Friday 26 September 2014

Report: Excavation blog, Week 3 (17-21 September)

The continued good weather has meant we have made further good progress this week. A wide range of Roman pottery has been recovered, and slag has been found in bulk this week.
Finds drying with Janice & Alison

In Trench 1, ashy deposits were revealed within the building, but whether they were the result of domestic or industrial will depend on the evidence from the environmental sampling. Further rubble dumps to the rear of the building were encountered – no clear signs of a ground surface outside the building yet. More frustratingly, it became evident that there was a post-medieval trackway between the Roman road and the building, obscuring the relationship between the two features. Hopefully the trackway will be removed swiftly at the beginning of next week!

In Trench 2, the focus was on the low-lying, north end. The sondage at the very north end encountered a narrow channel was succeeded by a timber-lined drain, although none of the timber lining survived, pointing to water management. 

Excavating with Richard

At least two layers of well-constructed cobble surface overlaid the stream deposits to the north and the series of burnt deposits and cobble surfaces to the south, perhaps providing access to the stream from the industrial area to the south.
Burnt deposits

In Trench 3, within the building excavation of the base of an oven full of charcoal was completed and the clay floors were investigated.
Planning, mattocking and trowelling

To the rear of the building, various deposits and cobble layers were excavated, showing that there had been considerable activity inside and outside the building.
 Excavating in Trench 3

Kurt Hunter-Mann, York Archaeological Trust
Project Site Director

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