Comment: A few stats ...

Thanks to the efforts of the Visitor Team (ably led by Brian and Leo throughout) in recording who came to see the site, here are a few figures:

Between 4th September and 28th September, we had 1131 visitors.  These comprised:

Females: 454
Males: 489
Children: 188

The busiest day was: Sat 14th Sept - the first open day
The quietest day was: Weds 18th  Sept - during the rainy week!

The majority of the visitors were fairly local and from Cumbria.  However, people also came from all across the UK, Europe, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.  These out-of-county visitors may well have been visiting the Bath House, however the Romans in Ravenglass project was able to enhance their visting experience!

Thank you to all the members of the Visitor Team for their efforts - it meant that the diggers could concentrate on digging, whilst the visitors had an informed tour of the site.

Report: 26th-28th September 2013

The last few days on site were very busy, hence the lack of blogging :D  As well as hosting another day of School Visits, we also had the BBC visit us on Friday, along with the usual film crew also getting those last few shots for their film for the Lake District. 

BBC North West interviewed people on site, as well as taking film of the finds. Unfortunately, there isn't a link to the Look North programme on the BBC website, so those who actually saw it can count themselves as lucky!

The BBC cameraman went to great lengths to get a good shot of the Samian 'Venus' sherd, which is rather tiny, but she *did* appear on the tv!

Furious packing up of washed finds took place on the Saturday, and fortunately the weather stayed fine so there was plenty of room to sort them all out!  A big thank you to Janice who undertook this mammoth task!

Maggie kindly washed the door pivot stone which finally made its way to the Finds Hut.

And here it is, nice and clean.  It's possible to see the 'fault' line on the top right, which would have ruled it out of being a quernstone.

Then it was time for the final Finds Talk and the Final Site Tour of the season and there was a very good turnout out, including the Muncaster Estate owners Peter and Iona Frost Pennington:

Director Kurt's thoughts on the dig so far will be included in a future blog!

Digger's view: Trevor Batchelor - Finds work

Digger's View: Trevor Batchelor - Fieldwalking on the beach!

Report: 17th & 18th September

Digging continues, despite the deluge!  Trench features are being planned and levelled, when the weather allows. Digging is difficult as it's so muddy in the trenches that any features can't be cleaned properly.  Below, some diggers return to the compound for a well-earned break:

Some people even revel in the damp and wear shorts (he's a brave chap, but it's easier than getting wet trousers!):

Supervisor Bryan has taken delivery of a brand new hi-vis jacket - he's thrilled (it's made of Goretex, y'know), and is defending it from all-comers, but not from the dirt ...

But when it comes to Rowan, he's a push-over and lets her have some of his breakfast pie!:

Fieldwalking Supervisor Tudur (right, below) has arrived, and has been getting the lie of the land prior to doing a bit of work on the beach today. This involved waiting for the tide to go out and talking strategy with Director Kurt (left):

Tudur'll be on the project for another few days, so the diggers will have the chance to search the surrounding area for features and finds. Local digger Brian was happy to take him on a tour of the area:

Report: 13th-14th September - Open Days

Today (16th Sept)  it's rainy, windy and just a bit chilly, but 13th & 14th September were site Open Days.  We were lucky, as both days had fine weather!  The Friday Open Day focussed on local societies, plus the Portable Antiquities Scheme Officer for Cumbria was available to identify finds from the area. He brought some finds from Ribchester Roman Fort with him, including glass beads, a silver ear-ring, coins and finger rings:

Also present were the Lake District Archaeologists, with Holly helping to meet and greet, as well as doing site tours:

Mervyn (background in hi-vis jacket) was the mainstay at the gate, along with Janice and other helpers potwashing and fielding initial questions:

A full range of other site activities were underway including digging in all three trenches, and working on environmental samples:

It was Supervisor Clark's last day on the Ravenglass samples, so time for one last photograph - his nifty wet weather headwear was much admired on previous rainy days:

Saturday was specifically a Family Fun Day, so a Outreach Officer Lisa brought along a sandpit available for kids to dig up their very own finds:

It was also busy at the Lake District tent, and Brian helped out, including doing site tours:

It was a much busier day than Friday, but it was still easy to pick out the diggers in their hi-vis jackets as they returned to their trenches after a well earned tea break:

The Finds Officer was pleased as she was able to let the finds trays out of the confines of the Finds Hut so they could get a bit of sun and (hopefully) get dried out enough to bag up:

 

Also enjoying the sun, were the diggers, especially when they got time to have a break from digging:

During the two Open Days, over 300 people came to visit the site to see what the commmunity had found in the three trenches at Ravenglass. We're recording where our visitors come from and its interesting to see that as well as local people, people are also coming from Lancashire, Yorkshire, Herefordshire, Scotland, Germany, and Australia!

Report: 7th September

With the trenches being increasingly flooded out, rain stopped play by lunchtime. Pot washing was undertaken, but only a limited number could be accommodated.  It was decided to call it a day.

Whilst cleaning up, one of the diggers found a strange beast floating in the (new) Lake Ravenglass:

What could it be?  Kurt, Leo and Brian immediately knew that is was the Centurion Duck, which is probably the site mascot now.  At least he was fully able to appreciate the deluge!

That concludes the first week of the project.  Digging starts again next Tuesday, and we've been told the weather WILL be better.  On the following Friday and Saturday we will be having our first Open Days!

Those with Roman withdrawal symptoms can come down to the Pennington Hotel in Ravenglass and meet some Romano-British folk from Deja Crew making pot and weaving on Sunday:

 

Apologies: until next Friday, there will be a hiatus in blogging from me (Sandra).  I'm off to York for a few days, but should be back blogging by Friday with a bit of luck.  In the meantime, Director Kurt will keep a brief diary and take a few pictures, which I will upload later on.

Report: 6th September

Rain didn't quite stop play, and the usual site tour took place at 4pm:

In Trench One they are now looking for a possible Roman road.  Trench two has an alignment of large stones which is possibly a wall and there's a surface of cobbles.  Way up the field in Trench Three there are two parallel alignments of large stones - it's possible it's a building.

Meanwhile, in the Finds Hut,  a Roman Crambeck mortarium was being looked after. It's parchment ware (which means it's a pale yellow colour) and has red-brown paint on its reeded rim.  This pottery is produced in Yorkshire during the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, so the York contingent of the staff team where happy to see a familiar sight!  Photo to follow when it's been washed.

Two gazebos were erected by Brian and Leo.  One resides in the compound.  The other was placed (rather hopefully, as it turned out) up near Trench Three to provide shelter ...

Comment: 6th September

Yes, it's raining today:

Report: 4th September, and pictures

4th September: Another busy day on site, with machining continuing in Trench 1 & 2.  Geophys was on site again.  Trench 3 is now fully operational and the subject of much trowelling!

Here's a quick picutre diary of the Dig so far, up to 4th September:

Brian , Leo,  Kurt and Oscar the dog contemplate the field work ahead

The Welfare Unit/Office.  Complete with the Ladies Loo with the dodgy door knob and generator dependent lighting!

Director Kurt and Supervisor Bryan sort out the generator ...

...

Director Kurt and Supervisor Bryan sort out the Heras Fencing Panel ...

The Compound completed : Store to the left, along with the Portaloos, Finds Hut straight ahead and Welfare Unit, with Ladies Loo to the right!

John the machine driver and Supervisor Bryan take the top soil off Trench 1

Geophys (GSB) was on site undertaking the magnotometer survey and the volunteers helped in the afternoon

 Jimmy from GSB shows the volunteers the data they collected - he was impressed that they had demagnetised themselves pretty well (no metals can be worn whilst undertaking the survey)

The best photo by far ( though I might be biased, signed the Finds Officer!) Simona and Jan wash finds - Roman Samian, tile, and rather more recent glazed pot