Site Supervisor’s excavation diary – week one (August 1st to 7th, 2010)
Day 1 – Sunday, 1st August. KP, AR and 8 volunteers
Cleaned out upper and lower tool stores. Painted upper shed. Unloaded equipment for dig. Discussed position of trenches with AR. Cloudy, with some light rain.
Day 2 – Monday, 2nd August. KP, AR, BC and 9 volunteers
Site fencing arrived. Erected two compounds for excavation sites. Marked out trial pits in upper compound and started digging. Modern land drain located in Trench 2 and a modern wall foundation in Trench 1. Site visit from David Ilsley from Shepway District Council – he had no problems with our activities. Rained off at 3.30 – very heavy rain.
Day 3- Tuesday, 3rd August. KP and 11 volunteers.
Continued excavating Trenches 1 & 2. Started two new trenches (Trenches 3 & 4). Discovered Roman samian ware in a feature within Trench 2. More early pottery in Trench 1. Trench 3 sectioned the 19th century road ridge visible in the field. Dry all day but windy in the afternoon.
Day 4 – Wednesday, 4th August. KP, BC and 10 volunteers
Continued excavating trenches. Completed Trenches 3 & 4 and drew sections of both. Started 1:100 site plan showing location of trenches. Photographed Trench 3. Rained off at 3.30. Much local interest in work.
Day 5 – Thursday 5th August. KP, AR and 8 volunteers
Continued excavating Trenches 1 & 2. Discovered more samian pottery. Drew long section of Trench 1. Photographs taken. Dry all day.
Day 6 – Friday 6th August. KP, BC and 14 volunteers
Made 1:20 plan of Trench 2. Continued excavating Trench 1. Marion Green on site talking to outreach volunteers. Discovered more pottery. Finds being washed on site. Dry all day.
Day 7 – Saturday 7th August. KP, AR and 9 volunteers.
Continued excavating Trench 1 to the east. Completed excavation of Trench 2 and photographed. Started excavation of Trench 5. Completed back-filling of Trench 4. Late start due to rain in the morning which cleared later in the day.
KP = Keith Parfitt, BC = Barry Corke, RH = Richard Hoskins, AR = Andrew Richardson (all Canterbury Archaeological Trust staff)
