First thoughts

The topsoil is now virtually complete- there was only a couple more metres to go when I left site at lunchtime. Obviously, there is still a lot of cleaning to be done, but its clear that there are a number of significant features emerging. The thing that immediately struck me was the apparent lack of layers of cobbles/stones that characterised the interior of the fort in Trench A. It does seem that we are coming down straight onto late Roman features, with less evidence for sub-/post-Roman activity. However, this may all change once we've given it a good clean. More generally, the line of Dere Street is clearly visible and a number of stretches of stone wall-lines are already apparent (as was expected). One of the first jobs for the students next week will be to give this area a thorough clean to let us begin to define the area in more detail.