...and it begins (almost!)

Following the success of our excavations last year (see Daily Dig Diary 2018 for more) we are back excavating at Auckland Castle once again. Although the students and volunteers begin on site on Monday, our team from Archaeological Services have been out on site in preparation for the start of the field school next week. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to let you know a bit about the progress so far and to outline some of the things we are hoping to find.

This year we are excavating on the north terrace, in the area behind St Peter's Chapel. Although this has been a chapel since the 17th century, this was once the Great Hall built by the 12th century Bishop Puiset. Last year we excavated south of the chapel, in the area beside the current turning circle. In these excavations we uncovered a range of buildings that we believe to have been kitchens and service rooms. The tantalising traces of doors leading to nowhere and wall scars on the north side of the chapel tell us there might have been more than the kitchens we found last year to complete this early complex. By excavating on the north terrace we anticipate that we might identify traces of now-lost kitchens, pantries, butteries and other service spaces.

In our excavations last year we discovered large quantities of animal bone and charcoal/ash from hearths. For archaeologists, these finds can tell us a lot about the diet, lifestyle and quantity of people resident at this building during the medieval period. In depth analysis of these finds might also inform our understandings of how they exploited the landscape and possibly acquired exotic goods.

Traces of the medieval curtain wall have been picked up nearby, and we think that it probably ran through the area we are excavating. If we identify it in our excavations it will add another key piece of evidence to our reconstructions of the curtain wall. By understanding the full shape and extent of the curtain wall, we are able to understand the limits of the site and how it related to the wider park.

Of course, you can never really know what you'll find until you find it. While the standing building remains certainly direct us to the probability that there were buildings that extended north from the hall, the precise nature of these is still a mystery to us. At present, it seems likely that we might find kitchens or service spaces, but there are always surprises!

Make sure to follow us on social media (links below) and this blog every night throughout the dig to find out more about our progress! I am sure that whatever we find will be truly fascinating...