At the west end of the east-west street, the arrangement of double lines of post-holes cut into what may be a very wide gully parallel to the street is being investigated. Recording of this street front continues. Features cut into the yellow clay into which the latest phase of House 1 is constructed, continue to be investigated. Shallow scoops and pits make up the majority of these features. The rectangular cess pit immediately to the south of House 1 has been bottomed at a depth of just over 2m.

The 2001 Season
Week 3 by Amanda Clarke

Day 15: 23rd July
The blacksmith’s hearth associated with Building 9 has finally been fully excavated; all that remains is an area of underlying burnt soil. An occupation deposit to be associated with this hearth has been defined and recorded prior to excavation.

One rubbish pit continues to be excavated, this has now produced the complete skeleton of two adult dogs each lying on opposite sides of the pit. Beneath one of these dogs, the entire skeleton of a puppy was discovered.

Day 16: 24th July

Excavation of the early Roman well in the north-west corner of the site continues apace. A small team are now working on it full-time.

They operate a pump to remove the water which has collected overnight, and are continually digging and re-digging a sump in the deposits at the base to keep the area drained whilst working.

We are also now making a real start on the disentangling of the various stages of development of House 1 and it is becoming apparent just how complicated this sequence is. Floors belonging to the earliest structure(s) in this area have been seen in the sides of features cutting through the latest foundations of the building. The wall foundations are being examined and, along with the placing of key-hole slots into the building, are suggesting that the earliest building on this location may have been completely levelled and covered by an extensive gravel spread before being rebuilt into the yellow clay dump on the same alignment. We hope to confirm this over the course of the next three weeks. The uncovering of the sequence of House 1 is potentially of huge significance for the study of the Roman town of Silchester.

Day 17 – 25th July
Excavation of the well continues and the sides have now narrowed down to a central circular shaft approximately 1m in diameter containing an increasingly organic fill. The fill is being sampled in 3 ways: bulk samples for sieving and flotation on site, waterlogged samples for analysis in the laboratories and a series of samples for pollen analysis. At present we are just over 2.5m below ground level. Several finds have emerged from the fill of this well including a rotary quern fragment and several sherds of pottery, including at least one pierced.

Day 18 – 25th July
Excavation has continued of the pit which contained the mysterious wall last week. The pit is now much deeper than first anticipated and is likely to turn out to be a well. Several deep features are being excavated this year and today, one of the most spectacular small finds of the season to date, a jet dress pin, has been recovered from the fills of the same pit which has produced several dog skeletons. The samples processed from this pit have also produced nearly 50 mineralised apple pips.

Day 19 – 26th July
Work has ceased for the time being on the possible well in the south-east corner of the site. Once a certain depth is reached it is necessary to construct scaffolding to support the sides so that it is safe for the person digging lower down. Until our other wells have been excavated there will be no scaffolding available to excavate here. Work meanwhile is continuing on the first well which seems unlikely to contain structural elements on the same scale as the well excavated in 2000.

Day 21 – 28th July
Today we held our first open day of the season. Over 300 people came through the gate on one of the hottest days of the year with temperatures of over 30 degrees c. Throughout the day, site tours were given by Prof. Fulford and Amanda Clarke and visitors were invited to watch finds and environmental processing and to take part in various site activities.