Day 3: Muddy Discoveries

Despite early speculation that digging would be called off today because of the rain, it stayed clear enough for us to be out all day working although perhaps a little muddier than usual! Yesterday, we focused mainly on the developments surrounding the curtain wall. Today however, we made some exciting developments at the east-end of the trench, in the area we suspect of containing kitchens and/or kitchen midden deposits. Keep reading to find out more about our discoveries today.

In the north-east corner of the trench, a large rectangular cobbled area has come to light which is looking like it could be the stone pad for a buttress or possibly the base for a staircase. This is exciting because we found a similar feature in our previous excavation on the south side of St Peter’s Chapel. We are hoping that as we excavate further near and around this feature, more will become clear about its precise nature.

Suspected column pad

Nearby to this feature, we have uncovered a round collection of stones surrounded by a burnt charcoal-rich soil. While we aren’t too sure what this feature exactly is, finds from around it have been interesting. Some animal bone, including a cockspur, were found together with large amounts of well-preserved post-medieval glass. Due to the delicacy of this area, we are excavating it carefully so to ensure we don’t miss any small and delicate pieces of bone or other finds. However, these results are really promising and align with our theory that this area would yield kitchen waste deposits. Across the entire east end of the trench there are noticeable patches of clay and charcoal rich deposits. In some of these areas’ students have found oyster shells and animal bones, including pieces of a boar jaw.

Across the entire site, a range of exciting discoveries were made today. Ross discovered a fragment of medieval column near the north wall of St Peter’s Chapel, while Ceri discovered a horse bone near the curtain wall. In the coming days, we expect to expand our assemblage of faunal remains and small finds.

Ross with his fragment of column

Ceri with the horse bone she discovered.