Today was an exceptional day, but not entirely for the expected reasons!
Despite the wet weather, continued. John toiled in the rain to remove the rubble from the interior of the new house (eastern half of the double-house) and his hard work was rewarded when a floor layer was revealed beneath the infill. Also the architecture of the house interior became apparent.
Then, just before the end of work time, the red-orange ash of a central hearth was exposed!
Meanwhile everyone worked really hard and Helen cleared rubble to reveal a lovely small compartment with a curving wall – the walls are already standing nearly a metre in height – and the deposits continue to go down…
Elsewhere, Holly is revealing a gorgeous passage between the houses and Anna, Annie, Magnus, Pierce and Steve all worked on the outer wall of the overall structure, which is now taking shape. More on the excavation tomorrow.
The most exciting moment of the day was when Steve received a message saying that an extremely rare bird – a Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, normally found in Asia and North Africa – had been spotted in Sanday! We raced off site and by good fortune it was still perched on a fence. The most beautiful of birds!
