Day 8: Rooms are taking shape and ditches are getting deeper...

The sun has been shining all day and we have been making some real progress. In Trench 2, rooms and features have been cleaned up and are making more sense. In Trench 1, our ditches have been getting deeper. Read on to find out more about our progress so far and some the finds made today...

In Trench 2, our wonderful students and volunteers have done really well to excavate the kitchen spaces to the state we see today (pictures below). Thanks to their careful excavating and cleaning we are now able to gain a good appreciation of the scale and nature of the features in these spaces, and their relationships to one another. At the moment, the kitchen is taking shape most clearly. We have identified a hearth with an area of square cobbling opposite. This area of square cobbling may signify the existence of an additional hearth. The high levels of burning on the ground around the hearths further confirms their use as kitchen spaces. Well done guys, this looks great!

In Trench 1, we have been focused on trying to understand the ditch features that were discussed in yesterdays blog post. Currently, these trenches appear to be getting deeper and deeper, and we still haven't got to the bottom of them. In particular, Ed, Amie, Elizabeth and Katie have been excavating a ditch feature in the north-east of Trench 1. This ditch has already exceeded 1.6m in depth and we still haven't reached the bottom. We believe that because of its depth and the nature of its complicated stratigraphy, that this feature might contain some of the earliest archaeological deposits on the site. Only time will tell about what this contains!

Elsewhere in Trench 1, the quest is on to find the floor surfaces for the big building at the south of the trench. Livia, Bethan and Piers spent all day excavating out the fill of this room in order to find the original floor surface and maybe some associated artefacts that might enable us to date this building fully. In relation to this building, two members of Archaeological Services at Durham University came to conduct ground penetrating radar surveys of the land beyond the Wyatt Screen where we believe this building extends into. We are awaiting the results from their survey, but they maybe be able to tell us how large and the shape of this building. Check back tomorrow to find out more.

Most excitingly in Trench 1, we have begun to understand the three possible buttress features to the north of the trench. You may remember in earlier posts about the unusual large stones that we were puzzling over. We now believe that we have identified three buttresses, or the spaces where they would have existed, at equal distances along the norther perimeter of Trench 1. Unfortunately, whatever these buttresses support, is beyond the limit of where we are allowed to excavate! Whatever these support must have been a sizeable building!

One of our most intriguing finds today was part of a lobster claw. We know that bishops were some of the most rich and important people in medieval Britain. This discovery falls in line with our expectation of their diets. We hope to discover more clues relating to their everyday lives. Also discovered in Trench 2 was a large portion of medieval pot.

We look forward to any new discoveries we may make in the coming days. Do remember to check back and/or follow us on social media to find out more!