Tuesday 8 October 2013

Day 22 & the last day of digging

We finished excavating today. Brian and Dermot excavated the ditch which extends beyond the edge of our trench. It measured 1.3m in depth and had large stones at the bottom with a silty layer above them and a layer of slump above that again. No pottery or other dateable artefacts were found in the ditch fills although it must date to the 12th-14th century or earlier as it was sealed by layers dating to this period. Perhaps it is Early Christian in date and is a vallum associated with the Columban monastery...?? We have taken bulk samples and hopefully some of these will include organic material that can be radiocarbon dated.
 
We did some recording and excavated two other small pits in the box trench and then cleaned up the site and took our final post-excavation photos. We will complete the last of the recording tomorrow, clean and pack-up the tools, finds and samples and prepare the site for back-filling which will start early Thursday morning.
Dermot and Brian excavating the ditch early this morning
Vertical photo of the trench - the excavated ditch section is in the bottom right
 
circular, cut stones - gaming pieces? weights?
 
Stewart using the telescopic pole to take vertical photos of the trench

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