July 2006
Following the work with the JCB we now have a revised plan of action for the rest of the year.
This involves cleaning up all quadrants and the edges of the central "X" that is left proud of the rest of the site. Drawings will be made at all stages in plan and profile. We will then scrape systematically using trowels removing spits to a depth of 5-10cm over each quadrant in turn. This will hopefully reveal the changes in soild colour that are apparent in the first quadrant. We will then be able to follow the line of the inner ring ditch that we have identified in quadrant A in the other three quadrants.
This should enable us to plot the boundary of the barrow in some detail, and so identify the centre. We can then target a central area for precise excavation as this is the most likely area for a burial. The burial may take the form of an inhumation (burial of body) or cremation (ashes likely to be enclosed in a pottery urn).
Last Friday, 7th July 2006, the topsoil was removed by JCB from the remaining 3 quadrants of the barrow. From today we intend to add a regular Thursday evening dig to the calendar in the hope that this will help to reach our target of completion of the dig by autumn 2007.
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Click on the picture to see a bigger image |
June 2006
Terry and Irene both completed digging their sections through the Barrow ditch, and have drawn an excellent representation of the west facing section showing the barrow mound and ditch profile - so well done to them.
Future work includes taking levels on Terry/Irene's section drawing to ensure acurate location of finds. As always the dreaded context sheets to be completed!
Alex's section is close to completion. The south facing section through the barrow ditch and the mound need to be drawn.
When all sections have been dug they will each need to be drawn, other jobs A final plan of the mound and ditch with spot heights needs to be completed.
We need to ensure trench edges are kept tidy and that grass is kept cut, we need to mark out a 2m square in the corner of the south-east quadrant ready for hand digging to maximum depth of 30 cms. to check for signs of central burial.
Dig 2005
Progress on the dig this year has been somewhat slower than last year, but much has been achieved. Fewer people have been on site, but attending more regularly. We have moved from excavating one metre square quadrants to excavating by feature. Various promising features have emerged including a possible post hole and ditch. This would indicate a fence had been constructed during the construction of the barrow mound and earth removed from outside the fence and thrown over, thus creating a ditch adjacent to the fence. Artifacts continue to be recovered, and we have confirmation from pottery that the site is indeed Bronze Age. Small shards of bone have been discovered, but unfortunately they are too small to be identified as animal or human.
Other activities this year have included an updated display as part of the Feast Week Memory Lane in the church, where photos and reports were on view. Archaeologist Tim Reynolds also attended to identify items brought in from around the village, which included a medieval “ball” that turned out to be the end of a sword handle.
A few of us managed to do some field walking, and later metal detecting, on a field behind the Row, which had been deep ploughed, and is now sown to grass. A range of items were collected, most of which appear relatively modern. They will be passed on to the professionals to check.
If anyone is interested in joining us, please email: sutton.adp@btinternet.com
Committee Members Gill
Shapland (Chairman) tel: 01353 775161 : Liz Hawkins (Treasurer) tel: 01353
777735 : Laura Wood (Secretary) tel: 01353 776343 Joan
Batten tel: 01353 778720 : David & Sylvia Goodman : Jane Logan : Kim
Osborne : Joy Owen : Peter Smith Tim Smith tel: 01353 778074
Dig 8 - Sunday 22nd August 2004
The weather was almost ideal - warm and sunny with a slight breeze. The usual band of keen volunteers turned up on site to continue from the previous session. Joan and Liz had a look at the plans before starting, and managed to identify the different soil colours seen last time. We continued work on the squares as previously. We are starting to become familiar with the different soil types and better at spotting finds. Aileen decided it would be a good exercise for us to fill in the context sheets for the squares we were working on, so we had to do this before we were allowed to stop for lunch!! It was interesting to see how many different descriptions we could come up with for the same bit of soil. I left after lunch, almost guaranteeing that something exciting would be found, and sure enough it was. Gill rang later to say that a small flake, a larger blade (about 2") and a slightly damaged arrowhead had been found. This caused much excitement. It looks like things are starting to get interesting just as the season draws to a close. Next time we are all taking watering cans to damp down the site and see if the soil colour changes are more apparent.
Dig 7 - Sunday 8th August 2004
It was so warm that we decided that it would be a good idea to erect the Feast Committee Marquee as a giant sunshade and we were glad that we did. The sun burnt hot all day and a fairly strong breeze blew across the site, at times threatening to pull the Marquee from its moorings. A fellow amateur from Boxworth, Ian, kindly came along to give us his assistance. There are about ten of us on site for the morning and a couple less in the afternoon.
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Click on the picture to see a bigger image Working in the sun and shade. |
The work starts where we left off last time, we each pick a metre square and begin the slow task of scraping down the soil. Nothing of any note was found in the morning session so at about 12.45pm we stop for lunch. The sun has climbed high in the sky and we huddle around the limited shade at the end of our storage container. As we finish our lunch Denice arrives with a supply of ice lollies, what perfect timing.
Back to work and the baked earth seems to be harder to remove until you reach the softer soil below. As we continue Ian finds a piece of bone, very small. It would probably have been discarded by any of us greener amateurs. Shortly after Alex returns to the site with something that she has picked up from the pile of large stones lying close to the dig site. Aileen, our on site archaeologists, takes a look at it and says that it is a tooth, probably a Mammoth or Rhinoceros. What a find!
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Click on the picture to see a bigger image At work (well some are). |
In the meantime we are starting to uncover small areas of light soil. Aileen thinks that this may be where turf sections have been laid in the building of the barrow. It is as we are clearing our last squares of the day that a clearly defined line of light soil starts to emerge with a second connecting to it at right angles. This is extremely easy to see as the soil colouring is so different. What on earth could it be, Aileen has a few thoughts but it will have to wait for another day.
Dig 6 - Saturday 24th July 2004
We gathered on site from about 9.30 am - the main job of the day was to finish bringing quadrant 1 down 10cm, there was still about 12m2 to be removed to complete this task.
The sky was overcast and some rain was forcast. Diura has again made the long journey from Ascot to help us for the best part of the day.
We started scraping soil away with the occasional piece of worked flint being discovered. At 11am we all stopped for a coffee and then continued the task until lunch (this isn't Indiana Jones type of archaeology I'm afraid not a lot of excitement on this day). We completed the task for the day and then started clearing a few square metre sections on the next level. Rob marked out the adjacent quadrant ready for digging. Not much else except a noticable change in the feel and texture of the soil in one specific area, we're not sure if this is significant. It was suggested that we soak the quadrant in an attempt to identify soil colour change, but that will have to wait.
Dig 5 - Sunday 18th July 2004
To follow shortly
Dig 4 - Sunday 20th June 2004
To follow shortly
Dig 3 - Sunday 6th June 2004
Another hot day at the barrow saw the first keen volunteers arriving to help with the dig, under the supervision of Aileen and her team from the AFU. The work for the day was split into two parts – continuing removing the 1m squares down to a depth of 10cm so that by the end of the day nearly all of the first quadrant had been cleared down to 10cm. The volunteers were extremely thorough with this and several worked flints were found by Vanessa and Alex.
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Click on the picture to see a bigger image Surveying the site. |
The other task for the day was taken on by the "de-turfing team" of Kim, Peter and Tony who worked extremely hard in the heat of the day removing the turf from a second quadrant then levelling and clearing the soil surface. Diura Thoden van Velzen, who had originally identified the barrow, also came on site. She carefully cleaned the edges of the first quadrant we are working on to show the changes in soil colour. We can see the change in soil colour in both the cleared quadrants, so it seems highly likely we are located on the barrow and at least digging in the right place, which is very exciting!
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Click on the picture to see a bigger image Surveying the site. |
Well the weather had certainly improved - warm and sunny with just a gentle breeze - ideal conditions in fact. We were surprised to see how many weeds had grown on our carefully prepared site in the previous month! The work continued literally where we had left off, removing soil in 1 metre square quadrants to a depth of 10cm in a chess board pattern. The surface was gently broken up using mattocks or spades and then carefully scraped away with trowels and small shovels. The alternate squares were removed more rapidly with shovels, but trying to keep a clean surface as we worked down.
One of the key things we are looking for is a change in soil colour which will help us to determine if we are actually located on the barrow. The soil forming the central mound and the surrounding ditch should be markedly different.
Rob Atkins from the Archaeological Field Unit came along as a volunteer and was very good at boosting morale with regular handouts of chocolates, and counting up how many squares we had done.
By the end of the day we have definitely identified two different soil colours - in the centre the soils is paler and more reddish in colour, and at the edge it is much darker. Whether this is of any significance remains to be seen.watch this space!
We also have three more finds - a piece of clay pipe and two flints - they may possibly be worked, or may be natural we await the verdict of an expert.
Dig 1 - Sunday 18th April 2004
We've been waiting for months for this moment, we've completed the training, been to lectures but now, finally the moment to get our hands dirty has arrived. The plan was to start the dig on the first Sunday after the Easter weekend. The week leading up to the day has seen fabulous weather and now we are preparing to start work excavating a bronze age barrow.
I was awakened in the early hours of Sunday morning by the sound of rain lashing against my bedroom window. I told myself that by the time I get up it will have passed, did it heck!
The site is a couple of miles west of the village and many of our team had planned to cycle down to the site. It was a great relief when I received a phone call from Peter Smith at 8.30 offering a lift. We picked up Liz and Gill (our Chairperson) on the way. In the end just one brave soul, Tim, managed to cycle to site. We duly arrived on site at 10am after a brief friendly meeting with the site owner Peter Lee.
At the site half the committee had already arrived and the others soon followed. It continued to rain and the wind blew with vigour. Eventually we left the dryness of our container to commence surveying the roundabout that is, hopefully, our barrow, known as Sut 7. For the next two hours the rain comes and goes as we mark out the site.
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Click on the picture to see a bigger image Surveying the site. |
Firstly we found the centre of the of the barrow and from there mark out the grid on the site. At about 12 o'clock we are ready to start removing the top of the South West quadrant. We broke for lunch at 12.30 with nearly a third of the quadrant de-turfed.
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Click on the picture to see a bigger image The first shovel full. |
Just after 1pm we continue with the job and all goes remarkably smoothly and within the hour the top layer of the quadrant is all removed. David ran his metal detector over the quadrant but nothing comes to light.
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Click on the picture to see a bigger image Metal Detecting. |
We mark out 1 metre by 0.5 metre sections along the straight edges of the quadrant. We are allocated a section each and our task is to scrape away the soil in that section to a depth of 10 cm. Again the rain started to fall and even turns to hail for a brief time but we work on through. While we did this some of the AFU staff are clearing the side of the mound to reveal the original topsoil below and the natural level below that. The Soil changes from the black fen soil to a light coffee brown and below that the gravel layer. Once we have cleared our allotted section we move onto an adjacent one and start the process again.
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Click on the picture to see a bigger image Trench sections & the side of the barrow. |
The rain continues on and off and we are wet through so by 2.30 we called a halt to the days procedures. We spent the next half an hour packing away and tidying the site. Our finds for the day were a rusty washer, a wire brush and a small piece of medieval pottery!
The biggest surprise was how much we achieved on the day. In spite of the weather we all agreed that we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We now have a month before we can return to site and in the meantime will put all our efforts into researching ancient tribal sundances.
Excavation Techniques Training Day – Sunday 4th April
In a packed day over 20 people turned up for the initial training session. After a brief introduction by Gill Shapland, Chairman of the Dig Project, the floor was handed over to Aileen Connor, of The Archaeological Field Unit(AFU) who took us through the reasons for excavating sites followed by an Overview of Bronze Age Barrow Sites and their Excavation, this included the different types and shapes of barrow that we could possibly come across from this period.
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Click on the picture to see a bigger image Learning to use a Dumpy Level. |
After a brief break for tea and coffee we continued with a couple of practical sessions. The group were divided in half and we then went outside to learn firstly how to use a Dumpy Level and then how to set out a site grid with Taleyna Fletcher, AFU. In the Final lesson of the morning we were taken through Health and Safety, Site Rules and Induction, an essential element for anybody working at the site.
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Click on the picture to see a bigger image Learning to use a Dumpy Level. |
With lunch finished we again went outside to be taken through the various tools that are to be used on site and then back inside for a talk on Test Pits and Sectioning.
Site Drawing and Site Recording followed and finally we covered the Recovery and Processing of Finds. A very full day, now we are just itching to get on site.
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Click on the picture to see a bigger image Setting out a site grid. |