St Leonard's Excavation — the second season

Week 11 21-26 August 2002

Examining material on the children's activity day

Another successful week culminated in the Bank Holiday weekend. The site guides continued to explain the complex site to visitors, the number of which has now exceeded last year's figure of 11,000! Kurt Hunter-Mann was refreshed and back at the helm for the last two weeks of the excavation. This week twenty two trainees on the excavation modules and taster courses were joined on Monday by fourteen who had already dug on previous weeks. Such is their enthusiasm for continued involvement that a web discussion group for St Leonard's trainees, staff and interested parties has now been set up.

Children enjoying sieving

Earlier in the week a hugely successful children's activity day was held on site. Bank Holiday Monday saw the return of Comitatus in the guise of a Roman medic (Sandra Garside-Neville) and an Anglo-Saxon 'cunning woman' (Angela Kinghorn). Demonstrations included a Roman potion for cleaning wounds (a solution containing rosemary which is mildly antiseptic) and a substance for curing headaches (white willow bark, which does indeed have qualities of modern aspirin). Perhaps less convincing were some of the 'cunning woman's' cures which included a cake containing dog dung for curing fever and a stone pendant to protect travellers from hazards including lightning and infectious diseases!

Trench 1

The covered undercroft area of Trench 1 with post-holes clearly visible

In the covered area, the dump deposits belonging to the period before the construction of the 13th century hospital buildings continued to yield finds including coins, copper alloy objects, a bead and worked bone. Further exciting finds, of leather and wood, were excavated in the deep water-logged deposits near the bottom of the drain's construction cut. Such organic finds need damp, anaerobic conditions in order to survive, and the existence of these conditions is an exciting prospect for next week's digging. Environmental samples taken here should produce fascinating information- keep logging on to our post-excavation updates for details!

The top of the interval tower dividing wall (marked)

Excavation continued on the dividing wall in the Roman interval tower, glimpsed last week, revealing more layers of wall and confirming its identification. At the junction of the two interval tower walls a mortar layer was excavated. It may have been a floor, although something rather more substantial would be expected from such a building. Deposits on either side of the main interval tower wall are very different, and it has been suggested that a structure may have existed between the interval tower and the medieval drain.

Sense has at last been made of the structure of the Roman rampart. A clay deposit had been built up on the outer side to contain the inner looser sand and silt layers- as simple as that! The section through the Roman rampart was cleaned up prior to detailed recording. It produced some splendid finds including Roman and medieval pottery and bone, a copper alloy pin and some medieval lace tags.

Cleaning the section through the Roman rampart

Trench 3

A flat surface of small pieces of compacted stone in clay was uncovered this week, underneath levelling deposits, and may represent the earliest floor in this part of the hospital. Another charcoal layer, complete with slag, was excavated near the hearth previously recorded providing yet more evidence for in situ metal-working (see Week 7). Further west, excavation began on a stone and rubble layer which is probably a make-up layer for a floor. This layer had partly masked some of the post-holes associated with the hospital's construction, resulting in some fairly complex archaeology- not, alas, unusual for Trench 3! As in Trench 1, a section cleaned down at the side of the trench produced some interesting artefacts, including a fine die and a VI Legion stamped tile.

Recording in Trench 3 this week

This week's finds...

	Jet? die. The numbering arrangement is that used from Roman times to the present, with the spots arranged so the opposite sides add up to 7. An alternative system used from13th-16th century had one opposite two, three opposite four, and five opposite six. This die is an irregular cuboid in shape which must have weighted the throws somewhat! Click image for larger version.
	Copper alloy objects. Top to bottom: pin or stud; buckle; pin Click image for larger version.
	Samian ware, with decorative figure Click image for larger version.