Work has begun to open up the main excavation area. This includes an area where Roman pottery and ceramic building material were found during the evaluation stage of the project.
First, we use machines to take off the topsoil, which contains no archaeological features, and some of the subsoil. The topsoil is much darker than the subsoil, as it contains organic matter. This is a very delicate process, and watched carefully by archaeologists, who stop the machine as soon as they see a hint of archaeology!
The blue spray paint is being used to mark out features, such as ditches and pits. These features can be identified by archaeologists because the fill (the material which fills the inside of the feature) is a different colour from the natural (undisturbed) subsoil around them. These features usually have layers of silt which have built up naturally over time, as well as layers of material from the people who have lived or worked the land. The pits and ditches may also have been re-dug over time. Archaeologists excavate these features in sections, which allows us to see how the cuts, layers, and fills (called contexts) relate to each other. It also helps us understand the chronological order in which they were created - this is called stratigraphy.
Once the section has been excavated and cleaned, we draw up a scaled plan of the section, taking detailed measurements.
So far, several small features including pits and postholes have been discovered, however, these have not contained any materials that would allow us to date them. Small quantities of Roman and medieval pottery have been found, but these were in the topsoil not their original context - this means they cannot be used as dating evidence.
We have also identified a large pit filled with stone. This pit contained some of our best finds so far - slate tiles! This is exciting because these are Roman roof tiles, which are typically roughly diamond-shaped with a hole for a nail. Several Roman slate quarries have been identified in the UK, including one in Leicestershire, so it will be interesting to see if we can find out where this slate came from - watch this space!
Another feature found in our main excavation area is a large ditch running north-south downhill. Whilst excavating a section of the ditch, Ann, one of our archaeologists, spotted some charcoal deposits. She took samples of the charcoal which will be examined by an environmental archaeologist.
