Day 2
Wednesday 25th August 2004

‘A day of heroic effort, which should pay off in the future.’ Alison Andrews, slightly misquoted

A bright, windy day, with clouds flying again and about 28 people on site. The final piece of turf was lifted from the first rectangle at 12.00, to loud cheers. We then had lunch while the next move was considered. As it was Richard Newman’s birthday, this was celebrated with champagne and cake and he was thanked for his hard work in bringing the dig about. The gallant turf lifters were drenched again during the afternoon but completed lifting the sod from the second rectangle.

Surveying

Results from Day 1 would seem to indicate that the site would have been an island before the sea wall changed the geography of the area. Some gaps remained to be surveyed.

The challenge for the trainees today was to position the TST exactly over the site S1 from yesterday. This took plenty of concentration and skilled use of the adjustment facilities on the machine.

Positioning of the second dig area

The aim is to dig across features revealed by the geophysical survey. (This is done with detectors which indicate subsoil changes.) David Gill and John Duffy spent time studying the survey to decide where to work next. They were trying to plan out the smallest possible turf cut to cover the most interesting features uncovered by the magnetometer. How to include the possible entrance gaps, the round ‘middens’ lying to the south and the thin linear abnormality? David also wants to drop off the side of the clearly visible ridge. After working through lunch, they came up with a plan.

Birthday Boy

Richard’s birthday was celebrated with cake and champagne, and he was thanked for bringing the dig to fruition with his tremendous enthusiasm and hard work.