Archaeology in Area B

I finished my first of two weeks back on Justin's crew. The area of archaeology has grown quite a bit since I was last on his crew some five weeks ago. The area opened and under excavation has doubled in those five weeks. The picture I have first up is an overview of the majority of archaeology open in Area B. Everything on the far side of the baulk running left to right across the picture has been excavated and will be backfilled in the upcoming weeks. The section most everyone is working in is nearest the bottom edge of the picture where a number of ditches seem to be converging. The big question at the moment is whether the ditches are all man made or is at least one a natural gully that was used by the populace to help drain away water and waste? I'll be interested to read about the conclusion in the eventual report.
This week glass and ceramic gaming counters were prevalent in one section of the new area opened which quickly got the nickname "Las Vegas of Vindolanda". Three more shoe soles and a piece of tent with cord was found in the largest of the ditches under excavation this week. Two of the shoe soles still had some hobnails attached. One of those was small, sized for a child maybe 8-9 years old. I haven't found much as I have been helping to finish out areas so they could be recorded and closed out for excavation. I was able to get my hands dirty using the total station to record the good bits onto an auto CAD plan. Archaeology isn't all just digging fun!
Next week Katie will be here and we will be sharing a section excavating one of the ditches 9far left and lower left of piucture). I found a bit of a samian bowl in the ditch fill which had a piece of the stamp which was was exciting as I have not found a pottery stamp yet. Pottery stamps can be just as important as coins for dating evidence for the levels of archaeology we dig through. Hopefully more good stuff will show up next week.