Community Dig 2014 – Day Three – Wonky just won’t do
Two things are becoming apparent after only 3 days. The first is that we have dumped all sorts of rubbish into the ground over the past 50 years or so. Trench 3, the new trench, had an abundance of smashed glass, barbed wire and nails in the upper-most layer. The second is that our water bills, particularly those in Trench 1, will be more this month as a result of the strenuous stone moving, clay shovelling and general dumping, it was bath time all-round last night.
Trench 1 has had it’s ups and downs, but mainly downs as we persevered with breaking through the clay to see if the stones were set into a feature or the result of dumping. Clay is never an archaeologist’s friend; it’s hard to trowel through and even harder to mattock. After an hour of bashing I was getting rather tired. I was just about to swing the mattock to break up the largest area of clay when Gill called for tea break. Coincidence or fortune?
After tea and biscuits (Malted Milks today) we went back to Trench 1. After the clay had been excavated I was keen to impress Roy, ‘The Boss’ and spent what felt like hours delicately tidying up the sides of my section to achieve a lovely vertical edge. Roy came across to inspect them. The verdict? I had wonky sides. It was time for home. With half the clay in the trench caked to my boots I climbed out. Before I could walk home my boots needed an excavation of their own. With no notable finds from the trench it would be terrible if I trudged home with that gold and ruby encrusted Roman brooch stuck to the bottom of my shoes…