Week 7 (26 July - 1 August)

Steady progress was made this week, under the trench covers of course. The trainees were mostly British, but with a strong American contingent. Over 1,500 visitors took the overall visitor total towards 12,000.

Trench 3

The excavated quarter of the possible Saxon pit in Trench 3.

Work has concentrated on removing the substantial clay layers which cover the western end of the Roman rampart. These appear to be part of the construction of the rampart where layer upon layer of dumped material was deposited to reach the desired height and width. More evidence of the use of turf in the construction has been found, apparently to form cells which were then infilled with clay and cobbles. Considerable care seems to have been taken in constructing the rampart.

The large pit has finally been bottomed, and once recorded it was backfilled again for safety reasons. Its contents were of a 'cessy' character and contained mostly Roman material with one or two pieces of pottery which might, intriguingly, be later. Watch this space!

Trench 4

The Victorian path (centre) cut by the air-raid shelter (foreground). Note the medieval stone-capped drain, originally unearthed in Trench 2 (background).

Recording of the air-raid shelter steps was completed this week, with all the necessary plans drawn and measurements taken in order to preserve, by record, this recent but important bit of York's history. Further work in the trench revealed a cinder path which probably once wound its way through the Victorian landscaped garden. As might be expected few finds were found associated with this feature.

Trench 5

The final layers representing the demolition of the hospital have been cleared away from the eastern part of this trench, and we were straight down onto Roman deposits with not a hint of the intervening centuries. This, as has been seen elsewhere, is the result of the levelling off the site for the construction of the hospital and, regrettably, has removed whatever evidence there was for the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Scandinavian activity on top of the fortress rampart. An intriguing feature, a rectangular pit, was encountered just below the final hospital demolition layers. As this disappears into the section there is the possibility that it is a continuation of the L-shaped feature which was encountered in Trench 3 at the end of 2003.

Removing the fill of another Miller trench in Trench 5

Elsewhere in the trench more painted plaster, presumably from the robbed out back chamber wall of the Multangular tower, has been recovered together with a simple copper-alloy Roman ring and some coins, yet to be identified. A second narrow trench, parallel with that following the wall of the Multangular Tower and presumably excavated by Miller in the 1920s, was found to have largely removed the medieval column foundation in the centre of the trench.

Possible Roman earring from Trench 3

Trench 6

In this new trench the most recent landscaping deposits have been removed. This has revealed a gravel surface alongside the foundations of the Multangular Tower, which seems to have been part of a display of the interior of the tower post-dating Miller's 1920s excavations.

The Multangular Tower walls and modern gravel surface in Trench 6

A copper alloy and glass object from Trench 6 (16mm long)