detectorist who systematically scans our spoil heaps to retrieve any objects that we may have missed.

Regardless of where and how we found them, all finds are then bagged up with the site code (THOR14), the trench and context it originated from and (where applicable) the small find number. They are then sent back to camp for the next stage in the process.

Hilary, our superstar!

Step 2: Cleaning

Finds now enter the care of Hilary, who is the organiser of the campsite and chef extraordinaire, producing the best food we’ve ever had on excavation in the most primitive of circumstances. She’s also in charge of finds processing, ensuring that finds are cleaned where appropriate, are dried and repackaged for further study.

The first step in finds processing is to work out what should and should not be cleaned. Objects such as animal bone and pottery are (usually!) extremely robust and can therefore withstand a cleaning process which basically involves scrubbing it with a toothbrush until all the dirt has been removed. However, other objects such as window glass are not only extremely fragile but react badly to being immersed in water, fragmenting and decaying even further; metals such as iron are similarly adverse to this method of cleaning. As a result, finds are sorted into their relevant material groups and only those which can be cleaned are subjected to the toothbrushes wielded by our willing volunteers.

Step 3: Drying and packaging

This is only a tiny percentage of the retrieved tiles!

Once the finds are clean, they are dried on newspaper for a few days to allow all the moisture within them to evaporate. Failure to do this will mean that the objects sweat within their bags, leading to the development of mould and bacterial growth which will eventually destroy crucial evidence. This is also the first time excavators will be able to see the items they retrieved in their clean and recognisable form, so it’s quite an exciting time! After a few days have passed, the finds are segregated into their material type and placed in clean bags with all the relevant information written on them in permanent pen. They will be then sent to specialists for further study, and the information they provide will be incorporated within the final excavation report.

Packaged finds waiting for their onward journey

At the moment, the excavators are producing plenty for the finds processors to do; Trench P in particular has produced enough tiles to keep us busy for the next fortnight! However, as work progresses, it is almost certain that even more objects will be uncovered and coaxed to reveal their secrets.