| Well Head Deserted Settlement 2018 Excavation Blog |
| Day 2 of the excavation at the Well Head Settlement, Holwick, Teesdale, UK |
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| Janet working at the eastern (livestock) end of Trench 3. |
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End of day discussion showing the eastern (human) end of the Trench 3 building towards the top of the image. |
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After overnight rain Day 2 was another perfect excavation day.
Starting with Trench 3: which was the test trench 1a from 2017 (now Trench 3). It now is nearly completely reopened and cleaned. Day 3 should see new areas being opened so that we can establish the maximum dimensions of the building. The central entrance divides the building into eastern and western cells. The western end looks to be the inhabited end having a nice level flagged floor, and the eastern end with a cruder sloping flagged floor, the livestock end. See the two images above.
Trench 5: The de-turfing was completed before the mid morning coffee break. Then after removing some loose stones that appeared to be demolition rubble, the team proceeded to start cleaning back the topsoil. The large quantity of stones along the line of the southern foundation wall (see image below left) made this quite slow work. The initial cleaning will continue tomorrow.
Tench 4: The LiDAR image suggested that this feature may be of prehistoric origin. The earthwork appears circular with the caveat that only about a tenth of the circumference could be seen. The trench has been trowelled again and a further section across the earthwork opened up. At this stage we cannot be sure what it is. It doesn't appear to form a true circle and we no longer think it is a roundhouse. So watch this space! |
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| Initial top soil trowel back starting from the southern foundation wall. Note that all of the huge foundation bolders that once formed the southern foundation wall have been robbed out at the eastern end and more than likely have been relocated into the enclosure wall in shadow behind. |
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Trench 4 after further trowelling today is still a bit of a mystery. What will we establish tomorrow? |
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| Project Record: 6 Last Update on: 13-05-2018 18:31:07 Internet Views: 1142 |
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