Week 12, 22 - 28 September

Members of YAYAS, the local archaeological society, on an evening tour of the site

The final week of a very successful season! A check of the visitor numbers showed that only a fraction short of 20,000 people visited the site this year - not including the repeated visits by squirrels, intent on hiding their nuts in our trenches. Far from being what we thought could be a quiet week on the excavation, perhaps an opportunity to tie up loose ends, we had another busy training and digging week - not to mention running our second artefact study course of the season.

Studying finds on the artefacts course

The artefacts students concentrated on the finds recovered from a group of dumps in Trench 3, thought to have been associated with the construction of the Anglo-Norman stone infirmary (see Weeks 8-9). After processing their finds and environmental samples, they carefully studied the whole range of material - from bricks to animal bone. Their findings indicate that these dumps were derived not only from the demolished upper part of the Roman rampart, but also from contemporary domestic waste. This suggests that there was occupation nearby, and that the medieval builders had made use of any material to hand in order to form the flat surface for the construction of the infirmary. Snail evidence indicated that the dumps were occasionally left exposed for some time and dried out before the next layer was added, which suggests that the formation of these dumps was a prolonged process. The information obtained from this course demonstrates how the thorough investigation of the full range of finds and other data available from urban sites such as St Leonard's Hospital can greatly improve our understanding of the history of the site and its relationship to the wider social and economic history of York.

Sandra Garside-Neville teaching the finer points of brick and tile analysis

Back to the trenches: all that was left to do in Trench 1 was to draw and describe the deposits and features as they were left when excavations in this trench ceased at the end of last week. In Trench 3 on the other hand, excavation was continuing apace, and there were some excellent developments here. To begin with, we were surprised when further excavation of the deposits at the base of the Roman rampart suddenly reached natural clay (the glacial material on which the city of York rests). These deposits, underlying the 11th century clay feature excavated last week, were not very thick, indicating that there was little activity in the area between the end of the Roman period and the 11th century. Another result of reaching natural clay at the north-east end of the trench means that we now have some idea of the amount of archaeological deposits that remain to be excavated down to natural in the rest of the trench next year.

Digging and section drawing of the post-Roman deposits to the rear of the Roman rampart	The orange natural clay being exposed in Trench 3

Excavating the strange L-shaped feature

We were able to complete the excavation of the strange L-shaped cut in the top of the rampart. This feature had at least one post hole within it, suggesting that it originally supported a timber structure set into the rampart; our best guess to date is that this was a timber staircase that provided access to the fortress wall from the interior of the fortress. Even more intriguingly, some pottery from this feature could date to the Anglo-Saxon period, in which case this would be our best evidence so far for the maintenance of the fortress defences into the Anglo-Saxon period. Analysis of the pottery from this feature by a pottery researcher is eagerly awaited.

Excavation in Trench 4 turned to the trench excavated by Time Team in 1999. This trench unearthed the entrance to the World War 2 air-raid shelter. However, a determined attempt to locate this feature was not successful, which suggests it lies deeper than expected. The examination of this part of the air-raid shelter will have to wait until next year.

Trench 4 under excavation, with the standing medieval infirmary in the background and trench supervisor Maria Vinnels in the foreground	Removing the backfill from the 1999 Time Team trench

Excavating the air-raid shelter fills

In Trench 5 excavation of a slot to examine the lower air-raid shelter fills concluded. To the north-east, a gravel path and landscaping deposits were encountered. They were presumably associated with the creation of the Garden of Antiquities around the middle of the 19th century. However, it is still not clear how extensive the Victorian excavations were in this part of the site; consequently, the extent of survival of the post-medieval and earlier deposits remains to be seen.

Thanks very much to all of the people who took part in the excavation this year, which was certainly very successful in terms of archaeological research. The next web diary update should be a review of the archaeological results from this season. Hopefully next year - the final season at St Leonard's Hospital - will be even better, and will round off an excellent campaign on this site. That's it for the moment with the web diary, but watch out for the updates every month or so, including details of the final season, due in December or January.

A fine fragment of decorated Samian pottery, probably 2nd century.
A Roman roof tile bearing part of a stamp that can be reconstructed as LE]G IX [HISPANA or similar - a product of the 9th legion, which established the Roman fortress at York c.AD71.	A tile bearing part of a stamp L]EG V[I VICTRIX or similar, made by the 6th legion, which replaced the 9th legion at York early in the 2nd century AD.