The second last day of the Field School was the last day for excavations. All equipment were taken to their respective trenches and work began immediately.
Trench 10 provided the students with a day of quick excavation, cleaning back and a demonstration of photography. Further investigation of the sondage on either sides of trench was carried out. With this being the final day of excavation, a large amount of work was done to try and reveal as much information as possible before all were forced to stop digging. A series of cleaning back allowed for the drawing of the final features. Towards the end of the day backfilling had started for trench 10. With three trenches to backfill, there would be a large rush to get things finished.
Trench 11 was cleaned back and prepared for post-ex photographs at the western end of the trench before the post-holes and stake-holes could be profiled. The eastern end underwent a similar process as larger post-holes were uncovered. Plans were taken of sections throughout the trench in order to give us a better understanding in post excavation of the final stages and development of the trench as time progressed. Similar to days previous, students were taken once again to learn how to fill out a context sheet.
By the morning Trench 12 appeared almost finished, with little information appearing anymore from the surface. The surface inside the trench contains numerous broken plough furrow soils, with some natural appearing running along with them. A section of a furrow has been taken to see how deep it ran. The results were quite fulfilling with a nice dipped feature, with very few changes to the shape throughout. The end of the day had some final plans drawn up for trench 12.
While the entire day was fast paced from start to finish, the main focus was getting plans constructed for all trenches. Final excavations allowed for better drawing and hence a better interpretation of features.
By Emily Geoghegan
Brandon Walsh
