Hunting Hall Archaeology Blog
A daily account of our Hunting Hall dig.
19th June 2025 : Dig Diary Day 18
On a baking hot day the volunteers produced amazing work ! In trench 10 the slot through the ‘palisade’ was begun producing a most unexpected feature amongst the tumble of stones. This was a clearly defined construction complete with bones and ( probable) Iron Age pottery. Soil samples were taken and the feature will now be left for inspection by Kristian. The palisade area and associated features were cleaned back further by Carol Merriel and Ethan whilst Hannah began the task of sectioning the probable pits identified in the interior of the ring. Hannah was the joined by Ethan in a labour of love plan-drawing the feature.
In Trench 8 a mammoth task was set to trowel on all the identified contexts and finds to consolidate what we have found thus far in advance of cleaning back the whole trench as it has been excavated thus far. This involved the removal of suspected posts and known pieces of bone, wood and pottery. With only two objects to be raised tomorrow we are on target to begin the the major focus of trench 8: the excavation of the bottom layers and the treasures we hope for therein!! A special mention and thank you must go to Mark and Julian who both relatively new to archaeology produced amazing work and kept old lags John and Allan on their toes!!
Tomorrow looks like it may be hideously hot so whilst we still want as many volunteers as possible please keep in mind how exposed the site is and bring plenty factor 50. We have lots of drinking water and would encourage a slow pace of work and by all means head off home if it is too hot!
