Dig Diary 2008
Our summer training dig for 2008 began on 7th July and ran until 1st August. See below for a day-by-day account of the progress of the 2008 excavation. (Please note that the current page is incomplete ... check back later for an updated version!)
Welcome to the Lindum Heritage Dig Diary for 2008; the Diary will chronicle the progress of our excavation at Sudbrooke in Lincolnshire over the next four weeks. The site is located in an arable field, this year planted with wheat. Previous evidence and interventions, including the last three seasons' work, indicate that it was once the site of a Roman villa. Last week was mainly spent setting up the site. If you've followed our progress in previous years you'll know the drill ... surveying in trenches, JCB'ing off top-soil, building sheds and this year a rather palatial marquee! The weather was kind last week with only the very occasional downpour ... but week 1 doesn't look quite so good. Nevertheless once again we've had lots of help from a particularly keen group of Heritage Studies undergraduate students from Bishop Grosseteste University College in nearby Lincoln.
This year we have a couple of changes to the pattern previous seasons. Firstly we are running an accredited field school for undergraduate students. And secondly we have more staff and more trenches open than previously. We have re-opened most of last year's trench (E), which we intend to investigate for (hopefully) one last time, and extended that trench 5 metres to the south and east (this large trench we are calling trench F). We also have a small extension trench to the west to investigate the continuation of one of the large robber trenches discovered last year (trench G). And finally we have opened up a another trench (30 x 2 metres) some 100 metres to the west in the intention of investigating the double ditch seen in cropmarks during 2005, and a circular anomaly seen in the earlier geophysics.
Monday the 7th of July 2008
Weather: Cloudy with a several heavy showers
Today saw the start of excavation proper. We welcomed 14 new keen and very friendly volunteers to site in the morning who were later joined by 9 students, mostly from American universities. The volunteers are mostly staying for one week while the students will be here for the duration, all four weeks. We spent most the rest of the day dodging showers but managed to get at least a couple of good hours work in the afternoon. Given the wet conditions (which unfortunately brought back nightmarish memories of last season!) we decided to concentrate on removing the remaining backfill over the area of last seasons trench E. Let's hope tomorrow will be a better - dryer - day.
Tuesday the 8th of July 2008
Weather: Cloudy with a few showers
Today we managed to miss the showers as they mainly feel during lea-breaks! But the ground remained very wet and slippery. We spent a little time giving everyone an introduction to our approach to recording - principally 'single context' but with a few variations given the nature of the site and our specific research objectives. The Field School students had an additional theory session on basic surveying. Aside from that we concentrated on two activities in trench F. First a general clean across the new areas to be excavated, working in individual 5m grid squares at this stage, and second continuing to remove last season's backfill from the re-exposed area E.
As the Field School students had only been in Lincoln for a couple of days (some of them for the first time ever) we decided to take an 'historical' walk from the Newport Arch at the top of Bailgate all the way down Steep Hill and the High Street (on the line of Roman 'Ermine' Street) to the medieval High Bridge ... we finally endied up on the Brayford by which time we had no choice but sample a few beers before making the climb back up the University College later in the evening. I think everyone had a good time!
Wednesday the 8th of July 2008
Weather: Cloudy but with the threat of heavy rain ... that appeared after the end of the day!
We started today back at the University College where we enjoyed an excellant hands-on Roman ceramics workshop with the very knowledgeable Ian Rowlinson of Lindsey Archaeological Services. I'm pretty sure that everyone came away with a better understanding of Roman pots. Ian had a quick look at the material we have produced over the last couple of days and was excited to see some significant high-quality sherds of late first or early second century date. After our talk and with the forecast of very heavy rain later in the day we decided to postpone any further teaching sessions and press on with excavation work, so we all headed back to site.
On site the progress was really good with the newly exposed areas all now cleaned. We then set about planning the extents of the excavation trench and the very top level of the archaeological stratification. This process was enlivened with a fine display by the Red Arrows who seemed to be using our site as a focal point for their practice flight! Work on clearing the remainder of the 2006 backfill pressed on with some real determination. It was really pleasing to see how enthusiastically the students organised themselves and as a result by the end of the day almost all of the backfill had been cleared. By tomorrow we should have the entire area of trench F under excavation at one stage or other.
Thursday the 9th of July 2008
Weather: Cloudy with some light showers
A day of determined excavation ... well at least we set about getting a clearer picture of the underlying archaeology. With the work progressing well now we can see how last years discoveries are linked to the first evidence from this year. In particular an extensive spread of demolition/destruction debris is clear across the central southern part of trench F. The LIndum Heritage volunteers were treated to a training session part way through the morning on archaeological photography. Our photography tutor Lynne McEwan took the volunteers through their paces and covered both small finds and site photography. Everyone came away a happier and better photographer ... so we must be doing something right! And of course as it was Thursday we rounded of the day with a trip to the local pub - a bit of rain stopped us using the beer garden but there was just enough room inside for everyone .. not sure if we will all fit in next week however - let's hope it's dry!
Friday the 10th of July 2008
Weather: Cloudy with very heavy rain at the end of the day
Today sees the end of the first week of the excavation and so far we seem to be on track, the weather having been for the most part kind to us. There was a lot of recording and levelling activity today and I think everyone has had a go at planning and levelling and most people have encountered the written record to some degree. In trench F we continued to move across the newly opened areas a grid square at a time, but have now clearly identified the continuation of the southern wall of the plunge pool - which now sits in the centre of the trench.
The day progressed well with the Heritage Studies students from the University College on site to set up the digging pit and display boards as from next week we begin to welcome visitors including at least one school group. All went well until afternoon tea-break when word came through that Lincoln had been issued with a severe weather warning and 15mm of rain was expected over the next couple of hours and was heading our way. One look at the sky was enough to tell us to retreat in an orderly fashion so with the rain edging ever closer we packed up and took shelter. It passed over quite quickly but we decided that was enough for this week and headed home. Lucky really as within half an hour the light drizzle turned into a spectacular downpour. I think there will be a bit of tidying up to do in the trench on Monday!
