A medium size piece of samian was found along side the timber and intriguingly some wood that looks like a sort of roman ply wood i.e. made from laminates of wood grains at 90° to each other. An expert will be looking at this and it is being speculated that this is showing us the…Continue…

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Sunday 4th July – Week 4 Day 5 [Day 20 ] The last day of this week and time for an appraisal of our small area. Finds from our area this week:- Bags of red painted plaster, plaster with impressed sea-shell, broken roof tile – tegula and imbrex, broken box flue tile some with plaster…Continue…

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Saturday 3rd July – Week 4 Day 4 [Day 19] Conditions:- warm, sunny, gusts of wind. Ok.. I am digging the SE corner of Trench 6 with Kat and Neil, a very rich trench in terms of finds and in terms of interpretations too. Let’s start with Bryn and Bernard’s interpretation:- A plunge pool of…Continue…

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Friday 2nd July – Week 4 Day 3 [Day 18] _ Conditions:- warm, occasions showers, windy. Day three already Sam’s feature has been nicely cleaned and recorded. Just a matter of removing the stones from it. I stupidly volunteer to help remove one of the stones before setting eyes on it. Well, it is slightly…Continue…

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Thursday 1st July – Week 4 Day 2 [Day 17] Up bright and early, not too stiff, just a little writers cramp from recording all those small finds. As I have said previously Sam and I worked together last year on the Big Dig, and while I’ve got the suggested plunge pool with a myriad…Continue…

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WHAT A ROOM. Plaster on the walls, soil kept on to protect it till we’ve emptied it out completely, red painted lumps of plaster in the debris. Massive amount of pot, last week half a figured Samian vessel decorated with acanthus leaves and a hippocamp – a kind of sea monster, half horse half fish…Continue…

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Thursday 24th June – Week 3 Day 2 [Day 12] Conditions: Cloudy, sustained periodic sunshine, few small showers, very windy. After yesterdays postponement due to Wimbledonesque weather today is the first of the primary school mock excavations. The day of truth for Dawn and the Outreach crew. Is the first school going to resemble St.…Continue…

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  Saturday 19th June – Week 2 Day 4 [Day 9] From the Swindon Evening Advertiser :- date published: Saturday 19th June 2004 A wealth of history is found just six inches underground ROMAN coins and blue glass beads have been found among the remains of buildings at the Groundwell Ridge historic site. Just over…Continue…

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Friday 18th June – Week 2 Day 3 [Day 8] Conditions:- Early short shower of rain was just enough to dampen the soil. Otherwise warm and humid. More of the same today gently trowelling the surfaces trying to reveal and define the structure of the building. What was thought to be a plunge pool seems…Continue…

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  Wednesday 16th June – Week 2 Day 1 [Day 6] A new lot of volunteers turn up at 08:30, EH have their full compliment of professionals and this week they have their “trainees” starting. The local schools don’t start on the mock excavation until next week – but the more I think about it…Continue…

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Sunday 13th June – Day 5 I was on my way up to trench 7 (over a possible road) when I was warned off by an EH guy. “I’d wait a couple of days, Chris”. So nothing like trench 6 then with archaeology appearing after a few minutes. Still if it ain’t there, you can’t…Continue…

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I like Pete. He has the air of a man constantly harassed. Mind you though :- Tuesday – he was travelling down to the site on the A419 when he ripped the back trim off of the EH Mondeo going over some roadworks. Wednesday – Volunteers on site. No delivery of hard hats or safety…Continue…

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