Day 20
With just two days to go before we finish, today started on a high note with warm sunshine and a nice, light breeze. From that point things only got better!
At around 11am, Finlay (II) uncovered something we have not seen before in an Early Neolithic building – a row of small “cupboards”, or ambries, running along the side wall. The masonry was exquisite, with wall stones flaked to make perfect joints.
No sooner was this being investigated, and cleaned, than another cry went up, this time from from Adam and Finlay (I) who had just uncovered an in-situ quern near the western pair of compartments.
Things quietened down for a while – until a fine, stone quern rubber was discovered by Logan in close proximity to the quern. Lots of finds of stone and flint continued through the day then in the afternoon a drain was found by Elspeth, running out of the south-eastern compartment.
But things were only going to get better…
Around 3.30pm, Paul quietly beckoned people over to the inner wall-face he had been revealing on the opposite side of the building to the row of stone “cupboards”. To everyone’s astonishment beside another destroyed row of small “cupboards”, was an extraordinary polished stone object – the like of which I have not seen before – incorporated in the fabric of the wall.
Excitement was almost overwhelming when, to finish this superb day off, Jane and Anna discovered a hearth in the west central osection of the Early Neolithic building.
Some days are special on an excavation and this lovely day, in Sanday, with all the discoveries made, comes close to being a perfect day!
Professor Colin Richards
