Dig Day Sunday 23rd May 2010

What a bloomin' hot day! That coupled with the fiasco of trying to get out of Cov at 8:40 in the morning on the day of the Coventry Half-Marathon! (Congrats to all who took part). But never mind, we got there, eventually. Digging today, although I did enjoy the drawing last week. Just wish that that particular activity could have taken place this week, although I can't complain too much as I joined Sue pot-washing. A very therapeutic task for a hot Sunday morning. Hands dipped in cold water (which soon turned very warm), removing years of dirt from........flower pots!
Oh and a couple of nice bits of glass slag, clay pipe, green pot, glass and a few other tasty morsels.

In the afternoon, we could dig in any trench, as long as it was trench A!!!! The morning group had uncovered an compacted orangey surface and it was our task to remove the 6 inches sitting on top of it. Not a big deal......on a cooler day, but that wasn't to be. As the sun shone down in its full glory, the ground continued to harden like quick-setting concrete. The "concrete appeared to contain lots of pebbles which weighed down the buckets and therefore the wheel barrows. And there was a lot of dirt to remove. Dairmud didn't help matters as he brazenly pinched one of our barrows! And that spoil heap just gets bigger.

After tea-break, I wandered back to the site to find that cream scones and biscuits had appeared and the temptation to sit under the shade of the tree proved just too much as you can see below.
Don't they look nice!


Yummmmm!


So, who's going to go first?


A moment of contemplation!

Dig Day Sunday 16th May 2010

Boo-hiss....it's paperwork day today, so to speak. We are behind in the drawing of sections and pits and walls etc. Unfortunately, archaeology isn't all about trowelling and finds washing, there are some real nasties lurking in the background which are all part of the job! I have to say that I have avoided drawing of any description whenever I can, but needs must, and having done a section drawing 2 weeks ago, it has given me the confidence to tackle more. It's all about fear of the unknown and knowing that you are not the next Picasso or Turner! You don't need to be, and once you get the basic principles under your belt, then it all becomes perfectly clear.


Before I go any further, here's a picture of one of the spoil heaps. This is by no means the largest, but I didn't have access to the other one today. What you can't see is that the "path" takes a left hand turn at the top to the current dump level (just off the shot)


So we tackled the section drawing of trench B in the Knot Garden, adjacent to Trench A where the horse skull and pit were found. You can see the line of orange sand continuing in the top corner of the trench and another feature has appeared, possibly a pit, containing white material mixed in with a lighter coloured soil than the surrounding.


The blackbirds weren't impressed that we weren't providing them with worms this week, and the baby blackbird gave us a right telling off before he deposited himself in the pool in the bottom of Trench A for a quick wash and brush up. We were visited by them throughout the day, checking that we really weren't digging up their worms!!

So section drawing done, we had to prepare the side of the trench for drawing. We removed the soil so that it was in line with trench A, thus removing the really dry outer surface to reveal a damper interior. Could we see the difference between the top soil and underlying soil? NO, but then Will told us to wet it and voila, there it was. After the obligatory photos, we tackled the section drawing of the side of the trench. Will showed us how to set up the string and how to take the measurements of it. Again not something I had previously done (fear factor) but once you know how it's done, it's easy-peasey. Clayre and myself soon had the drawing done. We would have had it completed in half the time, but for the left-over cream scones and biscuits which were handed out!

Then we had a choice.....trowel back the surface of trench B or sort out the huge pile of brick, tile and stone which had been removed from trench A. We chose the latter because of time constraints. All too soon it was 5pm, time to pack up and reflect on our very productive day over the obligatory ice-cream from the ice-cream barge. It's sort of becoming a habit now. Roll on next Sunday!

Dig Day Sunday 9th May 2010

Wow, what a difference 2 weeks make. The wisteria has come out in force over the last couple of weeks and the smell in intoxicating. In fact although the knot garden is looking a bit tired the colours and smell from there and also the wallflowers in the public garden make this place the most wonderfully colourful and fragrant place to work. Oh for smelly vision!!


The team













Will was away at a wedding, so Paul and Emma held the reins for the weekend. Due to his absence, the knot garden was "out of bounds" until his return. The reason is because it was getting complicated once we had uncovered the brick rubble and packed orange sides. Since 2 weeks ago, the level of other quarter of the pit has been reduced, but due to the blue tarpauline it was impossible to see how it looks.



Job of the day was back in the herb garden. Whilst Clayre and Cat started to excavate the path down to 3 bricks, I started to remove the remainder of the raised soil in the old grass area of the herb garden. For me not many finds (brick rubble and mortar) just the satisfaction of completing the job.

After lunch I took Cat's place and continued to excavate the path towards Clayre. Again more brick rubble and mortar but then a piece of glass slag. Very pretty. It almost looked like agate. The most wonderful colurs of blue and a bit of green and very smooth. Oh and also the obligatory Victorian pot (white and blue/white).




Re-appearance of Blackbird looking for worms for "the kids". One actually made an appearance. A right fat little birdy and not suprising the amount of worms we've been providing.

Dig Day Sunday 25th April 2010

Getting into the swing of getting up early....just.

Can't believe how much top soil has been removed since last week. The outline of a pit has been exposed. Could this be the top of the cess pit everones being banging on about finding? I do hope so. Task was to trowel back to a flat level in preparation for photographs and a plan. As we trowelled back, the edge became more distinct and a line of orange sand and black charcoal appeared in certain parts of the diameter.

After taking the photos, Will gave us a lesson on planning and promptly handed the board to me! An hour later, a much worn eraser and a lot of squinting and head scratching, I had completed my very first plan. How chuffed was I!

Once all that was checked, we 3 lucky ladies were unleashed onto the pile of brick rubble in the top of the pit. Can I just say, lots of brick. Heck we couldn't get them out quick enough. As we removed them, we cleared back the contents of the pit from the sdes to expose the orange sand which had shown up at the edge of the pit. This proved to be a layer of well packed sand, extending into and around the sides of the pit as far as we could make out. And then.....in the last 15minutes.....Will wanders over to see how we're doing...and pulls out a rib bone and then the piece de resistance of the day, a pig's jaw cmplete with teeth. How happy was he! Tell you what, ice-creams tasted even better that afternoon.



P.S. Pig's jaw turned out to be a horse's jaw. Are we disappointed?...Absolutely not. For more info visit the dig website and watch the video.

Dig day Sunday 18th April 2010

Allocated to trench A, located by the wall nearest the main road. There is a dark brown bank disappearing under a sandy layer. Our mission was to trowel back to show the difference between the 2 in preparation for photos. As you can see, the difference was very visible. Will instructed us on how to prepare the trench for photos and then on how the photos should be taken. Three sets are taken: 1 digital, 1 colour SLR and 1 B/W SLR. They are then recorded onto a sheet, which will end up in the dig archive.

We then started to trowel back the sandy soil, in order to expose the darker bank. We were helped by 2 of our feathered friends who were very cheeky and kept popping into the rench to snaffle the worms we kept digging up.

Back to the archaeology. The lighter layer was pebbly with specks of charcoal and few finds: oyster shell, clay pipe stem and bits of brick.

We were fortunate to be able to stay on after lunch as there were only 4 volunteers in the afternoon. Fantastic. Lunch consumed, we headed off to the knot garden where trowels were abandoned for mattocks and shovels to remove more of the top soil more quickly. Lots of flower pot, glass and tin glaze pot (1700's).
Unfortunately, this rapid removal of earth required treble the amount of barrows to be shifted and the spoil heap was now, quite high and caused me a Clayre much hilarity when trying to negotiate the steep slope to the top of it.

All too soon it was home time and after carting all the tools and finds back to the greenhouse, me and the girls decided to treat ourselves to a much deserved ice-cream from the floating ice-crem barge. Absolutely delicious.

Dig Day Sunday 11th April 2010

Dig day 1, for me at least. However, getting up early on a Sunday morning is something I'm going to just have to get used to. Even the mutts looked at me gone out when I had my breakfast at 8am. Was it worth it? I'll let you be the judge of that.

After picking the rest of the troops up (hiya Sue and Clayre) we arrived in Stratford..... a very empty Stratford... well it would be at that time in the morning!

For those of you who don't know, the dig is taking place at Nash's House, in the garden to be more precise. There are 3 trenches. One to uncover the excavation done in the 1800's, one in the Knot Garden and one in the herb garden. To find out more information, visit the website: http://www.digforshakespeare.com/

After signing in and getting to know the rest of the volunteers and the more important things of the day (locations of kitchen and amenities) we were given a health and safety chat by or supervisor, Will. He then assigned us to our initial jobs........gardening for me and others! Remove the plants from the herb garden was our morning mission. Not one I had envisaged, but a very necessary job to do. Plants sort of hide the archaeology don't you know. I certainly came home with more daffodil bulbs than I expected.

Moved onto the knot garden after break. Much more my cup of tea.... digging. Remit was to continue to trowel back as they had started in the morning. Ground dry but hard. Weather sunny. Beautiful day actually. Not many finds. Bloomin' spoil heap is miles away and negotiating the wooden boards, the gate, the statue in the garden which just allows you to navigate the wheelbarrow past it, only mildly grazing your knuckles, past the confused tourists and finally to the mountain of the spoil heap itself. Certainly had a lot of fun lgging the barrow up the 6ft heap!!!

And then all to soon it was 13.30 and time for home. Boo-hiss. As we wandered back to the car we reflected on what a good day it had been. Roll on next week.

Wednesday 24th March

Well after weeks of wondering when, my letter finally dropped through the letter box. My allotted time was...... Sunday mornings 9:30 - 13:30........disappointed was not the word of the day. However half a day is better than nothing, and it would give me the opportunity of doing what I love...digging....oh and all the other associated archaeology stuff!

However my 1st day was Easter Sunday. Not normally a problem most years, but this year we were in Bath. Could I wait another week? Well the fact of the matter is that I just had to.