Friday, July 8, 2022

AM

Opening Elevations

    NE: 28.55 m AE

    SE: 28.55 m AE

    SW: 28.61 m AE

    NW: 28.53 m AE

Large storms yesterday night, 7 July, softened and loosened the soil, so excavation begins with a scrape of the damp topsoil with trowels. Where necessary, handpicks are used to further loosen the topsoil, and all loose soil is collected into buckets by hand. Once the topsoil loosened by the rain is removed, roots are clipped, baulk walls are refined, and hand-picks and trowels are used to level soil in the center of the trench and around the roots of the trees at the midpoints of the northern and southern baulk walls, respectively. 

Between the parallel stone ridges located in the northeastern quadrant of the trench, what seemed initially to be bedrock is revealed instead to be many small and medium-sized stones. It remains unclear whether this arrangement is anthropogenic or naturally occurring. 

PM

Hand-picking and trowelling resumes in the northwestern corner of the trench to continue the process of leveling the surface of the trench. A pick pass is then undertaken, moving from east to west. The first approximately 1-meter wide swathe of this pick pass yields a piece of bronze.

Special Find 1

    27.87 E/7.26 N

    Locus 1

    28.41 m AE

    Bronze piece

Pick-passes continue moving to the west. At approximately the midpoint of the trench, we transition to hand-picking and collecting the loose soil with trowels into buckets on account of the rocks and roots which make using the pickaxe difficult. After the soil loosened by handpicking is collected, the trench is swept and the baulk walls are refined. 

Closing Elevations Locus 1

    NE: 28.39 m AE

    SE: 28.38 m AE

    SW: 28.43 m AE

    NW: 28.43 m AE

Total Counts Locus 1

    Terracotta: 48

    Pottery: 13