Showing posts with label Geophys. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Geophys. Show all posts

Sunday, 10 November 2013

Report: Lake District Archaeology Conference, 3rd November

The Lakeside Theatre in Keswick was pretty much sold out for the conference about this year's Lake District archaeology.
 The whole emphasis of the conference was community archaeology. With the formation of the Archaeology Network, the Lake District knows it has a wonderful volunteer resource for helping out with various projects within the National Park.  Added to that, there are several projects (for further information, see this newsletter) funded by the Heritage Lottery, as well as other other types of funding.  All would not take place if it were not for volunteers from the local community.

There are currently three Roman vici or settlement projects going on in the area!  There was Papcastle, Maryport and of course Ravenglass. So it was intreresting to hear about the various findings of these three sites, and someone commented that there would doubtless be a monograph on Roman Settlements in Cumbria appearing in the next few years.

The conference saw the first showing of Romans in Ravenglass - the film!  The version we saw was around five minutes long, and featured some now well known faces, including Holly, Kurt, Brian K, Leo, and Peter Frost-Pennington, as well as some of the diggers talking about their experiences. This version is due to be uploaded to the Lake District website shortly.  There is also a longer version of the film, which will hopefully be shown at the community presentation next year.

Ravenglass Director Kurt came over from York for the day to talk about the Dig.  Having only very recently got hold of the Geophys results, he was able to provide additional information with regards to the Roman roads, but said there is much more to come (this will be the subject of a future blog).
 It was also a chance to catch up with some of the Romans in Ravenglass volunteers!  It was great to meet up and exchange news.

Overall, it was an interesting and informative day, which gave a great insight to the work being done under the auspices of the Lake District National Park, as well as further Roman sites in the area.

Monday, 9 September 2013

Digger's view: Justin Wood

Any excuse for a blog! Holly sent me these a few days back, and they are from Justin Wood:







Thursday, 5 September 2013

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