Vindolanda 2023 - Day Seven

Weather much improved, in fact it was sunny all day.  Alas there was so much water saturating the ground that the lower, older levels of excavation were still sodden at start of work.

Well that's how things are in the wilds of Northern England.  It rains a lot.  Written sources from the Roman era complain about it.  So we were put into a higher and dryer area to clear some later features in preparation for a larger excavation down into the anaerobic regions.  Good weather, good company and enough of interest to make it a grand day.  For instance, this:

It is the base of a bowl.  Except in the case of burials, which this was not, you just don't find intact pottery vessels.  And this was no exception.  But it did come up nice and shiny.

It's tempting to imagine this as being reworked into something else.  A lid for instance.  By the way the second view is the inside of the bowl.....and on close scrutiny has a maker's stamp on it.  A nice find and very helpful for dating.

If the weather stays dry, and the forecasts and Augeries say it shall, back down to the anaerobic layers tomorrow.