The 'live' dig diary was on facebook with a week by week account and lots of photos. To have a look you will need to join facebook (if you are not already a member) and then search for 'the Lincoln Archaeological Field School'. www.facebook.com
The Lincoln Archaeological Field School Dig Diary 2010
This is a brief copy of the dig diary from the original which is on facebook. Most of the dig diary this year was photographic.
The Lincoln Archaeological Field School Click here to go to the original facebook pages.
Week One
The first week of the dig – which is setting up the site and opening the trenches.
The countdown has started!!! The dig this year starts on Monday 14th June. We have had lots of people to help get ready over the past few days – mending equipment, doing an inventory, sorting out the lab and starting on the paperwork!
The Marquee is up, the tranches are roughly laid out and we have started to take the turf off. True to our tradition the day the marquee went up it poured with rain! The International students are arriving today, so a big welcome to them. Tomorrow several of last year’s students are also joining us for a week. There are more photos on facebook.
A hot sunny day today with everyone working very hard. All the turf is off and it is full steam ahead with removing the top soil. Lots of mixed finds including big chunks of fused glass. But all this is in top soil that has probably been dumped on the site, although it does contain a few fragments of medieval and Roman... pot. The students enjoyed some bone washing and a workshop about British archaeology.
The turf is nearly off thanks to the enthusiasm of the students and volunteers. Even found a few sherds of pot! The star find was a crisp packet from 1995!
Very busy week – GIS training has begun, Spectrometer in use to look at a possible bone fan, finds workshop for new volunteers and lots of digging. A mortar spread is becoming visible in one trench and a possible wall (collapse) in the other one. Also a workshop on the recording system for the International students. It was very hot!
We have had a really good week and everyone has worked really hard. We are down to medieval clearance levels. The students have had workshops on British archaeology, finds recording and surveying. Craig took everyone on a Historic Lincoln walk which not surprisingly ended up in the pub! Zoe has been processing and recording the finds which range from Roman to very modern. It has been a busy but very worthwhile week.
By the end of week two it was amazing to see how much we had managed to achieve. Two new trenches were opened up near the road (Ermine Street) and the two original ones were being planned and dug. Well done everyone for working so hard.
Week three
This week started with the hire of a mini digger to get rid of the remaining topsoil/disturbance. We have lots of archaeology showing now including road surfaces and medieval walls and building platforms. Had lots of visitors including a local school.
“Arrived on site this morning and the top of the marquee had blown off!!! It was very open plan! “
Some of the volunteers from last year have returned to help this week, which as very nice.
Great week with lots of visitors and some very nice finds. All sorts of features are turning up now (archaeological that is!)
Weeks four and five.
We have had lots of visitors this week, including a U3A group who spent Saturday morning on site and visiting the lab, the East Midlands CBA group and various other groups and individuals. The school groups that have visited have enjoyed lots of activities such as digging pit, sieving, finds processing, metal detecting etc.
A group of home schooled children with their parents came on site for a morning and had a great time. Several home schoolers returned and learnt more about archaeology and how it's done. Surprisingly different to how it appears on Time Team!!!!!
By the end of the excavation we had retrieved a vast and varied amount of finds! We have a policy of full retrieval which includes sieving most of the spoil. The bulk finds include post-medieval, medieval and Roman ceramics. The specialists who will be writing the reports have had a brief look at these and they make an interesting assemblage.
We also retrieved quite a lot of animal bone some showing butchery marks. But no human bone and the anticipated burials remain elusive! There was also an interesting group of medieval roof tile from the trench with the medieval wall which has been dated to around the mid twelfth century.
256 iron nails were recorded using the GPS and also were given a level. There will be a lot of post excavation work needed to record them fully. They range in size from very small and fragile to large structural nails. They were all retrieved in quite poor condition and will be recorded and drawn in September. I am pleased to say that we already have one volunteer interested in helping with this.
We also recorded over 100 small finds ranging from bone pins to spindle whorls. About 6 hob nails were recovered from the Roman cobbled surface which I particularly like. A small copper alloy bracelet was another find from this surface. We also retrieved quite a few gaming counters cut from the base of Roman pots.
Week 6
The last few days involved the inevitable backfilling and sorting of tools and getting all the finds stored properly and ready for later work. Everyone worked really hard and did a fantastic job. Naturally the main day of backfilling it poured with rain. The worst day we had!!! But undeterred the team did the job. Well done.
The weather was poor but the pirate spirit shone through. Thanks again to Anne for the use of her garden. The video of the end of dig song will be uploaded soon.
Summary of the archaeology - Craig Spence
This summer’s excavation (BGFS10) comprised four trenches; two very small trenches between the library and Newport, a larger trench to the south of the library and a smaller trench to the south of the English Centre. In the trenches by the road we found significant medieval and Roman deposits, including fascinating evidence for the late(?) medieval road surfaces complete with wheel-ruts. The other small trench confirmed the presence of at least one substantial medieval building constructed of stone and fronting onto the road. The main trench had a great deal of modern disturbance at the west end but surviving archaeological deposits mainly of Roman date to the east. Principal amongst these was an extensive cobbled yard surface that was likely to have been associated with buildings of Roman date fronting onto Ermine Street. The cobbled surface clearly extends further to the east and north of that trench. We also excavated a small number of pits and postholes, and a hearth, associated with the Roman settlement in this area. In the easternmost trench we found a stone construction platform for an unknown structure of medieval date and the western edge of a large Roman(?) quarry pit. Work on the finds and records will continue over the coming months.