Week 1 (14th-20th June)

Sieving spoil on a wet day - under cover!

The first week of the final season of excavation got off to a good start, with the first batch of trainees digging in the trenches immediately after their induction in the morning. The first day was particularly hectic, with the opening of the site by the Lord Mayor of York, Councillor Janet Looker, being followed by a live broadcast from the site by the local ITV company. The trainees mostly worked in Trench 3, under the shelter acquired last year, but we were also able to make good progress in Trench 5. There were over 900 visitors, despite the mixed weather.

Excavation of the second Roman legionary fortress rampart, associated with the stone defensive walls and towers, commenced in Trench 3. Several mixed deposits were encountered, indicating that material from a variety of sources had been brought in to form the rampart. Some of this material was apparently domestic in origin, as it was ashy in places and contained a range of artefacts, such as pottery, glass and animal bone suggestive of domestic activity. At first glance these finds date to the 1st-2nd centuries AD, which does not dispel the notion that the rampart was constructed around AD 200.

Fragment of stamped Samian pottery (maximum dimension 45mm)	The base of a Roman glass vessel (diameter 50mm)

Excavating the Roman rampart. The ground slope in the foreground is the original slope at the rear of the rampart.

In the north-east part of Trench 5 the earliest of several cinder and gravel paths within the 19th century Garden of Antiquities was excavated (the later path surfaces had been excavated towards the end of 2003). Beneath this path was a mixed layer of soil and rubble, which is thought to represent 19th century landscaping of the site. In the centre of the trench, excavation of a probable 19th-century excavation pit, exposed in the side of the Second World War air-raid shelter that occupies the entire south-west half of Trench 5, began. A Roman coin and a fragment of a medieval coin were found in this pit fill.

Planning the 19th-century path

Excavating the 19th century excavation pit

Medieval silver coin (diameter approx 25mm); Roman coin (diameter 15mm)