Part of a series of bulletins from the BAS excavations at Wickham House
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Attendees: Lindsey, Jill, Mike, Martin, Stuart, Millie, Geoff, John H, Malcolm, Carrollanne, Chloe, Malcolm, Julie, Tim L, Debbie S, Phil C, Alessa and Keith
The first task was to restore the cleaned surfaces of all trenches after overnight rain. With now less that two complete weeks (5½ days of excavation) remaining of this present season, the focus has shifted from discovery of new archaeology to the recording of features already revealed.
In Trench 16 Stuart and Millie reviewed the trench records files to highlight plans, context sheets and sections requiring further work, and passing to colleagues to tie off the loose ends identified. Meanwhile Geoff spent the day exploring the northern end of the flue to see if a vent to the corn-drier superstructure that would have been located above could be identified. Unfortunately this proved inconclusive as a layer of firm mortar was reached that was interpreted as being the collapsed roof of the flue (rather than the expected vent) – so more work is required to reveal how the hot air from the furnace exited the masonry flue…
Detailed 3D photogrammetry images of Trenches 16 and 17 taken by Stuart can be seen below…
https://poly.cam/capture/30fcfa80-528d-47b5-909f-0376fbfb92e0
In Trench 15 Martin, Julie and Chloe began to excavate the area where the northerly Roman road ditch intersects the ditch of the lane branching to the north to determine the chronological relationship between these two features. It is known that Ermin Street was constructed within a few years of the Roman conquest to supply Legions located to the northwest of Silchester, so if the construction of the road/lane can be found to be contemporary to each other this suggests a similarly early date for occupation of the site being excavated. Whereas if the two features were found to be constructed at different dates, dating evidence may suggests a “terminus post quem” for the lane construction and the associated roadside occupation… Elsewhere in Trench 15 work continued to record sections, plans and complete context sheets for features already in progress.
In Trench 18 Malcolm, Mike and John completed recording of the surfaces revealed, but it was still not 100% certain that the shallow rubble filled ditch identified by the earth resistance survey was in fact the southerly ditch of the Roman road. The decision was taken to extend Trench 18 to the north to see if any other ditch like features could be identifed up to the point where the north of Trench 18 is less than 8m to the south of Trench 15 along the road’s axis…
The highlight of the day was the amazing cake baked by Carrollanne which was comprehensively excavated during the tea break. Despite the cake’s elaborate decorative fruit filled stratigraphy, it was 100% sampled by the team before a detailed section drawing could be recorded!
