Week 2 – Days 7, 8 and 9 - Florence's blog

Florence Spaven, our new Heritage Conservation Project Officer has been out on site at Brignall joining in with our volunteers. Florence has a buildings conservation background and little experience of archaeology but we thought it would be useful for her (and hopefully enjoyable) to get some hands-on experience with what the others in the office do.

She has kindly been writing a blog of her experiences (See Days 2 and 3 for earlier entries). Over to Florence...

Week 2 got off to an excellent start with a few new volunteers joining our group. In Trench 1, the team were able to begin excavation of some of the visible features, having completed the cleaning, photographing and planning. High on the list of features to excavate were the large patches either end of the trench – which had been visible on the geophysics – so volunteers got underway excavating these. They very quickly encountered a number of large rocks, seemingly the infill of a large ditch forming the circular feature observed on the geophysics. A number of other features were excavated, including an area in the central portion of the trench, which revealed a number of post-holes. As I write this today – Wednesday, after my hard slog in my slightly less exciting ditch (see below) – it seems that there is a further circular ditches within the larger one. This, along with a number of excavated post holes, and some further suspected ones, indicates that this may have been domestic rather than funerary. This possibility fits in with some Neolithic/Bronze Age pottery found in the Trench, particularly in a section of smaller stones which may be a path or surface. In fact, there has been very little medieval pottery from this trench. Seemingly, our ‘Shrunken Medieval Village’ could be much, much older. Watch this space for further news on Trench 1 as the team continue to investigate!

Excavating and recording the ring ditch in Trench 1 

Trench 2 is also becoming quite exciting (apart from the ditch I’ve spent this week digging, although I am hopeful something fantastic awaits at the bottom). The row of large flagstones we had crossing the trench at one end have prompted much debate. Are they part of a medieval kitchen floor? Are they covering a culvert? These are particularly interesting because either side of them are further stones. On one side, a section of smaller stones – possibly a surface for a yard or path – has been exposed. To the other side, there is a row of large stones, seemingly forming the foundation to a wall. The first of the large slabs came up today, following thorough recording, and there is no culvert to be seen. However, there is a visible different in the soil underneath, so hopefully by the end of this week, we’ll have a better idea of what this could have been. The other leg of Trench 2 has a number of features, and a few of these have now been excavated. So far, Al (the archaeologist supervising this trench) has concluded that these are largely (wait for it) ditches, from some time, which have been infilled, at some point in time. Although this may sound much less exciting than the discoveries I’ve already talked about, these ditches must still be excavated and recorded. They may also prove to be very useful in understanding the medieval – or possibly earlier – village as a whole. For instance, the large ditch I’ve been excavating along with another volunteer this week appears to be the end of a ditch as it doesn’t cross right over our trench. If this is the case, it may indicate where people historically passed into and out of the property relating to the building we’ve got at the other end of the trench. If we find anything, such as pottery or bone, which can be dated, we can also find out when these ditches were infilled. So, these ditches may be as interesting as the other things we’ve found.

Cobbled surface in Trench 2.

The dig is continuing until the 23rd October, so if you’ve been thinking about coming along, hopefully this news persuades you to do so! We start at 9.30am every day (apart from Sunday). Saturday will be an open day (from 10am until 3pm), and anyone is welcome to come along, either to dig, or to have a look at what has been uncovered. Please come along!

 

Thanks Florence. Sadly we have to bring Florence back into the office next week (we can't do without her) so she will miss out on the last week. Thanks for all your help Florence.

Getting a taste of the muddier side of our work, Florence with Trench 1 supervisor, Martyn Cooper.

What a fiendishly busy second week!

Gosh, it has all been so busy this week we have hardly had time to think!

All the trenches are now well underway and it is proving to be a very exciting and surprising site.

Brignall appears to be a site of two halves. Over on the west side, in Trench 2 and 3, excavation has uncovered extensive medieval remains including a substantial flagstone surface. To the south of the surface was a cobble surface, with the stones laid on their ends, much as you get in a stable yard. However, no clear definition of a building, although lots of tantalising semi-straight edges.

Once the flagstone were drawn and photographed they were removed and it appears that the cobbled surface is now running beneath this, possibly forming a fairly substantial road but it all still need further cleaning and investigation. The southern end of Trench 2 is dominated by a deep waterlogged area, possibly the remains of a dew pond.

In Trench 3 we have a deep pit or terminus of a short ditch. This had shown up on the initial geophysics as a Ferris spike and we thought it might be a hearth or kiln, but excavation has returned little evidence of burning. The pit is nearly bottomed out, so we may know more in a few days. There are no features linking this area to Trench 2 which is quite surprising.

Although the preservation in Trench 2 has surprised us, perhaps the most interesting aspect of the dig has been the activity in Trench 1, on the east side of the site. Quite unexpected it looks as if we have found evidence of Neolithic occupation! It just goes to show how unpredictable archaeology can be. We expected medieval and instead have uncovered something much older.

The geophysics had first sent the alarm bells ringing when a circular feature was identified on the eastern side of the field. Trench 1 was located to investigate this and on Day 1 it looked like we had a prehistoric barrow. After hastily applying for the appropriate licences we started excavation and exposed what we thought was a well preserved cist burial, but on excavation this has instead proved to be a large, stone-packed post hole surrounding by smaller post holes. This would suggest occupation rather than funerary use, although the surrounding ditch appears to be much too deep for a hut gully. All in all the feature is proving enigmatic and each day throws up something new, raising more and more questions.

With all this activity we were panicking about finishing in time and it looked like we were going to have to make some tough decision and compromises in terms of the excavation strategy. Thankfully David Mason, the Principal Durham County Council Archaeologist and former Chair of AASDN, has come to our rescue and secured funding for an additional five days of digging. So it is full speed ahead for next week.

Please come along to the open day tomorrow (Saturday 17th) from 10.am to 3.00pm to find out more. You are also welcome to come join us for what promises to be a VERY interesting final week.

Day 3 - Rain stopped play :(

After a night of heavy rain, the trenches were waterlogged and to dig as planned would have risked damaging the work we'd already done, and losing volunteers in the mud bath.

Everybody (our 5 hardy volunteers) sheltered in their cars while we put our contingency plans into action. Things started to look up as none of the volunteers got lost in convoy to the NAA offices in Barnard Castle.

 

Our volunteers then had a welcome talk from Lynne Gardiner, the Senior Project Officer in Paleoecology, who explained how this part of the process works and what we can learn from sampling trench material. The volunteers then had the opportunity to get their hands dirty, sheltered from the rain. Dani and Hannah from NAA split the group into two. One group donned rubber gloves and washed some sediment samples in preparation for sorting, while the others got stuck into cataloguing the weight and volume of some samples, sieving them and sorting them.

The group had a lunch time talk from Damien Ronan, the Project Manager in CAD, about the LiDAR and geophysics imaging which was used to investigate the site initially. Dr. Hannah Russ, Post-Excavations Manager, then gave a presentation on infant bones and animal bones, demonstrating identification techniques with examples of infant tiger, goat and pig bones from her own collection, as well as adult bones from cats, fish and other animals!

Despite the rain, we hope this was an interesting and enjoyable day for the volunteers! The weather is forecast to improve for tomorrow, so we hope to be back on site. Martyn plans to give a quick demonstration of the geophysics equipment in the morning, while we wait for the trenches to dry out a bit!

New volunteers always welcome - starting 9.30am as usual on site tomorrow.

Day 2 - Things starting to progress nicely

Day 2 was another drizzly day to begin with, but with the second trench opened up, the volunteers were keen to get started. We split off into two groups to work on the separate trenches, and by mid morning, the sun had joined us and people braved the trenches without coats for the first time.

The trench we'd started work on the previous day (Trench 1) was boggy from rain overnight, but needed only a bit of cleaning before it was ready to be photographed. Some of the features are showing up well in this trench now, we have the two ditches which seem to curve round into the circular feature we could see on the geophysics. After the photographs, Martyn (one of the archaeologists leading the dig) then taught some of the volunteers how to start the pre-excavation plans, which involved drawing out where the features (hopefully) are, and what we'll be doing next!

Meanwhile, in Trench 2, there was a lot of work to be done. We started work tidying up the sections and cleaning the surface of one leg of this L-shaped trench. This was done by mid-afternoon, and Al (the other archaeologist working on the site) taught a few of us how to set up for the photographs. This leg of the trench has a dramatic slope at one end, as well as a few other features showing up as dark patches in the otherwise orange-clay soil. These are yet to be investigated, although Al suggested that one of the dark patches may be ridge and furrow. By then, a few of the volunteers from the Trench 1 strolled up to help us out, and we started cleaning the other end, where some paving slabs and a possible medieval road surface are already visible.

In terms of finds, a fair amount of medieval pottery has come out of both trenches already, just in the cleaning phases. Both trenches also have charcoal patches, which will be interesting to investigate further. There is a huge amount of stone in Trench 2, in the areas surrounding the paving slabs.

The volunteer turnout was brilliant. It seems that none were deterred by having to have their cars pushed (by the other volunteers and some muddy archaeologists) from the muddy field after Day 1. They all worked hard to clean up the trenches before the torrential rain predicted for Day 3 (I'm writing from the office on Day 3, which gives a clue as to whether the forecast was accurate). It's a friendly and enthusiastic group, very willing to learn and help each other out - anyone thinking of coming along later this week, or next, is more than welcome.

Day 1 of Excavations (5th October 2015)

Day 1 got off to a wet start...a VERY wet start! However the weather didn't put people off and we had a good turnout of volunteers.

The day started with the obligatory health and safety briefing. Then Penny, Brignall's project manager, gave a brief introduction to the historic background of the site and we discussed the research objectives and aims of the excavation. This was all in the comfort of the newly delivered tool cabin. Just how many archaeologists can you fit in a tool cabin? Still, it kept us out of the rain.

How many archaeologists in a tool store?

The talk was followed by a walk around the village to get a feel for the local topography, and to place the site in its wider landscape context. This included a visit to the ruined church down by the river which was partially demolished in the early 19th century to build the present Brignall Church. The earlier church features as a romantic ruin in a painting by Turner dated c.1822.

There is no indication that the medieval settlement was focused around the church but, instead, it appears to have always been located further north, on the higher ground on each side of the current road.

After visiting the church we navigated back to the site via the projected route of the old hollow way leading to the village. What was surprising was that the church was remarkably close when approached from this route, in contrast to the modern footpath which runs by the gill.

After lunch Trench 1, at the eastern end of the site, was ready for excavation. This was opened to explore the sub-circular feature identified during the geophysical survey; thought to potentially be prehistoric in origin. Following machining, there is obviously a curved ditch of some sort in the area but it is too early to tell yet what date this is. Keep watching this space for further progress updates.

Opening Trench 1

While the volunteers got to work trowelling back Trench 1 and cleaning back the sections, machining continued over at Trench 2 and 3. These two trenches have been located to pick up the remains of the hollow way leading from the church and the remains of one of the village tofts and crofts, clearly visible on the Lidar. There is also a strong magnet anomaly which might be a hearth or kiln, perhaps the village smithy! Both these trenches were open by the end of the day but have not yet been cleaned. Nevertheless there are the remains of what appears to be a silted hollow way and a stone buildings of some form.

Remains of building foundations in Trench 2

All in all a good first day, despite the weather. The only down side (except for the rain) was getting the vehicles stuck at the end of the day :( Luckily we have secured alternative parking for tomorrow, thanks to Mr Watson, the farmer, who has kindly let us use his yard.

I thin everyone is looking forward to the next couple of days when things should really start to shape up. Thanks to all the volunteers for their help so far.

Work underway in Trench 1