SilchesterDig

I was trying to think of one picture to sum up my day…..20 new people, stifling temperatures……rotas, lists, visits, queries, worries, hot sweltering weather, and logistics! Oh and did I mention the weather?

So I took 2 pictures of my office door: thank you cards, absences list, day off list, pleas to help with the Day of Archaeology blog,rotas, guest lectures……..at times the size of this project is overwhelming! I have 2 rules, and 2 rules only 1. Keep smiling 2. Remember…..it is ONLY a dig!

Site life goes on as normal. As I induct newcomers into the ways and wiles of the Silchester Town Life project, Dan teaches the students the mysteries of the Harris matrix – the archaeologist’s way of representing sequence.

Dan, students and the Harris matrix

I am quite relieved when we reach the end of the day…..BUT all of my list tasks are ticked off successfully. I can sleep easy.

Tweet of the Day, up with the lark, early birds and worms…that was me this morning….up with those birds at 5.30am in order to join BBC Berkshire radio’s Suzanne Courtney – live from site from 7am onwards. I have to be completely honest here and say that when James Barr from the University of Reading Press Office rang me yesterday to ask if Mike and I would be willing to take part……my initial reaction was to say ‘No! I need that extra hour in bed…’. But….when I thought about it….it would be fun! We did this last year too, and Sooze Courtney is a great laugh, and  I do enjoy showing off the project. So – yes, James, of course, no problem!

It was the most beautiful of Hampshire mornings when I trundled down the droveway towards site, the sky softly blue and the early morning light lifting gently off the fields. It was so quiet. And as I turned into site I felt as though I was the only person alive. The 100 tents on site were softly slumbering – I could almost see the tent fabrics moving gently as their occupants slept through this early morning hour. One person appeared out of nowhere as I arrived: Jon, my site manager, and we started up the generator and boiled a coffee kettle. Over the next hour, as people gradually emerged from their tents and drifted towards the marquee and breakfast, Sooze did 6 ‘hits’ of our lives on site, talking about the archaeology, our Open Days, Jean’s cooking and student experiences on the Field School. It WAS great fun; Radio Berkshire is a great friend of the site and have visited us many times over the years.

Sooze, Aud, and the Radio Berkshire van

I had my few minutes worth on air – why do I always end up talking about the portaloos?! Then it was Mike’s turn.

Mike and the lovely Sooze talk excavation and discovery

Jean loves the radio, and is a natural on air! Of course there is lots to say….how many meals she makes for us each day, against all odds!

Jean’s turn

The radio van left at 10am and I was then able to turn my attention to my day’s work. News hot off the excavation press: we have found the end of our Iron Age hall! You may recall me saying in last year’s blog that we had the south-western end of our 1st century BC timber hall, but at c40m in length we still had no north-eastern end. Well, today Rachel and Kath found it! Just visible in the side of the pit they were excavating, a section through a linear foundation trench, filled with dark soil, appeared. This makes our hall c.50m in length and c8m in width – a giant of a building, and with no known parallels in the UK.

Kath (left) and Rachel point out their discovery

The day got ever hotter – it is really very exposed out on site – so regular shout-outs about hats, water and sun cream….

Today we had a celebrity on site: Matt Williams, former Time Team presenter. Matt was my Supervisor for 2 consecutive seasons back in 2004 – he is an integral part of the Silchester family – and the stuff of legend! So he is with us for 2 days, reliving his Silchester past and delivering a presentation on his Time Team days.

Matt talking in St. Mary’s church to an attentive audience

Recounting Time Team anecdotes

On returning to site I rejoined Mike who had spent the day leading tours for 31 Friends of English Heritage. By all accounts this was a most successful visit and enjoyed by all. Elsewhere Zoe and her Visitors’ team had hosted 3 different school visits. I always enjoy the sight of these groups of very well behaved children, brimming with excitement, as they are led between the different site activities.

So, by the end of a very hot day, we were all suitably exhausted – but pleased at a day well spent.

A slow start to the day…I think there were a few sore heads…..it would seem that not all pirates can hold their rum? Anyone visiting us today would have been struck by the sight of men with smoky smudged eye-liner, stripy shirts and a few bedraggled skull and cross bone flags.

But the dig must go on! And so it did! We welcomed Jan’s PitStop to site: bacon butties and egg rolls – exactly what tired Pirates need for the morning after.

The archaeology is beginning to reveal itself, and it is becoming clear to us what our strategy needs to be over the next 5 weeks.

Insula IX: in Sarah and Su’s south-east area, the careful measured drawing of the south section is almost complete, and excavation of features cut into the early 1st century AD garden soil is beginning. Nick’s area is concentrated on the archaeology remaining below the AD43 building excavated here. Already features cutting the natural geology are showing. In Matt’s area, it is a tale of 2 round houses: one beneath the east-west Roman street at the north end of the site (and consisting of a circular area of orange clay), and one substantial one in the centre of the trench, c.11m in diameter and identified by a drip gully. Many excitements for Week 2!

Insula III: early Roman walls are being revealed at the base of the Victorian trenches. Excavation here is a fascinating jigsaw puzzle: what is Roman and what is Victorian? The Victorian trenches also produce a great number of finds, making excavation here exciting and rewarding.

A well-made early Roman wall foundation in the base of a Victorian trench

The so-called ‘hypocaust’ identified by the Victorians is now seen as being, without a doubt, a late Roman, maybe even post Roman, corn drying area. We have revealed its extent and are now excavating the Victorian backfill within it. As yet we have no idea as to its original depth, and we are hoping against hope that the Victorians left some of the original fill in place – not just to provide us with a date, but also to provide us with an environmental sample with clues as to diet and subsistence.

The corn drying area looking east

After packing up for the day at 5pm, I spent the next 2 hours checking in our new arrivals. Only 10 people arriving tonight, and then another 10 arriving tomorrow morning. Of the 10 arrivals, 4 had been before, so I carried out a brief welcome of the newcomers before delivering them to ‘family dinner’ with their supervisory groups.

End of the last first week. Amanda-over-and-out

The joys of cleaning the portaloos!

If you are wondering how a project this size actually functions…..well, it is all about the lists and the rotas! I have a list for everything…and everyone is on at least one list….For example: the portaloo cleaning rota. Our 56 portaloos are professionally cleaned once a week – on Wednesdays. Every other day, 2 people, armed with air freshener, a pooh stick (for de-cluttering), and a great deal of sang froid, tackle the task of freshening our facilities. Today, it was the turn of Will and Sean who approached the task with military precision.

It was a very hot day today and so Jon and I made a series of regular announcements about sun tan oil and hats. Matt was on ‘hat patrol’ and I did notice that every single one of his team was sporting a hat as protection against the Silchester sun.

It was a peaceful Saturday. We are still settling in, and it was good to have a quiet day on site which allowed me, mug of coffee in hand, to inspect the troops and make sure all was well.

Cindy’s Science Team at work

In Nick’s area on Insula IX Caitlin and Ceri are half sectioning an area of slump into a series of wells which we have excavated in previous seasons. This material has been under the water table all year, and so is appropriately muddy……Caitlin wins hands down for being today’s most muddy excavator.

Caitlin and mud

This week I had 3 Work Experience students: Kieran, Luke and Stefan. They were an absolute pleasure to have on site and they were a credit to their respective schools.

Stefan and his Work Experience WorkBook

By the afternoon, anticipation of the night ahead was palpable. Silchester Pirate Night loomed! Now a tradition, with its origins in the mists of time, the entire dig ‘charges’ the Calleva Arms pub, dressed in pirate garb. The Silchester villagers reply in kind…..and now have an impressive canon to ward off the excavators. The children love the whole spectacle, which has now become an occasion to mingle, listen to music and share pirate know-how.

Rory and Su, outside the Calleva Arms

Today, much to my delight, 8 Archaeology and Silchester graduates from 5 years ago, returned to visit us and to attend Pirate night. Such is it’s lure! It was lovely to see them again, all in employment, and some working in Archaeology. The years rolled away, they donned their pirate gear and partied with the rest of us.

Silchester graduates of 2009. Left to right: Jon,Alex, Charlie, Chantal, Cassy, Matt, Liz, Cat

Pirate Pictures: Hen and Nick (coconut as beard)

The Silchester Diggers line up

Silchester Diggers: AAAArgh!

Dan and Nick lead the Silchester Pirate Charge

The Village lines up in defence

All in all it was a wonderful evening – great fun, and a fitting end to 18 years of Pirate parties. I will miss this, and I did struggle a couple of times with a lump in my throat! If I fell like this now, how will I feel in 6 weeks’ time?

Last night’s entertainment!

You would think everyone would be too tired of an evening to do much more than a few rounds of scrabble……

It’s me! Bloggin’

For some reason (nothing to do with there being 135 people on site!) this Thursday morning was madly busy! Between 9am and 9.30am I dealt with a dozen queries covering a range of topics: how do we clean the portaloos; what time is the school group arriving and where is the key for the public carpark barrier; do we have anyone free to help John Brown set up the Exhibition Centre; can we see a doctor; what time is Chris Speed’s ‘Understanding Soils’ talk in the marquee, who is on Tea Duty, where has the Site Noticeboard gone;why has the Golf Buggy run out of power; the internet is down!; can we have some new buckets; will you come and look at the archaeology??? It’s all in a day’s work for a Site Director. All my final year students were off site as it is Graduation Day….every now and then they would emerge from various tent looking butterfly bright and beautiful in suits and summer dresses! Congratulations all!

The visiting School today was Wessex School, led by teacher Guy Beattie. We had 60 school children on site and Zoe and her team swung into action and  delivered, once again, a great experience for the children.

The Visitors Team

The most popular activity (as always) is digging in the ‘Dig Pit’.

Trowels: ready for action!

After lunch, Lisa Lodwick arrived to give a talk in St. Mary’s Church on topics related to her PhD; Archaeobotany at Silchester – looking at waterlogged, mineralised and carbonised remains – and what this evidence can tell the archaeologist.

Lisa and microscopes – all set to go!

The day’s end was marked by our first Site Tour of the season: a tradition where we all join Mike for a walk around the archaeology for a review of the past week. It’s as if we have never been away. The day was glorious – perfect digging weather – and the light breeze combined with strong sunshine probably means there are a few sunburnt people today! The Silchester Smile is going strong!

Site Tour of Insula III

We looked at the week’s exciting discoveries in Insula III: for example, at the bottom of one the Victorian trenches Rose and Becky have found what we think is a tile column base – probably one of several along the north-south street.

Rose cleaning up the possible tile base

An early Roman wall foundation revealed in Insula III

One man and his site…..

Pointing out Iron Age alignments in Insula IX

It has been a fantastic first few days on site. The weather has been with us. All cleaning has been completed and digging now begins in earnest. Tomorrow is our first day off and we will be back on Saturday, re-energised and ready for the week ahead!

A date for our diaries!

Happy Birthday day! Happy Birthday to Su on site and Happy Birthday to my stepfather Peter off site! It is also the middle of of Week 1 and we now slide down towards our day off on Friday before re-energising for the weekend.

Today was a little bit about Health and Safety…..we are always aware and vigilant – and a lot about beginning to actually excavate deposits on site. Once we start digging, time just runs away with us….and I am already looking ahead to Week 2 as Jenni and I  update our rotas and lists…..

I have 3 Work Experience youngsters on site this week: Stefan, Luke and Kieran. I have been incredibly impressed by their attention, interest and focus as they have worked in Finds and Science – and I have rewarded this with a chance for them to work in Insula III under Hen’s close supervision. I enjoy watching them put trowel to soil for the first time….it is a thrill you never forget, but one you can never entirely recreate.

Elsewhere it was all about trips into the university and to our barn to pick up bags of samples, collect boards for our Exhibition Centre, and borrow another flotation tank for our Science team.

The morning was cold and blustery and we were all wrapped in several layers until the sun shone through this afternoon – and what a stunning afternoon it was – high cloud, blue skies, and the wind whipping the soil around our faces.

Images for today:

All systems go in Insula IX: Nick’s team find a beautifully preserved early Roman brooch

Guy the Gorilla makes a bid for freedom up the marquee wall

The Science team is working flat out: floating our backlog of samples, sorting the residue, bagging and labeling…..it’s a production line and Cindy runs a tight ship.

Bag ordering in the marquee!

Tom demonstrating his bag ordering and labeling skills!

Laurie and Zoe: those smiles say it all!

We had another school visit today; I could hear the excited shouts of the children drifting over the excavation trench! And Zoe and Will were kept on their toes by a constant stream of excited and appreciative visitors. Zoe and I ordered 100 terracotta pots which we will break in to small pieces – and then invite school groups to stick them back together again….such is the mindset of an archaeologist! We are also designing a dig t-shirt plus a number of Silchester branded items to offer for sale. Watch this space!

An acrostic poem by one of the Cedar’s schoolchildren…..Awesome Silchester!!

The Exhibition Centre is growing apace – John Brown is to be found knee deep in wood chippings, as he creates the perfect exhibition space. Today we collected 8 display boards courtesy of the University – many thanks to Fiona and Margaret for lending them!

Exhibit No. 1: just to prove I am on site…..a picture of me with a display board

Teaching today consisted of Planning and Leveling talks conducted by Dan and his Planning team…..by the end of today all of our participants will have a basic theoretical understanding of Silchester’s recording system……so now it’s time for them to put theory into practice in the trench…..

And to whet appetites for the newly dug archaeology, here is a  picture of Insula III:

Lauren’s early Roman wall foundation…..or is it two wall foundations, one on top of the other?

And….finally…..Sarah is making video diaries of Mike and myself……’Day 3 in the Big Brother House’ type thing! Fly on the wall stuff…..I introduced myself and talked about the satisfaction of seeing a project through from start to finish….plus my apprehension about this final season! Will we do it? What will we find? Will it rain…a lot? Will everyone enjoy it? And Mike did the clever stuff: research aims and prospects! If we don’t end up on the cutting room floor, these short video diaries will form part of the new series of’ ‘Digging for Britain’ with Alice Roberts.

My eyes are closing…..it is late….I drove all the way to Witney at day’s end with a mouthwatering chocolate cake for my stepfather on the back seat of the car …..my sister Vicki and I sang Happy Birthday to him, I ate a large piece of cake…and then I drove back to Reading.

AmandaOverandOut

I thought I’d begin with:

Tuesday Shoesday morning: Come shine

One of our favourite topics of conversation is: the weather. Not because we are British…..but because we are field archaeologists. And….it is all about the footwear.

Tuesday Shoesday afternoon: Come rain

Today was a GOOD day! Everyone was on site smiling, after a good night’s sleep….some after too good a night’s sleep following on from last evening’s festivities…….

The Kennet Morris Men! Our favourite 🙂

After the madness that was yesterday, everybody today settled into their new areas, their new roles,their new tasks. I had a little bit of a breather and was able to visit all my staff in their respective areas of responsibility, see how they were doing, and find out if we were missing any vital pieces of equipment.

First up today was a visit from the Cedar’s School from Aldermaston. 52 children aged 4 years to 11 years – enough to strike fear into the heart of any undergraduate! Zoe, my Visitor Manager, did an inspired job, wandering amongst the schoolchildren, clipboard in hand, like an exotic tropical bird. I have such stylish team members!

Zoe and her colourful plumage!

The Visitors’ team deserves special praise here, not just Will, who as 2nd Year Visitor Placement did us all proud by delivering a series of absorbing site tours to the small people, but all the student volunteers who stepped up to the mark and ran a fantastic programme of worksheets, Roman Word puzzles, dig pit exercises – and general all round educational entertainment. One of my favourite sights was student Philippe being quizzed by some very small, very determined 5 year olds about his age and marital status.

Roman Work Sheets

Finds Talks with Sarah and Abbi

Other things archaeologists talk about: food! Witness our lunch queue!

Lunch Snake

After lunch I ran a session on excavation recording and post excavation skills with a small group of people in St. Mary’s Church, followed by a visit to the churchyard to see how our Geophysics Technician Dave Thornley was doing with his Ground Penetrating Radar Survey of the churchyard. Beneath the peaceful graves lies the full extent of the Roman Town, and we hope to find evidence of the Roman temples known to be here from the Victorian plan.

Strike a pose Dave and Nicola!

The very stylish GPR team: Rob and Kat

This afternoon I actually found time for a trip round the archaeology…with Mike in tow!

In Insula IX we are cleaning the area, ready to begin excavation. This is excellent training for our new students: using a trowel correctly is the key to becoming a talented field archaeologist. ‘Cleaning’ an area well allows decisions to be made about order of excavation.

Nicks’ area in Insula IX

Matt’s area in Insula IX: Pedro in foreground

In Sarah and Su’s area, also in Insula IX, we are cleaning the front (south) section. This vertical section contains the story of the site from latest to earliest: a visual record of our entire 18 year campaign!  Sarah and Su’s team are doing an amazing job – cleaning the archaeology until it sparkles – and highlighting the fantastic sequence of buildings here.

Cleaning the south section

A booked in tour from the University of Reading’s Human Resources team looks on!

Earlier in the day we welcomed our first ‘tour’ of the season – Mike gave a site tour and walk round the walls to the Human Resources team from the university – and the rain stayed away!

Mike and Tour

Insula 3 is looking extremely exciting. Hen is beginning to identify and excavate the Victorian intrusions into the supposed bath house. All kinds of features are showing up: tiled Roman surfaces at depth, clay floors lying one on top of the other, spreads of mortar….all exciting Roman archaeology, presumably seen but not understood by the Victorians. It is very different archaeology from that in Insula IX; plenty of Roman finds, and a challenge to distinguish the differing types and dates of the deposits. Victorian? Or Roman? Whatever was in Insula 3, it was definitely substantial…watch this space.

A hitherto unknown Roman tiled surface being revealed beneath Victorian backfill

Planning the ‘hypocaust’ as described by the Victorians….our preferred interpretation is corn drying area…

Hannah chases Victorian backfill to reveal undisturbed Roman archaeology

Barby using the mini iPad to record a Victorian trench

International Placement Kevin strikes a pose next to the newly cleaned late Roman/post Roman hearth

And how does the day end? With rain of course – rain so heavy we had to abandon site 40 minutes early.

Tonight’s entertainment:

Marquee Pub Quiz!

See you all tomorrow! Amanda Over-and-Out.

I did it! I got through the first day of the final season! Day 1 is always a huge challenge, and today was no exception. Last night 74 people arrived to camp on site…..fortunately the weather was perfect, no-one got lost, and everybody who should have been there was! It was immensely gratifying to watch the campsite fill up….like a smoothly oiled machine! I have to pay tribute to my self styled Hospitality Team, led with great panache by Gareth and Bradley. They fell just short of having a Hospitality T-shirt printed, but did sterling work at the campsite gate meeting and greeting newcomers, showing them to tent pitches – and helping out where needed. The greeting-meeting group at times boiled over with excitement – but it IS exciting! Arriving for a number of weeks in a field in the middle of Hampshire with nothing to do but dig and socialise! Well, no wonder the Hospitality team were fizzing!

A quick visit by Mike and I to the archaeology on site…..deciding strategy, planning on where to put the first trowel the next day…

Team Insula 3: Hen and Jen in the centre, flanked by my site ‘heavies’

The minibus disgorges new arrivals

Tent City

Excited arrivals

At 6.45pm I greeted all new arrivals; ‘we are a very friendly project’, and everyone retired to the marquee for ‘Family Dinner’. On Sunday nights, everyone eats in their Supervisory Teams so that all newcomers have a chance to meet their co-workers, and hopefully no-one feels intimidated or left out. Reading University’s Central Catering trundled up at 7pm with sooper dooper new lightweight catering boxes…..gammon for dinner with stuffed peppers for vegetarians and vegans. A superb dinner service was given by my 2nd year Placements – ably headed up by Tony Mears, a past master in the catering tent.

And here they are!

The Dinner servers!

I also promised you a picture of the full to bursting marquee, after the empty one I took on Friday. Spot the difference….

After dinner a trip to the Calleva Arms was organised, while some people stayed back at camp and watched the sun go down.

Social Silchester

Jon and I watched the shadows creep across the site…a stunning end to a beautiful day. Who would want to be anywhere else?

Monday morning…..the day dawned bright and sunny. I had my breakfast and morning coffee with Jean in the cook’s hut ……and then chaos reigned! But – we managed it! I had a complicated timetable of talks for all newcomers…..dividing 130 people into:

a) those who had been before

b) those who had not been before – Reading students

c) those who had not been before – others.

As long as everyone fell into one of those categories, all would be fine. I gave 3 separate site tours, and one of those was the same people twice…..if that makes any sense at all! They all had talks from Elise, my Finds Manager, and Cindy, my Science Manager. we hired trowels, sorted out rotas, gave out Handbooks and Interim reports…and rushed from A to B and back again. I gave a Health and Safety briefing – and then personally gave out 4 plasters for cut fingers, bashed knuckles and flint scraped wrists. All in a day’s work for an archaeologist! I talked Assessment with my Reading 1st years, discussed the next day’s school visit with Zoe, my Visitor manager, and welcomed back many old friends to the site. Great to see my International Placements back again – a big Hello to Jesse, Caitlin, Stefani, Kevin, Owen and Jordyn! I struggled with the technology at lunchtime as I set up a PowerPoint presentation by Michael Fulford in St. Mary’s church – and missed my lunch. Jean the cook hunted me down and presented me with a plate of avocado and prawns…..nothing but the best here at Camp Silchester! Jen, my on-site Admin assistant, wore out the cogs of her printer, printing out lists and rotas…..

Oh, it was a busy busy day and my eyes are closing. BUT everything is set up, everyone is on site – and, as I write, the vast majority of my team are at the Calleva Arms dancing with the Kennet Morris Men. I will miss this next year.

A rapt audience

Introduction to Insulae 9 and 3 at St. Mary’s Church

And a peaceful picture of Sue’s Roman garden to end on…..

We are ready. Just about. Today’s excellent news: we had a visit from Jon Crabbe of the University’s Health and Safety Services. He inspected our food provision and awarded us the highest mark available: a 5! Well done Jean! great start to the season!

Jon, Jean and chocolate hobnobs

At the end of the day I climbed the spoilheap: the calm before the storm? I feel a sense of pride and achievement. Once again, we have done it – created the backdrop to the longest running, largest research and training excavation in the UK and beyond! Bring it all on! we are READY!

On Sunday 6th July this will be FULL: the food marquee

Today was all about making our infrastructure beautiful and fit for purpose. We fetched and carried, titivated and tidied. Tidy offices, tidy minds.

Tidy camp site

Where I live! Hanging basket anyone?

Stacked wheelbarrows and a cow or two

Our very tidy tool shed – thank you Jim! How long will this last…..

John’s marquee – all ready for our school visits!

We are connected! Thank you to Bob Redknapp and IT Services….Silchester has wifi (and a fan)

Okay….a little more work needed in HQ

Shelf building for the boss

Ikea?

Rory housekeeping our samples from last summer

Mistress of all she surveys! Cindy, Science@Silchester manager gets to grips with our backlog!

Locusts at lunch

Everything you need to build a set of solar showers

Dan n’ Nick Enterprises: Silchester’s Solar Showers underway. Come on sun! Do your worst!

Jenni attempting to organise Dan and his Planning kabin

MOST EXCITING thing of the day…..the week…..the year……?

We are trialling the use of mini iPads on site as a means of recording our archaeology. The super talented Mike Rains who is the brains behind our marvellous archaeological database, the IADB (Integrated Archaeological Database) has developed a ‘mobile IADB’ as an app which we have added to the iPads. This app allows us to record contexts, plans, photos and finds details ON SITE, in the trench….directly into the iPad. Once within wifi signal, we can then upload this site data directly into our database, no need for subsequent typing in of data…if it works this will, without doubt, save both time and money. So, do watch out for my updates on this exciting trial!

Today, on site, Mike met with groups of my staff to explain the workings of the mobile IADB – and I dished out a total of 8 iPads, lent to us by the university of Reading’s Annual fund which paid for the acquisition of a number of IPad minis to be used on fieldwork throughout the university.

Mike Rains and an iPad

Insula III look and learn

Jenni gets the hang of it

Insula IX’s turn

And Guy learnt too