May 2006
The new season began well after a mechanical digger was hired to remove large areas of topsoil at the site, to create several new trenches for excavation over the coming season. One area of particular interest was identified in May 2005 using geophysics, as an area of low resistivity which is possibly a courtyard or floor surface. We will be able to look at this more closely in the coming months as well as identifying the wall on the north side of the villa.
A more recent geophysics survey identified a possible trackway on the north side leading to the villa. This now appears to have been confirmed after the digger removed an area of topsoil to reveal a compact stony surface with evidence of a ditch alongside.
Trackway on northside of villa
The bottom of the ditch in trench 9 has now been reached and the different layers of fill within the ditch can now be clearly seen in the section view.
Trench 9 - Ditch
There are still a couple of interesting features at the edge of the ditch which will require further investigation including some possible postholes and a drainage channel into the ditch. One mystery surrounding the ditch is that it is very close to the wall on the north side of the villa (less than 5metres) so it is possible that the ditch pre-dates the main part of the villa and was initially constructed with an earlier smaller phase of the villa.
Work has also restarted on an area at the back of the stokeroom which is possibly a large rubbish pit started after the stokeroom went out of use. Large quantities of pottery, including Samian and finewares such as those from the Nene Valley and Alice Holt potteries, as well as many animal bones seem to confirm this.
A selection of finds from stokeroom area
If you've been following the progress of the dig and would like to get involved please contact us.