Dig Updates
Follow all the archaeology action from onsite at Earth Trust as it happens.
More DigClub, more discoveries!
Day two of DigClub, and we’re back on site with a new group of budding archaeologists braving the elements in search of Roman and Iron Age discoveries.
Today’s young archaeologists have been finding lots of animal bone and sherds of pottery.
Here are two of today’s Venturers, Koru and Patsie, who spent their morning learning how to trowel and clean back, before moving onto mattocking in the afternoon.
We’ve fit a lot in today!
Shielding from the sun
Come rain or shine, good ol’ British weather likes to keep us on our toes. When the wet and wind isn’t raining us off, sometimes the sun can not only make it difficult to see changes in the colour of the soil, but to take photos, too!
Here some of our field team are assisting Darcey to take photos of features in our northeastern extension, by forming a human shield!
Pivoting to a pop-up!
The rain’s back today – so a change of plan is required for the dig team!
How fab is this pop-up museum some of our wonderful Venturers have prepared in the Earth Lab?
The sun's coming out - and so are the finds!
In our western extension of Trench 1, Maddie has found some tile!
Back at it!
After two days of heavy rain putting a (literal) dampener on proceedings, we’re back on site to continue week two of digging!
Rain, rain, go away...
As outdoor activities go, archaeology is an all-weather one. Bad weather is just as much a part of the deal as good weather!
But when conditions become truly terrible and pose a risk to the safety of our team or the archaeology, we have to call it a day and wait until it’s safe to continue.
Today was one of those days here at Earth Trust – so we made the most of the tools being down…
To kick off week two, this morning Site Director Nat talked today’s Venturers through our time digging here so far – as well as the earlier archaeological work that’s helped us to piece together the site’s history.
We then took a look at what goes into setting up an archaeological site, including the desk-based work we need to do before we can dig any holes. The digging may have stopped for now, but the learning continues!
Special find alert!
During today’s DigClub, Matthew was cleaning back part of a wall we started to investigate in Trench 1 last year when he found this…
Made from animal bone, we think it may be a token or gaming piece.
Matthew’s chuffed – and so are we – we like it so much, we’ve given it special find status!
Tomorrow we’ll be taking a break from digging – but we’ll be back on Tuesday!
Welcome DigClub!
Today we welcomed our first DigClubbers to this year’s dig at Earth Trust!
Our teen crew got stuck into the essentials of archaeological fieldwork, including learning how to use a trowel and clean back in the northeastern extension of Trench 1, and a wall we began to uncover last year.
They also got to grips with mattocking in our western extension, and explored parts of the site with a metal detector and pinpointer.
All in all, we fit a lot in today!
What have we been finding so far?
In short, lots! In the few days we’ve been here, we’ve already uncovered a range of finds that are helping us piece together what people might have eaten, used, built with and cooked with here – as well as what they left behind.
From animal teeth and bone to pottery, tile and other ceramic building material, oyster shells and charcoal, there’s plenty here to add colour to life here during the Iron Age and later Roman period.
What has Trench 1 got to tell us so far this week?
There’s lots happening in its northeastern extension! Here, we’re digging some postholes along the fenceline, and a large ditch with a substantial pit is producing lots of animal bone, so we’re continuing to dig down to find out more. We’ve also got a wall coming through, and a lot of crushed, very compact chalk in this area that could be a deliberate levelling deposit.
Within the aisled hall-style building itself, the layout is starting to make more sense – and we think residents would’ve lived on the upper floor while animals and crops were kept on the ground floor. We’re seeing signs of multiple phases of use – including a storage area (likely used to keep crops raised off the ground and dry) that’s been filled in with demolition material from a later phase. Lots of lovely tile and pottery fragments are helping us to figure out how it might all fit together.
Over in the western extension of the trench, the rain we’ve had has been helpful for bringing more features through as we clean back through the very hard ground. We’ve now confirmed the natural geology, identified a shallow pit that’s been fully dug and recorded, and also spotted signs of a gulley! We’re also excited that we’ve had some well-made Iron Age pottery emerging from this area – including rim sherds, which are great diagnostic pieces that can help us to date what was happening here.
Follow our progress
Follow the latest archaeology action from our Oxfordshire site as it happens.
