Day 26: Monday 26th July

Weather: Grim and Grey.

Word of the day: Sure

Find of the day: 3 pieces of a pottery, 2 of which fit together. (Pictured Below)

These three fragments of pottery boast the names of two characters from the novel 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' by Harriet Beecher Stowe. This anti-slavery novel was written in 1852 and was so popular that a series of ceramics were created to capture the story. The two characters featured on this particular ceramic are Miss Ophelia, Augustine St.Clare's pious cousin who argues against the institution of slavery but is repulsed by the slaves themselves, and Topsy who is a young slave girl.

So what is the context and significance of finding this? Well, firstly it shows that there was literacy in the the 19th century houses at the Manor Lodge. Also, Hull is near by and Hull was a focal point in the anti-slavery movement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom's_Cabin

http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/interpret/exhibits/stevenson/stevenson.html

Lily has been removing dirt from the stone wall in trench 16. When the dirt is removed we will be able to see the stones to record them and also we will know when they come from. This wall could be post medieval but with repatching and fixing there are a number of other bricks from other times.


Cherubin taking a quick break from shovelling.

We had a number of school children at Manor Lodge today on a school trip. They were quite interested by this rubbish disposal pot in trench 15.

Philippa and Hutch mattocking back the next layer in trench 18.

Blake and Shannon were busy trowelling back in trench 17 today.

Lily spent the first two weeks of the excavation on site then was involved in a number of field schools. She looks happy to be back.

Lauren spent some time this afternoon checking context sheets.

Charlie's Beard. To the untrained eye this will look no different to any other Charlie's Beard but it is. Charlie has had a slight trim and has left himself with a number of beard bald patches.

Day 24: Thursday 22nd July

We would like to say a big congratulations to Charlotte (our tea lady), who today graduated and didn't trip over. We would also like to say a massive congratulations to Lauren who is now engaged.

Weather: Grey with rain.

Word of the day: Sondage.

Find of the day: A teadrop shaped game piece. (Pictured below).

Philippa and Charlotte trowelling a feature.

Tom and Buttery Jonathan spent a large percentage of the afternoon in the finds basement. Tom was doing site plans and Buttery was matching the photo numbers with all 77 context sheets. Good job he likes paper work.

The word of the day is Sondage. In the most basic of translations, this means: 'digging a small hole'. Above, Charlie is digging a sondage and below is the sondage that the blogger dug. Tom popped over to trench 15 to see what had been going on and Charlie said: 'This is a sondage dug by an archaeologist (pointing at his hole), and that is the sondage dug by the blogger which makes the archaeologists look rubbish.' Thanks Charlie. Turns out the blogger (who studies English Language and Linguistics is a natural archaeologist).

The small skeleton of a chicken has been discovered. There is much debate over what the find should be named. Piri piri was suggested aswell as Mr or Mrs Tweedy. Above, Katie is photographing the find.

Kanani and Chris checking site plans.

Charlie's Beard. No different. May have to start doing a site plan of it so we can tell the difference.


Introducing...

Name: Caitlin. Ba Classical and Historical Archaeology.
Likes: Formula 1, reading and drinking.
Dislikes: Spiders and chickens.
Favourite Book: The Aenid by Virgil.
Greatest Adventure: Canooing in Scotland with with the Duke of Edinburgh Award.
If I could be anyone for a day, I'd like to be: The Queen.
If I could be involved in any archaeological excavation, I'd like to excavate: Mexico.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico

Name: Rachel. BSc Archaeological Science.
Likes: Pigs, football and music.
Dislikes: Snakes and ventrilliquist dolls.
Desert Island Discs: (6 Songs) At Atlantic City-Bruce Springsteen, This Charming Man- The Smiths, Can't Stand me Now-The Libertines, Mr Tambourine Man- Bob Dylan, Boys Don't Cry- The Cure, and Rock and Roll Queen-The Subways. (Book) Into the world by John Crakaur. (Guilty pleasure) A spice rack. (Rachel likes spicy food).
Favourite place in the world: The Lake District
If I could be involved in any archaeological excavation, I'd like to excavate: Stonehenge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_henge

Day 23: Wednesday 21st July

We'd firstly like to wish a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Lauren.

Weather: Warm.

Word of the day: Buckets and finds train.

Find of the day: Large pieces of blue and white pottery. (Pictured below)

Above are students filling out a context sheet.

Both wednesday last week and wednesday this week we have had a number of community volunteers on site. This project is giving them an introduction to archaeology. They are invited to dig, trowell, sieve for finds and clean the finds. Above are two community volunteers searching for finds in the soil heaps.

The material culture students were doing finds processing today. They also had an informal session outside in the sun led by Alvaro, about the excavation and treatment of Organic Materials. All the students were intently listening and afterwards commented on how interesting the talk was.

Becky and Cherubin learning about Organic Materials.

Charlie's Beard was mostly made of metal today.

Introducing...

Name: Cherubin. Recently graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi where he studied Geographic Information Systems.
Likes: Cars, shiny things and Corporation.
Dislikes: Avril Lavigne, mean people and politicians.
Ideal Dinner Party guests: Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, Dennis Rodman, Henry VIII and Seth McFarlan.
If I could be anyone for a day, i'd like to be: James Bond
If I could be involved in any archaeological excavation, I'd like to excavate: The Temple of David underneath the Dome of Rock.

http://graal.co.uk/houseofdavid.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dome_of_the_Rock

Day Nine: Thursday 1st July

Weather: Drizzily and chilly.

Word of the Day: Context

Find of the Day: Ceramic game piece.

Today we also had a thursday afternoon lecture titled: English Heritage and Role of the Regional Science Advisors. The lecture was led by Yorkshire's Regional Science Advisor, Andy Hammon.

The ceramic game piece.


Spot the context: Trench 16.

This is a photograph of students using a system of water flotation. This process is a feature of Environmental Archaeology. A tank is filled with water. At the bottom of this is a number of pipes which pump the water around so there is a continuous flow. These process pushes floating material to the surface which can be collected to give an indication of the landscape, plants, what crops where grown in the area etc. It provides extra information outside of the artefacts.

Here is work experience student Will, digging for the first time.

Lily recording contexts from Trench 16.

Hutch with what was collected from the surface of the water flotation tank.

Charlie's Beard is back and still doesn't look much different.

Introducing...

Name: Lauren, site supervisor.

Likes: Strong Tea, Heavy Metal and Osteology.

Dislikes: Spiders, and the color pink.

Greatest Moment: Lauren has just finished writing up a cemetary excavation report.

Favourite Film: The Wicker Man with Christopher Lee.

Favourite Song: Days of the Phoenix-A.F.I
If I could be involved in any archaeological excavation, I'd like to excavate: The Spitalfields crypt in London.

http://www.spitalfields.co.uk/about_archeology.php

Name: Rebecca. BA Archaeology, Nottingham University.

Likes: Cake, reading and Christmas.

Dislikes: Asda, N-Dubz, and Waking up at 5am.
Favourite Films: Die Hard series.
Greatest Moment: Winning a face pulling competition at the age of 5.
If I could be involved in any archaeological excavation, I'd like excavate: The Mary Rose

http://www.maryrose.org/

Name: Danielle. BA Archaeology Sheffield.
Likes: Mashes potato, swimming, travelling and jewelley.
Dislikes: Clay pipes, un-cleanliness and B*Witched
If you could be anyone for a day, who would you be?: Wonderwoman.

Favourite Film: E.T.

I can't live without: Soap
If I could be involved in any archaeological excavation, I'd like to excavate: Turin Shroud.

http://www.shroud.com/

Name: Susan. BA Archaeology Sheffield.
Likes: Reading and Holidays.
Dislikes: Sausages.
Best Holiday: Machu Picchu, Peru.
If I could be involved in any archaeological excavation, I'd like to excavate: An unknown tomb in Egypt.