Tuesday, September 7
By Calum Hall
Today was another very productive day on site, and once again we’ve been treated to glorious sunshine and blue skies. Let’s hope this continues for the rest of the week!
We were joined on site this morning by some of the pupils from Watten Primary School who were very enthusiastic, and who really enjoyed having the opportunity to get involved and take part in their first archaeological dig.
Elsewhere on site, Holly and the team in Structure B have been working hard continuing to record the deposits, removing layers of rubble which have been overlying some of the earlier surfaces. Also in Structure B, Leia dismantled the stone setting which she planned yesterday.
Over in the burn section, Travis has been working to record and understand the relationship of deposits to the north-west of Structure A, and, just along from Travis, Mary has been rationalising the layers of rubble and deposits which have been continuing to emerge.
Moving back around to the east, myself and Amy have been continuing our work to define the cut for the north wall of Structure A. In the process of this, Amy came upon a very exciting find – a very nice worked stone tool, likely to be a quern rubber used for grinding grain!
As we head round to the eastern trench edge, volunteers Rhona, Rod, Catherine and Alison have removed a layer of peat, revealing both a very interesting flagstone surface as well as a cobbled surface, so it will be exciting to see how this area develops in the coming days.
Over to the southern end of Structure C, Robert has been doing a great job removing some of the natural deposits which overly the spread of rubble to the south of the structure.
Anthea and Deryck have also been hard at work today removing the deposits of peat and silt which have been concealing features related to Structure C, as well as deposits that lie between Structure C and D. Hopefully this well help us to further understand the relationships between these thus far complicated structures.
There was also a lot of planning done today, as UHI students Francesca and Gianluca, as well as local volunteer Roland, completed plans of rubble they have been working to expose in the western extension. This was Francesca’s first time planning and taking levels and she has been doing a great job!
The weather is looking great for the rest of the week, and we’re all looking forward to getting back on site tomorrow where we’ll be joined in the morning by pupils from Thrumster Primary School.
Visitors to the excavation site are welcome. Tours are available and archaeologists will be on site every day until Wednesday, September 15.
