September 2005
September was a busy month with good weather, plenty of enthusiastic diggers and activities in several trenches. The north east corner of trench 7 was extended further and will hopefully reveal more of the back wall of the villa and it's relationship to the ditch(trench 9), once the top soil has been excavated.
Digging in trench 7 - north east extension
Further work in the ditch(trench 9) has revealed an earlier cut lined with flint together with an indication of a second cut, perhaps from a later date. The ditch is now much larger than previously thought and of a similar size to ditches found earlier in the project. The fill from the ditch is still mainly loam with a mixture of finds including some interesting sherds of pottery some, with a charred surface indicating that they were probably used for cooking over a fire.
Ditch(trench 9)
Pottery from the ditch.
The south western extension to trench 7 is now complete and has revealed an interesting feature consisting of a layer of compact chalk lined with concrete. The feature appears to be semi circular and is possibly the remains of an internal floor, indicating the possibility of a further structure on the end of the villa. Further excavation is needed to determine whether there is any evidence of a wall for this structure.
Work has also continued between trenches 7 and 8 investigating the corridor on the south side of the villa. A wall at the southern side is slowly being revealed on the same alignment as the walls in trenches 7 and 8 and it is now almost certainly part of a corridor.
With only a few weeks of the season remaining there will be time to draw some conclusions from the seasons digging and further our understanding of the villa.
Please contact us if you would like to get involved in the last weeks of this years excavation or are interested in any post excavation work during the winter.