Day Eight: Wednesday 30th June

Photograph of the Day: Cherubin striking a Zoolander inspired pose.

Weather: Hot

Word of the Day: Factor 50 Sun cream

Quote of the Day: Hannah- When I stop mattocking, I start moping.

Find of the day: Bone button cut offs. (Pictured below)

Today we had a tour of the Turret House (Pictured Below). The Turret House was built in 1574 by the 6th Earl of Shrewbury and his wife Bess as a gate house to Manor Lodge. People believe it was built for Mary Queen of Scots as her prison, but it wasn't built until four years after she arrived in Sheffield. It wouldn't have been big enough for her entourage, she brought 30 servants with her. It has a French style to it, refelected in the shape of the tower. It is suspected that the Turret House was also used for banquets, and could have been used after the hunt for refreshments.

It is often thought that Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned here because one of the stained glass windows installed during the Victorian period states that she was imprisoned there.

This is the coffin that Thomas Furnival was buried in. Thomas Furnival designed and built the Turret House. It was later used a trough for animals to eat from.

A photograph of wall decoration.

The ceiling on the second floor is original. It is decorated very elaborately with lions, grapes and such like. Above is an example of the lion. These are heavily associated with the kind of lions that adorn the doors of French Manor houses as door knockers.

This character is also a feature of the ceiling in the Turret House. It is thought to be a face from Eastern Europe. The wooden carved forms would have originally be held up with horse hair.

A whet stone/sharpening stone found.

The body of a white ceramic figure was found in Trench 17 today.

The latest entry for Best Hat comes from 7 year old Isabel who was visiting the site with her Mum.

Introducing...

Introducing you to some more of our lovely lot at the Manor Lodge Excavation.

With the absense of Charile, we haven't been able to record Charlie's Beard today. Instead we had to improvise to bring you the latest in beard related news. Victoria made the beard using her artistic skills and asked Buttery Jonathon to model it.

Name: Buttery Jonathon. Going into his 3rd year of BA Archaeology.

Likes: Archaeology, food, Black Keys, and the film Red Dawn.

Dislikes: Pushchairs, Primark, pushchairs in Primark, train pushers, especially train pushers with pushchairs trying to push to Primark.

One interesting fact: Buttery Jonathon once won an Early Learning Centre pencil sharpener for painting a paper plate with an Ian Rush (Liverpool Footballer) portrait on it.

Proudest Moment: Being a Charlie's Beard Model for 5 minutes.

If I could be involved in any archaeology excavation, I'd like to excavate: with explosives or other general purpose explosives, like Thomas Bateman.

http://www.aboutderbyshire.co.uk/cms/people/thomas-bateman-pioneer-ar.shtml

Name: Charlotte. Just finished BA Archaeology. Currently the resident tea lady, domestic goddess and desperate housewife of the dig.

Likes: Chocolate, Ribena, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Mango (The Shop) and Mangos.

Dislikes: Tea, coffee, hot chocolate, chocolate ice cream, and spiders.

If I could be anyone for a day i'd like to be: A Princess with her own castle.

If I could be involved in any archaeological excavation, I'd like to excavate: Egypt.

Name: C.J. BA Archaeology student at Nottingham University.

Likes: playing the guitar, 60's music like The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, space, football and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Dislikes: Soggy cake, turkish delight, and hair in the plughole.

Best Holiday: Rome

Greatest Moment: Cooking a full roast dinner with all the trimmings.

If I could be involved in any archaeological excavation, I'd like to excavate: Greece or Rome, or be Captain Safety of Ceramics for Lord Elgin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bruce,_7th_Earl_of_Elgin

Day Seven: Tuesday 29th June

Weather: Hot and cold with dusty winds.

Word of the day: Husband

Find of the Day: A piece from a grave stone with the inscription 'Husband' found in Trench 16. Pictured below.

Lauren showing Kate how to photograph Trench 18.

Chris and Kanani using a planning frame to make a site plan of the features in Trench 16.

Day Two of Charlie's Beard. Spot the difference from yesterday.

A different kind of brushing. Tom brushing the teeth of the canine, Splat, found previously.

Gareth teaching primary school pupils about the site.

Canine bones.

A new entry for Best Hat. A tiny top hat made out of clay.

Here is CJ, who has just finished his 1st year at Nottingham University studying BA Archaeology. He looks very happy to be involved with the work at Manor Lodge.

Introducing...

We would like to introduce some of the students and staff from the excavation to you.

Name: Will. A 14 year old work experience student from Sheffield.
Likes: History, science and lunch.

Dislikes: Spiders and maths.

When I grow up I'd like to be: An Archaeologist.

If I could be involved in any archaeological excavation, I'd like to excavate: Something to do with the world wars.

Name: Mauro. From north-east Italy. Just finished 1st year BA Archaeology.

Likes: Archaeology, history and Anthony Hopkins Movies.

Dislikes: Philosophy, politcs, lawyers, snakes and spiders.

If I could be involved in any archaeological excavation, I'd like to excavate: Paleo-Christian excavations in the Middle East.

Name: Tom. Who has recently completed his first year in Archaeology.

Likes: Archaeology, cheese and onion crisps and Muse.

Dislikes: Christiano Renaldo.

If I could be involved in any archaeological excavation, I'd like to excavate: anything with Flinders Petrie or General Pitt-Rivers

Flinders Petrie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flinders_Petrie

General Pitt-Rivers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_Pitt_Rivers

Name: Lily from the University of Rochester, USA. Lily hopes to title her degree, Biological Archaeology.

Dislikes: Country Music.

Two Favourite Songs: Furr- Blitzen Trapper and Dream On- Depeche Mode

If I could be involved in any archaeological excavation, I'd like to excavate: a medieval burial ground.

Day Six: Monday 28th June

Weather: Hot with dusty winds.

Word of the Day: Bricks and dust and bones.

Find of the Day: Cut line for the dog skeleton.

Quote of the Day: Alvaro- I haven't abandoned you. I have abandoned you.

Trench 15 have been digging out the 1970s trench. Here are just some of the bricks they have taken out.

Chris the excavation supervisor checking Trench 16's site plans.

We have our second entry in the Best Hat Competition. This entry comes from Gareth Perry, a PhD Archaeology student who is interested in 5th/6th Century Anglo Saxon Cremation Cemetries. Here, Gareth is sporting a straw cowboy hat.

Trench 17 are doing a second site plan after reaching the bottom of the base of the 1970s trench. Here CJ is measuring the from the bedrock to the base tape.

Lauren, showing Becky and Tom how to photograph a site.

Welcome to Charlie's Beard. This is where we are going to watch the progress of Charlie's beard over the next few weeks. This all happened when Charlie threatened to shave off his beard at Lunch. The group voted no and this feature was born.

A photograph of the dog skeleton in the soil before it's excavation.

Interview Corner: With Tom and Fogs.

(Tom and Fogs sharing a joke.)

Interview with Tom who has just finished his second year of a BSc in Archaeology and Fogs who will be moving into his second year of his BA in Archaeology.

Victoria: What do you like about Archaeology?

Tom: I enjoy the thrill of the find. (Laughs) I like to find whats been going on, trying to figure out as much as you can from a bit of pottery or bone, like that's been butchered, they've been eating meat and you can just build on that. I enjoy that bit personally.


Fogs: I've just always been interested in archaeology. Since I was a kid really. Done a year, looking forward to the second year, just exciting.

Victoria: Indiana Jones or Tony Robinson?

Tom: Bit of both I think.


Fogs: Tony Robinson in Indiana Jones' hat.

Tom: Always wanting to find the treasure but happy to find the rubbish. (Laughs) I think Indiana Jones really. Holding onto the back of a speeding truck.

Victoria: What is the most interesting thing we've found so far, in your opinion?

Tom: This. (Holding up a fragment of 1970s pottery). We found a marine button which is interesting to me. Depending on the age of the marine badge it could be off a tunic from the second world war, which would be great because it would place military installation up here.

Fogs: And you'd think there'd be one up here because it's high up. There's one at Wincobank Hill Fort and the concrete foundations are still there. Maybe there are some here.

A final word from Tom and Fogs about the dig.

Tom: It's applying it, like bits and pieces from different lectures and you're bringing it all together in one thing, seeing it come to life basically. Putting into practice the things you learn in lectures.

Fogs: The best way is actually getting out there and digging. Coming and digging something up. I've really looked forward to that. Having my trowel all scuffed up.

Day Five: Friday 25th June

Weather: Cool with bursts of hot hot heat.

Word of the Day: Fish and Chips

Find of the Day: The skeleton of a small dog. The bones found yesterday belonged to this skeleton.

Today was Chip Friday. At lunch we all enjoyed fish and chips. After lunch a few members of the dig were a little sad because it was a whole week until the next Chip Friday.

We would also like to congratulate Charlotte who just found out that she got a First Degree in BA Archaeology.


Here is BA Archaeology student Tom Keyworth carefully excavating the dog skeleton. To ensure that minimum damage is done to the skeleton, he brushes away dirt with a paint brush.

Site planning is still taking place. Here is Charlie Hay modelling a Staff so his group can make 3D plans of trench 15. Jonathon Buttery site planning.

The Finds Process

Archaeological excavations aren't all just about digging in the dirt. Finds are placed in a finds tray and then taken to the basement for the finds process.

Here is a piece of 17th Century pottery that was found in Trench 18.


Finds are then cleaned. We clean pottery with toothbrushes and paintbrushes. Metal is dry brushed and we also use skewers to remove dirt. In the photograph above Craig is washing ceramics.

The finds are then left to dry in the sun. They are then sorted and put into bags.

This is a photograph of a wooden button found.

It has been a tiring first week. The weather has been lovely and we are all looking forward to what might be found next week.

Day Four: Thursday 24th June

Weather: Cool

Word of the Day: Mattock

Find of the Day: Fragments of a small canine.

Today saw cooler weather then days gone by, plenty of mattocking and a collection of bones from a small canine. We also had a lecture in the afternoon led by Jill Campbell, a PhD graduate student from Queen's University Belfast. It explored 'Were Medieval Buildings and Landscapes designed?'. Jill used examples from her own research and study. This proved very interesting and relevant to the current excavations taking place at Manor Lodge.


Did you know? For 18 days in November 1530, Cardinal Wolsey was held captive at Manor Lodge. It was whilst Wolsey was awaiting an escort to deliver him into the custody of Henry VIII in London.

Above are the canine bones found in Trench 18. The students were incredibly pleased to finally find something interesting.

Here is Masters student Charlie Hay using his artistic talents to plan every feature of Trench 15 onto the Site Plan.



Becky Hankinson is officially entered into the Best Hat Competition. If we spy a good hat on site we will post a picture here. Eventually we will have a winner. Becky is sporting a very fetching tweed flat cap.

In Trench 18 a piece of pottery was found that looks remarkably like a segment of party food favourite, the party ring.

Tom Barnard, a BSc Archaeology student from Sheffield University was busy digging down to the base of an evaluation trench built in the 1970s

Each day students keep field diaries. These are logs of what was found, the location of these finds, how they dealt with the finds...etc. Above is Charlie Hay and Jonathan Buttery hard at work recording their day on site.

Day Three: Wednesday 23rd June

We found out what animal the mystery jaw bone from yesterday belonged to. It was a COD.

Weather: Cool in the morning. Hot in the afternoon.

Word of the Day: Site Plan

Find of the Day: a Royal Marine button.


And today we had a Quote of the Day:

(Whilst discussing the new layer of soil that was being dug in trench 18).
Becky: At least theres another layer.
Danielle: There's layers right down to the core of the earth.

Today there was a lot of site planning going on. This is where you plot the features of the trench, the size and shape. In the photograph above, the long tape measure is the base line tape. The smaller tape is being used to measure the width at different points.

All information then has to be made 3D. This is so it can be overlayed onto maps for future reference and digs. This is a requirement for archiving a site. It is preservation by record.

To measure the site in 3D we use a 'Dumpy Level' and 'Staff'. You may recognise the 'Dumpy Level' because it is used for surveying.

This is the Find of the Day. It was found by Becky Hankinson who is studying a BA in Archaeology at Nottingham University. It is a small button with 'Royal Marines' embossed on it and a small crest or symbol. We think it is 19th century. We will let you know as soon as we do.

This was my personal find of the day. We named the snail 'Sampsom' and he became our mascot for a while. It was suggested that Cherubin should eat it. Escargot=Escar-gone.

This is Alvaro, a project officer from the Archaeological Research Services Limited, brushing off top soil for 18th century handmade bricks.



These are the 18th century handmade bricks, labelled and enjoying the sun.

The photogrpah above is of what looks like a grave stone. This is because the left corner is curved like that of a grave stone.

Here are Craig and Foggy getting to grips with doing a site plan of trench 15. Towards the end of the day a structure was discovered in the south of the trench.

We have a number of students from other universities than Sheffield. This is Kenneth 'Hutch' Gregory (left) and Cherubin Alcalen (right) who have both recently graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi where they studies Geographic Information Technologies.