Site wide progress, finds and a farewell to Rick…
After the weather saw digging cancelled yesterday, work today started on a lovely note with sunny skies and gentle winds. How different the site looks from last summer!
At the front of the broch, previously hidden structures have been revealed, and new pavement covers extensive surfaces.
Nico and Carrie began reducing the baulk between Structure G and Structure B2, revealing lots of nice finds, like worked antler, stone tools, and pottery sherds. Alesia recovered cramp from the north-east of Structure B2.
Robert has some very nice, charred plant remains in the main room of the building, and Clare uncovered a nice pottery base sherd and some rim sherds also.
Ole and the folks working in “The Cells” continue to make good progress. Bev, Matt, and Szuszanna are starting to excavate the occupation deposit in U1 and U4, and there is a possibility that the emerging pavement might relate to later floor layers.
Astrid, Jonathan, and Daniel’s work continues to reveal the height of the walls in J1 and U3, but the exact nature of the relationship between the walls of J1, U1, and U3 is still a bit of a challenge to decipher.
Julia continues her work on the Associated Bone Group deposit of pig legs and other bones revealed last week in the entry to the paved area of Structure O, with today’s focus being cleaning, photographing, and planning.
Craig, Holly, and Kev in Structure O are quite excited today. Holly found a beautiful loom weight, and Kev’s efforts have revealed the natural surface – very exciting, indeed!
Django is carrying on with his work from Friday in the side cell of Structure T, revealing a charcoal rich base clay, while Alannah and Elspeth work to remove a silty deposit from the drain that is rich in animal bones, some of which are articulated.
Moving into the broch’s south-east room, work continues apace.
Scott is running a sondage from the broch wall to the western uprights in an effort to understand the sequence of the laid floor deposits, as Amanda excavates floor deposits in the south bay of the room.
James made a tremendous find in the south-east room. He has been working in a voided area, which has now resolved into a pit, in the northern section. At the bottom of the pit, James’ efforts revealed several possible liner stones, a large broken saddle quern and a mystery stone with two side-by-side depressions – quite remarkable.
The base of the pit is lower than the bottom of the broch wall and is dug into the natural glacial clay deposits. Yet again, the natural construction base therefore appears, satisfying one of the excavation aims. Â Â
Quin and Leila continue their work in the south room, excavating the area revealed under the stone slab they lifted last week. Leila uncovered a second stone tool and what looks to be a pivot stone, while Quin discovered a copper alloy artefact, which was possibly attached to the end of something, like a strap-end, for example.
Due to yesterday’s heavy rains, the surfaces in the west room were still quite wet, so Jo and Rick have been deciding how to sample the hearth there, going forward. Thore and Declan moved into the north room to excavate the redeposited soil atop the subterranean well chamber.
It’s a bittersweet day at The Cairns today as it’s Rick’s last day on site ever.
He’s been at The Cairns since 2017 and is off to Shetland tomorrow, so will miss the end of the season here. We could wax poetic about what he means to everyone here, how much he has contributed to our understanding of the site, what folks have learned from him, and how much he’ll be missed, but we don’t want to go on and on about it.
It’s fitting that the day ended with tears from the sky, too.
Carrie Davis
Excavator
