Latest Finds by Level

This photo gives some idea of what has been found in the latest dig so far. I've kept more than I normally would in order to show others what to look out for. Sometimes what looks like a piece of rock turns out to be pottery and vice versa.

The oldest, most interesting pottery sherds are on the far left. Later medieval and modern pieces are further over to the right in the pottery column.

I have been keeping natural geological specimens other than white chalk and smaller pieces of flint. Some of these are distinctive and not like anything I've found before. Which is why I need a geologist as well as a pottery expert to consult! In layer 5 I have just started to find pieces of what look like broken pot-boilers (see a previous post).

In the bottom left corner I have encircled 5 pieces of the late Iron Age pottery which started to emerge at level 4.

Level 5: The Outcome

Just one or two observations before I feature some specific pieces in a later entry: a small number of bone fragments are on the right and beneath them is an encrusted nail-like object (which I wouldn't normally bother with but it is quite long and slender); the majority of the sherds are unglazed; of the glazed pieces there is one that is splash glazed, one fully olive-green glazed and one partially dark green glazed with grey fabric.

In the centre of the display, the largest sherd is exciting! It has signs of finger indentations at two of its tips with accompanying fingerprints. It is quite flat so I cannot make out what kind of artefact it comes from.

I think that the pieces come from a range of eras but I don't want to prejudge the expert opinion.

And there were Bones ...

When I found the pot-boilers I also found a mass of animal bones. Although I am still finding the odd bit of bone in other digs in the garden there is nothing like the same amount.

The photo shows the accumulation of bones from two previous digs that explored the Iron Age ditch feature. Along the bottom there are an array of animal teeth and bits of jaw bone. The biggest bone in the photo was found 1.1 metres down. As the pottery found at this level and lower was crisply broken and not worn it is fair to assume that all of this domestic debris was discarded close to where it was used.

By contrast, my current dig is further down the garden and although I am finding pottery and bone it would appear that it has been much disturbed by cultivation.

Stop press: I have cleared level 5 and I am starting on level 6. More about that later.