Week 7

Work on the site is now reaching the point where the majority of the deposits associated with the Exhibition Centre have been recorded and excavated. The focus is now on the site’s earlier phases of use in the medieval period. As ever, trainees are able to experience the full range of archaeological techniques and processes and as excavation continues, more work is done drawing elevations of the standing walls. Some of these drawings are also recreated digitally – a task normally untaken in the post-excavation period when the site’s findings will be assimilated.

Trench 1
This week saw the continued removal of garden-related deposits from Trench 1, identified as medieval deposits last week. Excavation has so far shown a long period of gardening land use in this area of the site. Removing the final large trench-wide layers revealed at the end of this week the presence of several cut features, though what their purpose may be at this depth is unknown.

Trench 4
The excavation of the hearth remains careful and painstaking – it is important with such an unusual discovery that it is recorded and analysed as fully as possible. Several pieces of pottery from the hearth deposits may enable more accurate dating as part of the post-excavation work. In addition, a chance find of a piece of worked flint was found in the deposits associated with the foundations of the standing wall. Though these deposits will not be excavated, the find was retrieved as it could be useful in revealing prehistoric activity on the site.

Continuing to pick apart the hearth in Trench 4

Trench 5
Having removed the layers associated with formal gardening activity, Trench 5 appears now to be into early post-medieval or late medieval deposits. Possibly the first signs of medieval activity may be the series of irregular, inter-cutting pits in west side of the trench that have been revealed this week. As ever, further excavation will be required before any more certain interpretations can be offered.

Trench 6
With space only for a single trainee in Trench 6, work has been concentrated once again in the deeper corner of the trench. Here the corroded mass of iron-working, or a similar activity, has now been removed – a difficult task in the confines of such a small working area.

Trench 7
Work has been rapid in Trench 7 this week, removing a series of deposits dating from the period of the demolition of the Exhibition Centre right back to earlier medieval deposits. These have turned up a good mix of medieval pottery, as well as the more unusual Viking pottery that continues to be found on site. Underneath these final layers, what appears to be a large spread of cobbles has begun to be revealed. This will be the main focus of work next week.

Trainees excavate Trench 7, cobbles beginning to be revealed

Trench 9
Excavation has continued at a good pace in Trench 9, rewarded with large numbers of finds, mostly medieval green-glazed and Roman pottery. We are still discovering yet more pits and post-hole which, judging by the continued presence of post-medieval finds, may still relate in some way to the Exhibition Centre, or to the period immediately preceding its construction.

As work continues in Trench 9, trainees record the standing walls