Vindolanda 2014 Day Six

Off to the other end of the site today, where I am looking forward to a week of digging a very complex area.  Here is the view down deep.  (But nowhere near as deep as the dig will eventually get!).

Notice the stone/cobble path in the center....it is diving down into some earlier and deeper feature.  Next to it is an area of wooden structure, perfectly preserved after 1800 years.

Here is the area we will be addressing.  We need to bring down that shelf of rock, clay and debris down to the lower level.

Notice some huge boulders?  We sure did.  It was part of the Roman efforts to keep their structures from sinking down into the murky depths of previous fort sites.  There are by the way nine forts on this site, one atop another.  Some of the rocks got named.  Here is one I called "The Hash Brown" as it was the same shape as the greasy spuds we get for breakfast:

Various fun rock tossing aside, we were mostly shifting clay and such.  Not many artifacts to be found.  The Good Stuff is another 18 inches down.  There we will encounter an environment where organic material is preserved by being sealed off from oxygen and light.  Up on the spoil heap we can already see, discarded last week, tempting bits of wood and twigs and such.  Mmmmmm...anaerobic preservation,  the place where anything can turn up:

But the the sky opened up and rain poured down.  Washed out for the afternoon.

The rest of the week has a happier forecast.  Stay tuned as we dive down to Anaerobia.