Updates
Gosh, what a week it has been! It really doesn’t feel like that long since my last update to you guys but looking back I have been so busy and a lot has happened to me so I guess it’s just best to jump in and update on what’s been going on!
Field work wise things have been quite hard going but very rewarding. There’s nothing quite like going to bed at the end of a long day of hard physical work, nor the end of a week were you feel that you have accomplished quite a lot.
On day one we were briefed on general site safety, procedure and practice and got stuck into getting some of the topsoil out of our trench, not a lot was ‘found’ in he typical sense of the first day but I felt it was valuable non the less to get my eye in to seeing the difference in soil levels (which is difficult) and to spot finds in the earth (which can be frustrating) The first day ended with me feeling muddy and sore but with a real sense of what archaeology was about.
Tuesday morning however I felt awful! I was sore all over and was still exhausted from the day before. Despite this I actually learnt a lot more and also got a lot deeper through the loam towards the sub soil and the actual finds. On that front today I found a piece of worked bronze, possibly an old broken broach as well as a fair bit of bone and Samian ware, however I did not feel that we were finding as much as we could that day compared to the other group working in our trench, possibly due to the fact that we were slightly above them in relation to finding the top of the sub soil. Unfortunately we were rained off by about 2 ‘o’ clock that day menai9ng we could not finish our drag bit of the top soil
Wednesday was a field trip which was informative and interesting however if I am totally honest I was not at my best that day as the coach journey was enough to lull me both into lethargy and then sleep due to the strenuousness of the two days before.
However the evening of that day was important for a totally non archaeological reason. It was Ben Lairig election nights. I won’t bore you with a blow buy blow (and to be honest I don’t remember it all at all) but the long and the short of it is that I am now the Social Sec for Ben Lairig! This couple with me being general Secretary for the new movie society I founded this year means I will be very busy socially next year!
Thursday was a shame and a washout as we were sent home at 11 due to torrential rain having only scraped back about half of what we needed to do.
Friday was a good day in all although my actual personal number of finds was close to none, enough that my section was checked about 3 times by varying members of the department before it was classed as ‘just empty’. That coupled with the fact that it was about a foot and a half above the beginnings of the sub soil and well above the rest of the trench meant that by the end of the day I was learned to dig a sub trench through it to see what it did.
In the interest of full disclosure I was very tired and possibly a bit disillusioned by this point so it was not the straightest piece in the world but I will tidy it up on Monday and also have shifted about half of it. Although today not the most inspiring day of my dig I feel it was the most important as I feel that I now know I could do this, even when it is frustrating!
So a busy but great week for me, one that I feel I might have grown and learnt more than any other apart from maybe my first week at York!
Gosh, what a week it has been! It really doesn’t feel like that long since my last update to you guys but looking back I have been so busy and a lot has happened to me so I guess it’s just best to jump in and update on what’s been going on!
Field work wise things have been quite hard going but very rewarding. There’s nothing quite like going to bed at the end of a long day of hard physical work, nor the end of a week were you feel that you have accomplished quite a lot.
On day one we were briefed on general site safety, procedure and practice and got stuck into getting some of the topsoil out of our trench, not a lot was ‘found’ in he typical sense of the first day but I felt it was valuable non the less to get my eye in to seeing the difference in soil levels (which is difficult) and to spot finds in the earth (which can be frustrating) The first day ended with me feeling muddy and sore but with a real sense of what archaeology was about.
Tuesday morning however I felt awful! I was sore all over and was still exhausted from the day before. Despite this I actually learnt a lot more and also got a lot deeper through the loam towards the sub soil and the actual finds. On that front today I found a piece of worked bronze, possibly an old broken broach as well as a fair bit of bone and Samian ware, however I did not feel that we were finding as much as we could that day compared to the other group working in our trench, possibly due to the fact that we were slightly above them in relation to finding the top of the sub soil. Unfortunately we were rained off by about 2 ‘o’ clock that day menai9ng we could not finish our drag bit of the top soil
Wednesday was a field trip which was informative and interesting however if I am totally honest I was not at my best that day as the coach journey was enough to lull me both into lethargy and then sleep due to the strenuousness of the two days before.
However the evening of that day was important for a totally non archaeological reason. It was Ben Lairig election nights. I won’t bore you with a blow buy blow (and to be honest I don’t remember it all at all) but the long and the short of it is that I am now the Social Sec for Ben Lairig! This couple with me being general Secretary for the new movie society I founded this year means I will be very busy socially next year!
Thursday was a shame and a washout as we were sent home at 11 due to torrential rain having only scraped back about half of what we needed to do.
Friday was a good day in all although my actual personal number of finds was close to none, enough that my section was checked about 3 times by varying members of the department before it was classed as ‘just empty’. That coupled with the fact that it was about a foot and a half above the beginnings of the sub soil and well above the rest of the trench meant that by the end of the day I was learned to dig a sub trench through it to see what it did.
In the interest of full disclosure I was very tired and possibly a bit disillusioned by this point so it was not the straightest piece in the world but I will tidy it up on Monday and also have shifted about half of it. Although today not the most inspiring day of my dig I feel it was the most important as I feel that I now know I could do this, even when it is frustrating!
So a busy but great week for me, one that I feel I might have grown and learnt more than any other apart from maybe my first week at York!
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