May 7 Shifting Dirt

This week started with cleaning out the drain that was found at the end of last week. I spent until afternoon tea excavating and cleaning what I could of the drain. I hopped over the building wall that is closer to the fort and found the drain in a matter of minutes. The picture is what I have done in the last day and a bit of excavating. I am now taking up some flagstones and rubble floor to drop down a quarter of what I have deturfed to the level of the bottom of the drain. Andy, the archaeologist for the area I am working, decided to see if the building I am in now has had previous floors slump into one of the Antonine ditches. This may get all convoluted but I will try to explain. The present vicus buildings are from the third century AD and overlay a few previous forts. The inner area of the fort from the Severan period, 208-212 AD, lies below the buildings. The Antonine fort is under the present fort platform but it was surrounded by three huge ditches for defensive purposes. Over time the vicus buildings built above the ditches (which were filled in and levelled in Roman times)have slumped into the ditches showing a curve in the building foundations. I will get a picture and post so that it may help in understanding what I am trying to say. The point of all of this is that I have more dirt and stone to remove first thing tomorrow before I get to a floor level that may give good dating evidence and help Andy figure out what is going on in the building I am now in.

The second picture is the rest of the crew digging away taking off the top layer from inside the building I was working in just yesterday. The group is now getting into some good archaeology and should get loats of pottery and who knows what else. The area seems to be the domestic part of the building which is usual for the type of building they are in. The building is known as a strip house becuse it has a short end facing the street and then runs back a good 30-40 feet from the street fornt. The best example in the States is a "shotgun" house. In strip house the front, closest to the road is generall a store or commercial area. The rest of the building is generally split into two rooms that are domestic in nature. In the one the group is excavating a round hearth is showing up which is unusual. Generally domestic hearths are square or rectangular and sometimes have flag stones set on end to define the firebox. This one has stones deliberately cut and placed in circular fashion which reminds me of the capping to a round well. That would be interesting to see if the hearth was placed over a filled in well since the stones were already there defining a convenient place for a fire or hearth. Only time will tell. Back in a couple of days.