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.
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