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: Hectic week at the dig!

The weather held fair for another week.

On Thursday, we welcomed Laura from ArcHeritage who was here to lead the fieldwalking in and around the site.  There were trips to the beach to collect finds and record find spots, as well as much measuring of lumps and bumps in the fields and investigating woodlands.

Jo, Leo & Laura on the beach (thanks to Brian K for taking the photo)

Friday was our first Open Day this year,  and special events included Community Archaeologist Jon, from York Archaeological Trust, who supervised Trench 4. This trench is purely for the use of local school children, Young Lake District rangers and 'have a go' diggers. Outreach Co-ordinator Lisa brought four school parties to site, and what happened will be the subject of a future blog.

Jon and young trowellers in Trench 4

Trench 4 was open for business on Friday and Saturday, and will also be available on Saturday 27th September. We are, of course, open Wednesday to Sunday, and tours and further information are available.

On Saturday, the dig donned its Heritage Days gladrags. Janice, Tourism Development Officer for South Copeland Tourism, kindly provided lovely pink bunting and ballons which bedecked our gazebos. In addition to her tourism job, Janice is also a volunteer Finds Assistant for the dig, bringing her superb organisational skills to sort out unruly finds and staff.

 Gazebos and bunting (with Finds Assistants Rosalie and Janice - in hi-vis jackets - on the right)

We were also visited by the Chairman of the Lake District National Park committee, Mike McKinley and committee member Hugh Branney who toured around the site, as well as viewed the finds set out to dry.

Janice, Mike, Hugh & Jeremy with drying finds

At the end of Saturday, we waved goodbye to Jon, who winged his way back to York. Sunday was Laura's last day, and as there are no Sunday trains out of Ravenglass, she will travel back to Sheffield on Monday.

Next week, we're looking forward seeing Environmental specialist Nicola from Northlight, who will be offering the chance to process samples from the site. And of course, there will be much more digging and lots of finds!

Report: Keeping a beady eye out!

In the past few days at Ravenglass we've done very well for beads. We only had one last year, which was eventually identified as being made of jet.  But now we have a couple of more (at this rate we'll have enough for an actual necklace).

First there was Hayden's - he was hacking away, and some how managed to see this tiny glass bead, which is only about 2mm wide.  It's difficult to photograph, even with a macro lens, so apologies for the quality:

Tiny glass bead

And then there was another very recently, found by John. This time, the material is uncertain. It could be glass, but on comparison with the bead from last season, it's very likely to be jet.  Elsewhere in Roman Britain, there are plenty of glass melon beads so perhaps this bead is imitating them? Again, it's fairly small, this time being about 10mm wide.

Probable jet bead

Today (12 September) on site it's Open Day, so we've got lots of visitor attractions, including finds from last season, information about vicus, site tours, and even 'have a go' digging in Trench 4 with Jon Kenny, Community Archaeologist from York Archaeological Trust.  It's all happening again tomorrow, so if you've missed today, pop along tomorrow and see the site and finds.

The gazebos on site

Comment: Environmental Sampling

Environmental sampling, provided by Nicola Reid of Northlight Heritage, will now take place between Friday 19th and Sunday 21st of September, instead of Thursday 18th to Saturday 20th September.

It is hoped that a range of environmental evidence of activity and climate will be obtained from samples of the deposits excavated. If you would like to have a go at this, please e-mail Holly Holly.Beavitt-Pike@lakedistrict.gov.uk or Kurt Hunter-Mann khuntermann@yorkat.co.uk.

 

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: Fun in the sun!

Finally, we have found a local source of working WiFi. So this blog is brought to you courtesy of the Inn at Ravenglass.

As it was only the first week of digging, the main thing happening was opening up all three of the trenches again and carefully cleaning them up, so we could see where we left the contexts at the end of the dig in September 2013.

Trench 1, with trenches 2 & 3 in the distance

There is also a mysterious fourth trench ... This will be used for Outreach activities particularly on school visits, but also on our Open Days on Friday 12^th September, Saturday 13^th September and 27^th September, so that visitors can have a go at digging

Meanwhile, at the compound we were settling into a new routine of putting up two gazebos each morning, and then taking them down again at the end of the day.  One gazebo is the Lake District's, where the Outreach Team, led by Holly & Kim, are welcoming visitors, giving them more information about the site, as well as taking people on tours. Ably backing them up are Ravenglass regulars Brian & Leo. The other blue canopied gazebo, which will always be behind the the first, is for our finds washers. If you do a session there, expect to be part of the visitor experience too!

Lake District gazebo and finds washing gazebo

Although we have many diggers from the local community returning this year, there are plenty of new faces too. But everyone, on their first day, has to have an introductory talk, including background about the site, health and safety, housekeeping, and so on.

Director Kurt takes roll call

The weather is being very kind to us so far this year, so the Finds Hut team (Janice, Rosalie and Sandra) are starting to bag up properly dry finds and happily contemplating even marking some of the pottery – no marking happened at all last year. 

WiFi willing, there will be another site report on Wednesday, when we're back from our 'weekend.'

Comment: Comms fail in Ravenglass

Just a quick note to say that, unlike last year, the Internet is not behaving itself out in Ravenglass.  Wifi is elusive to say the very least. Anyway, this may be due to weather conditions (the sun is out!) or work being carried out somewhere along the line. But the upshot is, that there won't be a regular daily site update for the forseeable :(

However, I will endeavour to write a daily screed, and take photos. When I get the opportunity to get over to Seascale, I will upload them.

We're currently setting up the site - cabins and equipment have arrived.  More about that later.

This blog was sent courtesy of the very wonderful Seascale Library!

Sandra
Finds Officer & Blogger
York Archaeological Trust