Report: Excavation blog Week 4, 22nd-28th September

Yet another week of good weather, with only the occasional shower to dampen the baked ground. Digging continued as long as possible in order to resolve some remaining questions. Many finds were recovered, which will no doubt assist with the dating and interpretation of the Roman activity.

In Trench 1, investigation of the Roman road confirmed that the core comprised a number of large dumps of large stone rubble and metal-working waste. A small trial trench in the middle of the road encountered yet another layer of stone, at which point excavation ceased; the road construction layers were clearly reached a considerable depth.

Layers of road construction, with Bob B levelling

 

To the north, there was no evidence of a northern limit to the road, in the form of either a kerb or a roadside ditch. Instead, the cobble surface extended up to and around the side of the building. In this form, the road at this point seems to have been more of an extensive open space over 20m wide, presumably reflecting its position well within the vicus. The cobble surface adjacent to the house had been laid over a dump of metal-working waste, albeit ashier and lighter than the metal-working debris layers encountered elsewhere in the trench. The construction of the building and the uppermost road surface seems to have been one operation.

Cleaning and planning cobbling alongside the building

Immediately to the rear of the building, another trial trench encountered rubble and cobble layers and a layer of metal-working waste, the latter extending underneath the building and forming a well-drained construction layer. Again, there was no indication of the end of the sequence was going to be reached, and so excavation ceased here.

Excavating, cobbling and back wall of building

In Trench 2, excavation of the long sequence of industrial deposits on the higher ground to the south indicated the they were the result of metal-working, with examples of mould fragments found. One interesting feature was an amphora, set in a shallow cut – perhaps to contain water for quenching as part of the metal-working process?

Fragments of the amphora washed and in the finds tray; burnt base of the amphora is in the centre of the picture

At the foot of the metal-working deposits, a layer of cobbling seems to have formed the original surface upon which the metal-working deposits accumulated.

Industrial deposits in the foreground

The main discoveries in Trench 3 were to the rear of the building, where areas of burning and cobbles point to activity similar to that in Trench 2.

Planning cobbling

A tidy post-medieval stone-lined field drain was found cutting through the Roman building foundations. Investigation of this feature showed that the foundations were shallow, and rested on a thick layer of clay, which in turn overlaid another layer of clay that could have formed the original ground surface.

Field drain cutting the corner of the Roman building

By the following Tuesday, the compound had been closed down and tthe trenches had been backfilled for the final time. DX Films were there to record this; the second part of their film will cover the analysis of, and reporting on, the excavation evidence.

So a big Thank You to the volunteers for their hard work and enthusiasm. It was a pleasure to work with you!

Kurt Hunter-Mann, Site Director, Romans in Ravenglass

York Archaeological Trust

Comment: The end of the digging season, but ...

And sheep shall safely graze

Now the sheep can roam the fields unhindered by archaeology trenches. The last digging season has finished, but there's plenty to come yet! Look out for Director Kurt's final week's digging report and Finds Officer Sandra's focus on artefacts in the next few weeks, and much, much more in the coming months.

Sandra

Finds Officer, Romans in Ravenglass

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

Report: 10th-14th September

Dare we say it, the weather has been fine so far and there has been much progress in the trenches. An invasion of sheep required the hasty erection of an electric fence but did not stop the digging.

Sheep plotting their next sneaky move to rush the electric fence!

As part of the Heritage Open Days and for the benefit of the first school groups, excavation in the additional Trench 4 commenced under the supervision of Jon Kenny from York Archaeological Trust and Lisa Keys of Minerva Heritage.

Jon Kenny and Lisa Keys (both in hi vis vests) supervising Trench 4

As a consequence of all the excavating, a large quantity of Roman finds have been unearthed. Sandra and her assistants Janice and Rosalie have been busy overseeing the finds washing, and because of the warm weather much of it has actually dried, so it is hoped much of this year's finds will be ready to go to the relevant specialists soon after the excavation has ended.

Finds happily drying in the sun

In Trench 1, excavation of the Roman road continued. Beneath the latest gravel surface was evidence of successive repairs of the road bed (apparently by the cart-load) and gravel patching. In the building alongside the road, yet another layer of rubble demolition/landfill was removed but at last this revealed deposits probably relating to the occupation of the structure; these were ashy and contained much iron slag, but may have been brought in to form a floor and don't necessarily mean that metal-working took place within the building.

Trench 1 showing the Roman road

Trench 2 saw the removal of a wall in the centre of the trench and the rubble overlying it. There now seems to be a succession of cobble layers and deposits with in-situ burning, the slag therein indicating iron-working. Investigation of the low, north end of the trench encountered a possible beam slot, but otherwise there were primarily dumps in probable stream deposits.

Supervisor Bryan talking to diggers about his trench

In Trench 3 the stone wall foundations at the south end were confirmed as forming the north-east end of a large timber building, with a cobble surface to its rear. The latest feature within the building was a clay and cobble oven containing much charcoal. At the north end of the trench, a small hearth and other features indicate considerable activity across the entire trench.

Watch out for the next excavation update, including news of the environmental sampling activity.

Kurt Hunter-Mann, Site Director

York Archaeological Trust

Report: 1st-7th September – getting started (again)

A long week, but well worth it! The staff spent two days setting things up. The site accommodation now includes separate cabins for the finds staff and the diggers, and a walkway to maintain the ground surface in wet conditions.

By the fourth day the trenches had been completely cleaned by the volunteers, after John Wilson's trusty machine had removed the topsoil. A fantastic effort! All three of last year's trenches were re-opened (yes, there is that much archaeology still to investigate there). 

Cleaning up the trench and removing Terram laid last year to protect the archaeology

In Trench 1, the northern limit of the Roman road was revealed. Some 10m of the road's width was observed in the trench and it probably measured about 15m wide overall, taking the geophysical evidence into account. Excavation of a modern pit, cut into the Roman road, indicates that the road was laid on a thick bed of metal-working debris.

Cleaning Trench 1

In Trench 2, a layer of rubble in the centre of the trench was removed, revealing a cobble surface. The row of stone blocks found last year does appear to be a wall, although so far there is no sign of a corresponding parallel wall. The extensive layer of burnt deposits to the south seems to be the result of prolonged industrial activity, probably mostly metal-working.

Trowelling Trench 2

In Trench 3, more of the large stone structure, probably the foundations for a timber-framed building, was revealed. A sondage at the north, low-lying end of the trench unexpectedly encountered a series of features, so even here there was a lot of activity.

Trench 3

This coming week, we hope to make more exciting finds in all three trenches, and there will be a new face providing the fieldwalking activity, Laura from ArcHeritage.

 The first 4.15pm site tour, Rowan's Trench 3

Kurt Hunter-Mann, York Archaeological Trust
Romans in Ravenglass Site Director

Report: By Supervisor Bryan - What did we find in Trench 2?

 Photo 1: Trench 2 looking north(ish)

 Photo 2: Trench 2, looking east. Rubble layer, with wall of square stone blocks beginning to appear (right)

The most distinctive feature in Trench 2 was a dump of stone rubble, in the middle of the trench (see Photos 1 background and Photo 2), which separates the deposits to north and south. Part of the rubble was removed, revealing a wall built of large square stone blocks with a fine pebble surface to either side (just visible to right on Photo 2).

The deposits to the north were largely unexcavated, as they were under water most of the time! Hopefully they can be excavated promptly next year, as they overlie and so partly conceal, the rubble layer.

The dark deposits on the south side of the rubble contain fairly large amounts of slag and appear to have been related to industry. The latest of these deposits overlie the rubble layer and may well be late Roman or early post-Roman in date. Various features were cut into these deposits. At the south end of the trench was an amorphous linear feature (an eaves drip?) aligned north-north-east/south-south-west, possibly associated with two large post pad footings on the same alignment a little to the north. These features cut into a pebble surface (foreground, Photo 1). Moving northwards, possible charred planks await excavation (see black patches, centre of Photo 1). Between the possible planks and the rubble layer were a multitude of post-holes, on an east-west alignment (being excavated by the pair of diggers closest to the camera, Photo 1).

Beneath the dark deposits were lighter deposits, including orange burnt clay, observed in the base of all the cut features excavated so far. The overall impression is of a long sequence of intense Roman activity, much of it industrial in character.

Evidence of later activity was restricted to the post-medieval (17^th-19^th century?) ploughing. One of the last features excavated was a small drainage or boundary ditch, at the south end of the trench. This contained clay pipe, and so is associated with the post-medieval farming. Hopefully only Roman (and early post-Roman?) features remain to be excavated next year!

Report: By Director Kurt - What did we find in Trench 1?

From an early stage, the gravel surface at the south end of the trench and the alignments of large stone blocks in the middle of the trench seemed good candidates for the Roman street with timber building to one side that were indicated on the 2011 geophysical survey. However, the stony layer overlying the building contained post-medieval as well as Roman pottery, and the use of such large, if not massive, stones as a foundation was in contrast with the foundations evident in Trenches 2 and 3. Overall, this left a nagging doubt that we were dealing with a relatively recent building that happened to follow the Roman alignment.

However, two further layers of rubble, with distinct dumps (barrowloads?) of cobbles, stone and shale fragments contained only Roman pottery. Furthermore, similar deposits appear to continue beneath the building, which suggests that infilling of the ditch as its fills settled had been a long process. The current interpretation is that the massive blocks are the foundations for a timber building, perhaps of two storeys, with the rubble forming a bed for earth floors that have been removed by ploughing.

Although it is assumed the building extended to the edge of the street as is usually the case, the massive blocks as found were restricted to the rear part. It is suspected that the blocks had subsided into the fills of a large east-west ditch that became disused before the building was constructed. The blocks (and associated rubble layers) appear to have been an unsuccessful attempt to form a solid base for the building on the unstable ground. The front of the building, on firmer ground, may have had much slighter footings or even been built with earth-fast posts, and we hope to find evidence of this next year. 

An alternative theory is that large stone blocks also formed the foundation of the front of the building. If so, as these blocks would not have settled into the ditch they would have obstructed ploughing, and may even have protruded above the ground surface. Consequently they would have been removed, presumably for re-use elsewhere. If so, we will find only a gap in the building construction marking the absent stones. Either way, there is the exciting possibility of finding a large ditch beneath the building next year.

Digger's View: Lakes Ranger

A few pix from @lakesranger on Twitter which were taken in the first couple of weeks of the dig:

 

 This item may be a crucible - it's certainly the right shape, but it's not been subjected to the very high temperatures that a used crucible would show as a burnt dark fabric.  It could be an applique cup, originally attached to a vessel.  But it's one for the pottery specialist!

Mattocking in Trench 3

A big sherd of mortarium from the Fort area

Report: 19th September

The rain it did rainith once more, but managed to stop around lunchtime so digging recommenced with vigour.

Trench 1 now has great evidence for a wall foundation, as shown in the above picture with the massive stone blocks.  The date of the feature is currently unknown.  It's surrounded by a layer of smaller stones which may be demolition debris.

In Trench 2 there appears to be evidence of a collapsed wall, which may have been part of a building, or perhaps a boundary.  There is a long sequence of activity which became apparent when digging a sump in an attempt to drain the trench of water (!)  There are traces of possible burnt timbers.  Also discovered in the sump was a water course which may have been there before the Roman settlement.

In Trench 3 there is evidence of a sequence of occupation involving more than one building. Floor deposits are currently being dug, and samples for environmental evidence are being taken. This is also the trench that yielded one of the best pieces of Roman Samian ware so far. This sherd is rather less soluable than previous pieces (though still fragile) and current thinking is that it shows Venus. She is surely a candidate for being printed on next year's dig t-shirt!:

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: