Field School Diary 2002

Site Diary 2002: Week 2

The start of Week 2 was marked by a dramatic improvement in the weather - gloriously hot sunny days, which sent everyone scurrying for sun hats and sun block. After days of dry weather the archaeology becomes even more of a challenge - the soil dries out to an even grey colour with the consistency of concrete, and all our observational skills are put to the test!

Day 8: Monday 15th July

On Monday we welcomed another 15 people to the excavation team and our on-site numbers swelled to 120. By Monday afternoon every new participant had been introduced to the site and its archaeology, and assigned to a site supervisor. Digging then began in earnest.

All 3 supervisory areas on site are changing rapidly from day to day. The main focus this year is on House 1, the 'diagonal' building, an old friend which has dominated the excavation since Day 1 in 1997. We now know that this is a complicated building of at least 3 phases, the latest of which is as a timber-framed 'work hall', established in the 2nd century AD and continuing in use until the 3rd century AD. The wall foundations forming the base of the outer walls of this work hall have been recorded in detail in previous seasons, and this week we began to excavate them. These foundations are flimsy, unfaced and only 1 course deep and so were removed relatively quickly. The area of House 1 now looks very different! Floors associated with this latest work hall phase consist of spreads of gravel and clay, and are the subject of a sampling programme we have introduced this year. One of our major objectives for the coming season is to try and understand the purpose of many of the work areas we are uncovering within each room of House 1. To aid this we are working in conjunction with geochemists and soil scientists from the University of Reading and systematically collecting small amounts of soil to be analysed in the laboratory for trace elements and heavy metals such as gold, silver and lead.

Day 9: Tuesday 16th July

The excavation of House 1 provides us with the daily challenge of understanding the different phases of the building, a challenge which means that myself and the supervisors are always discussing which floors are associated with which walls. By careful observation and recording we will gradually be able to peel apart the latest phases of House 1 and uncover its earlier phases.

Much of our work this season concerns the context of the House 1. In other words we are keen to recognise and understand the activities outside this building as well as within it. We are therefore focussing on the area of the main north-south town road as it runs through our excavation trench, as well as on the east-west roadside area. In both these areas of the site we are working with layers of soil dating to the 2nd century AD and therefore contemporary with the latest phase of House 1, the 'work hall'. Along the north-south road these layers consist of spreads of clay and charcoal-rich soils which are likely to be the remnants of floors associated with buildings for which we have no structural elements surviving. These soils are being planned, excavated and sampled. Similarly, work along the east-west street frontage is concerned with the identification, recording and removal of 2nd century AD soils.

Day 10: Wednesday 17th July

Excavation of what we believe to be a 1st century AD well located just to the north of House 1 is continuing this year. We began the excavation of this well in 2001 - an exciting prospect as it is a well which was unnoticed by the Victorians and has therefore not been disturbed at all. A small team of experienced archaeologists is involved in the daily excavation of this feature; they begin each day by pumping out all the water which has accumulated overnight, donning their waterproofs and wellington boots and descending to a depth of approximately 3m below the Roman ground level. All early Roman wells excavated to date at Insula IX have reached a final depth of 5to 6m below Roman ground level, so there is still a fair way to go! Working down the well is very demanding..and very wet and muddy - we make sure that all the well-diggers are on the shower rota each night!

This afternoon we had a visit from students attending the annual Summer School hosted by the University of Reading. Approximately 35 students aged between 16 and 17 years of age visited the site. All of these students had never seen an archaeological excavation before, and many had never visited the countryside before, and they gathered for an afternoon on site consisting of site tours, talks on Roman artefacts, and sessions on the identification of animal bones and environmental remains from wells and cess-pits. There was also a demonstration of iron-working. This was a very successful visit, but we were all exhausted by the end of the day!

Day 11: Thursday 18th July

A day of excitements! Firstly the small team working on the excavation of a slot through the north-south road collapsed into a hole which opened up in the centre of the strip of road they were excavating... no harm was done and we quickly ascertained that the Roman road must be sinking into an Iron Age well below. This well may have been in use and functioning up to the point at which the Roman road was constructed and the well backfilled. As one of our main objectives this year is to determine the date at which the Roman street grid was laid out, the excavation of this well (when we get to it!) will provide very important dating evidence for this.

Excavation within the 1st century AD well was halted with the exciting discovery of an entire Roman pot within its fills. This pot was a flagon of 1st century AD date and it had been deliberately pierced in the side, a practice with which we are becoming very familiar with on this part of Insula IX! We strongly suspect that there will be many more pots down this particular well.

In the north-west corner of the site a 9m by 10m slot is being excavated through the early Roman deposits and, we hope, into the Iron Age by the end of this season. The intention is to have a more rapid look in this area of the site at the stratigraphy - a taste of things to come! Within a day or so of excavation beginning here we had already uncovered the remains of an extensive tiled surface, most likely the floor of an early Roman building. This building is in the process of being recorded, photographed and excavated, before continuing in our quest for the Iron Age!

During the course of the day we were visited by a total of 120 local school children all brought on a trip to the Roman town by their teachers. The children were of primary school age, and all University of Reading students rallied round to show off the excavation and explain what we are doing here. It was hard work - but most enjoyable for all!

Day 13: Saturday 20th July.

National Archaeology Day. Today we opened our site to members of the Young Archaeologists' Club. Together we devised various activities for young archaeologists, including a sandpit or 'mini-dig' for those who wished to try out their trowelling prowess, opportunities to wash finds and process environmental samples, and an area where young archaeologists could try their hand at site planning.

We continue to 'unpeel' the floors of House 1, and are beginning to reveal the plan of the two earlier (late 1st century AD) stone buildings. Elsewhere, excavation of the street frontages in the 2nd century AD continues. A piece of Purbeck marble, inscribed with the letter P, was recovered from the slot through the north-south road... P for Parking perhaps? The east-west street front area is resolving itself in one area into a number of slumping cess-pits..the prospect of exciting organic remains beckons!

Day 14: Sunday 21st July

A good day's work on site with the 2nd century archaeology being recorded and removed. The biggest excitement of today was the recovery of several more whole pots from the 1st century AD well. The total number of pots uncovered and excavated (to date) is now six....6 entire pots of late Iron Age/early Roman date. These were lifted almost entire, one or two had lost rim pieces due to the pressure of the soil around them in the well, but all pieces have been recovered and the pots will be reconstructed in their entirety once this season is complete.