Well the weather had certainly improved – warm and sunny with just a gentle breeze – ideal conditions in fact. We were surprised to see how many weeds had grown on our carefully prepared site in the previous month! The work continued literally where we had left off, removing soil in 1 metre square quadrants to a depth of 10cm in a chess board pattern. The surface was gently broken up using mattocks or spades and then carefully scraped away with trowels and small shovels. The alternate squares were removed more rapidly with shovels, but trying to keep a clean surface as we worked down.

One of the key things we are looking for is a change in soil colour which
will help us to determine if we are actually located on the barrow. The
soil forming the central mound and the surrounding ditch should be markedly different.

Rob Atkins from the Archaeological Field Unit came along as a volunteer and was very good at boosting morale with regular handouts of chocolates, and counting up how many squares we had done.

By the end of the day we have definitely identified two different soil
colours – in the centre the soils is paler and more reddish in colour, and
at the edge it is much darker. Whether this is of any significance remains
to be seen…watch this space!

We also have three more finds – a piece of clay pipe and two flints – they
may possibly be worked, or may be natural we await the verdict of an expert.