Great work on site before rain halted play
The rain ended our work on site early today, but some good work took place before that…
We finished planning the North Room room of the broch – there was only a little left of it to do – using a technique called “taped-offsets” to draw the edges of the area because we can’t float the planning frame above the tall wall stones and orthostats (and we can’t levitate either!).
We’re reinstating the grid strings, which help us sample the broch floors, when we get the chance to go back in and once the GPS has signal again. I’m starting to get used to wearing a hard hat, so I forget to take it off when I’m not in the broch, but I guess it looks pretty cool, so it’s fine.
The “well” is getting drained right now, that should be interesting to see.
Work on site is so very different from last year, when it was on a much more modest scale. There are a lot more people on site this year, so people are in groups working on different parts of the site.
Michele, Alisha, Annie and Islay have been on a mission to find the wall of the cell in Structure E. Meanwhile, Alfie and Clara are cleaning shattered stone out of the cell and doing their paperwork. There probably aren’t a lot of people who find paperwork interesting or fun, but it is a very important part of the process and I appreciate them for doing it.
Zoe and Katie have removed the animal skull that they found last week. They had to use plastic tools so as not to damage the bone.
Dan further over, at Structure O, finished the plan he was drawing well before the rain really set in.
At the broch “frontage”, Holly and Anna have been clearing away large stones and rubble next to the cupboard “niche”. I think that was a very good idea – you shouldn’t keep your rubble next to your cupboard, it sounds inconvenient!
Finally, Amanda has been excavating deposits spilling out of the hearth in the South-east Room of the broch and Minna, in the same zone, has been excavating some shells by the broch entrance.
Unfortunately, the rain meant conditions had become slippery and the soft archaeological deposits run the risk of being removed on boots. So the day ended a little early. It was a shame.
Dorottya Gupsci
BSc (Hons) student
