May 2005
After the removal of the old spoil heaps and rubbish covering what hopefully will be the back of the villa Geoff (our geophysicist) was able to carry to carry out a comprehensive geophysical survey of the area. He is particularly excited about an area of low resistivity which is currently cut by trench 8 and has speculated that it might be a floor surface.
With the help of the digger trench 7 was quickly extended to meet trench 9 and will hopefully reveal the back wall of the villa behind the stoke room. The trench is only about 40cm deep but is already producing an abundance of finds the latest of which is an as yet unidentified coin. The bottom of the ditch hasn't yet been reached in trench 9 although with the exception of a sandal stud finds have been slow.
Finds tray from trench 7 extension
Peter recording trench 7 extension
Other work has seen the start of the excavation of the SW corner of trench 7 revealing building rubble and the usual selection of pot sherds, bone, CBM, nails but no coins. The weather has been good with only a few hours lost to rain and numbers of diggers has varied between 5 and 15, though with large areas now cleared and surveyed ready for digging there is plenty of work for the rest of the season and more diggers are welcome.