Tuesday, the best weather and lots of progress.
The weather did get the better of us but we still have fun. Lots of archaeology turning up but still not clear just what this structure was yet.
The trench from the previous dig last year has been uncovered.
You'll be able to spot the folk who went out to set up today as we're all tanned - it was a glorious day up there, unlike on the coastal strip.
We now have a 12m x 12m trench dug out to about 30cm depth. Robin the digger driver was very efficient. We also have the tent up, and a lot of the kit ready to go. Edwin Wood gave us an excellent ‘Romans in Britain’ day in Worthing Museum on Saturday. He began by talking about the Roman invasions of Britain from 55BC onwards, when and where they landed and why they came at all. He discussed the pre-existing relationships between the Romans and the various tribes of southern British and the lack of evidence for the camps they would have been expected to make on their arrival and journey to London and Colchester. The story was evidently not as simple as I had assumed.
After the morning break Edwin started telling us all about the range of weapons used by the Romans in Britain, from swords and daggers to javelins and sling shots. We were able to handle numerous replicas and he showed how they were used, and told us how the soldiers obtained them. After lunch he went on to describe Roman armour and its development during the time of occupation from helmets to mail and shields. Again there were numerous replicas to handle and examine and were able to have a go at making the links for the chain mail. In the last session Edwin talked about the role of the Romans in British society. There were plenty of questions from the audience with a lot of preconceptions debunked. Edwin was so knowledgeable and enthusiastic it made for a very entertaining day. This was a very successful and fascinating day with Duncan in the Museum Education Room. In the morning Duncan went through the 2 main features of pottery, fabric and form, and listed all the parts of vessels to look for – lid, rim, spout, base etc. He went through how pot was made - basically by hand, or on a wheel - how it was fired, and led us from the Post-Roman period to modern - from about 350 to 1850. The Industrial Revolution changed everything - from production to transport to taste in pottery.
After lunch, in groups, we had a collection of sherds to try to sort into chronological order – to see whether we’d learned anything in the morning! Duncan rounded off the day by comparing 5 different domestic sites in which he’d been involved – from a peasant farmstead on Fyfield Down, via Launceston Castle to Bull Hall in Southampton – looking at the proportions of different kinds of pot in each. It certainly put people back into the Archaeology. Thanks to Duncan for an excellent day. |
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