More fantastic archaeology and high spirits
Today has been a somewhat drier day, with even a brief appearance from the sun.
Despite the showers in the afternoon work proceeded with great enthusiasm. The (slightly) drier weather has brought many visitors to the site, who have been receiving world-class tours from the archaeologists. The site also received four new arrivals, in the form of wagtail chicks nesting in a niche behind the “dresser” in Structure T.
In Structure O, Holly and Kev have continued their Herculean efforts to remove the rubble overlying the paving, which began to show itself yesterday. Finds today included animal bones, charcoal, and stone tools. But the star find came in the form of another piece of antler found in the rubble layer. Despite the sheer amount of rubble moved, and still to move, the pace has not slowed.
Once again Ole’s tours were in high demand, but between them he continued to lift the remaining bones from the pig skeleton found last week. With the end in sight, Ole lifted a stone only to find yet more bones awaiting excavation.
In ‘the Cells’, Deryck and Anthea finished lifting the last of the huge deposit of animal bones they have been diligently excavating over the past few days. With this area cleaned and recorded the team are ready to progress into the next layer. Who knows what they may find?
The pace of work in the broch today was rapid, to make up for the time lost to the rain yesterday.
In the south-east room, Amanda and Emily continued excavating the hearth feature as well as the peat ash deposits surrounding it. Exciting things were found in these deposits, with a stone tool and a worked bone point.
In the central room, the careful sampling of the floor deposits continued with new red ashy deposits revealed. The ashy deposits in the north room were subjected to a good clean and thorough photographing in preparation for grid sampling. More spreads of pottery were found during this operation.
Structure B2 continues to amaze and impress, with Logan’s dedicated team working to reveal more of it. In the building’s north end the beautifully cleaned stonework and deposits are being carefully planned.
It was all action in the southern end as the trample from the last 13 years was cleaned off to reveal more of the structure. Underneath a paved surface two nice sherds of pottery popped out, along with the possible remains of another pot. A smattering of stone tools and animal bones were also found across B2.
Up in the overburden, the last of the upright stones was removed by Iain and Finn. The team also found the bottom of the dark, charcoal-rich deposit, with a large amount of burnt animal bone and charcoal found throughout. With this important work finished the team returned to the familiar task of mattocking back the section with gusto.
Up in the finds cabin, Cathie has been digitising Kev’s meticulous handwritten lists of all the fantastic finds. Meanwhile, Angela has been making sure that the vast number of samples have been correctly bagged and labelled.
While the inclement weather has slowed work somewhat, the team remains in high spirits and the archaeology remains fantastic.
Ross Dempster
UHI MSc Archaeological Practice student
and supervisor for the overburden zone
