Presentation

 

DDCAG was formed to work in and for local communities. As a result we always take the opportunity to promote our work to as many people as possible, so Chris was given the task of presenting the latest excavation news to the people of Langton Matravers alongside Dr Mary Sparks, who has done a great deal of research into the history of the settlements on the Isle of Purbeck. 50+ people turned out. 

Dig Day #6

Last year we cut a couple of slots through the large north-south ditch, which may well be ditches, as it looked like one or two re-cuts had taken place, but due to adverse weather conditions it was hard to be definitive about it. This year it is plain that the re-cuts are real. The material in this section of ditch, as seen here, is very dark and the sharp line is seen cutting through the yellow clay. We have had some nice pottery from this fill, so we will be able to date this cut, which looks to be the latest event. 

This ditch is the boundary between house plots, so is very important in understanding this settlement. Our next step is to find any evidence of the houses themselves, so that we can then see how big they were.  

Day #5

 

The large pit in the corner of our trench has finally hit bottom. Not a lot has come out of this feature in the way of finds, but we continue in hope. 

The big boundary ditches that run N-S are producing extra pottery dating, so that is positive. The section will hopefully prove if we have one or two ditches running parallel and of different dates. 

It was hot today, which proves the old saying that 'life's a ditch and then we fry'!

We then visited the museum at Langton Matravers to see where we could have a small exhibition set up this year. 

Geo Recce: Day #4

The geophysics team visited to recce the next survey area. This is also an opportunity to train any members who wish to learn about this invaluable technique in pinpointing archaeological features.

Meanwhile, our digging team continues to excavate and record the ditches and pits. The pottery evidence from last years dig indicate that the ditches are 12th-14th century and the small pits are 12th century. This years dig will underline these dates and we hope that we can find more of the Roman features. 

Pot crazy! Dig Day #3

 

Madeleine found her first ever ancient artefact - a small but perfect piece of medieval pottery. One never forgets breaking ones artefacts cherry. 

Polissoir ooh-la-la

 

Hayley Roberts of Past Participate gave us a talk on the Valley of the Stones, including the Polissoir (sharpening stone). This is a large sarsen boulder where people during the Neolithic polished stone tools to a high sheen. These gave the tools more strength but also more value, in that they were objects of status that could be used for gift giving or trade. Sarsen stone is not natural to the area, having been deposited by glacial action. There are Bronze Age round houses, medieval D-shaped animal enclosures and a brickworks with kilns from about 200 years ago. PP are continuing to survey and research the deep past of this valley and surrounding landscape.   

Dig Day #2

 

Today we started to dig the features. In the foreground Hugh and Holly began to excavate what looks like a large pit. We have quartered this feature so that we have four good sections to draw later and to work back from the middle to the natural so that we have the exact shape of the pit. Jon and Annie are working on two features in the in background. Annie's looks like a nice small pit and Jon's is still indeterminate. 

Meanwhile, Chris is cutting a slot through the two large ditches that showed up last year in grid C2 and now located in this trench, grid A3.  Hard going, and we know that they are deep. 

Scott of the Antarctic wrote "My God, this is an awful place" and it may look very similar in this photo! Luckily, we work in a beautiful landscape and although it was very windy and cold (with sleet) we kept calm and carried on. 

What will Dig Day #3 bring?