Binchester 2015: Day Seven

Slightly low on numbers today, as all our BSc students were back in the Department doing a 'masterclass' in environmental archaeology. Not thwarted, we still made great progress on site today.
In Trench 1 all the excitement was at in the north-east corner of the trench. This has always been a less than exciting part of the site- with very little happening between our small bread oven in the ramparts and the drainage gully that runs west-east across the site. We've had a small group of students bravely removing layers of compacted surface here over the last week. Today, they suddenly encountered what appears to be either walling or potentially the extension of a drainage gulley running north-south towards the rampart. There is also a possible curved stone feature- perhaps another bread oven. Whatever it is, it is clearly earlier than our existing bread oven in this area. There is still a need for clarification and clearing here before we know exactly what we've found, but its a reminder that the site can still surprise. In the main barrack block, we are still clearing down to the earlier surface and preparing to plan it. With the increasing number of post-holes and possible linear features we certainly seem to be looking at traces of the earliest phase of barrack so far. One nice find from this area was a pair of worked stone catapult (onager) balls.

In Trench 2, inside the bath-house, the main changing room area is almost ready for photographing. We are planning to remove some of the side walling of the culverts to give us a sondage into possible earlier layers. In the corridor, we are also preparing to carry out a little careful probing into possible earlier stratigraphy including exploring an odd patch of opus signinum. In the southern end of the corridor, Sue and Karen gave the blocked doorway a good clean up- it is now clear that the blocking was done quite crudely and was not done in a careful clear manner.

To the south of the bath-house, the surfaces continue to go down- having commented yesterday how little jet we'd seen so far this season, the team promptly found two jet beads in this area today. In the roadway to the west of the bath, we've continued stripping the later layers back to a compacted cobble surface which survives across most of this area. However, along the northern edge there has always been a browner strip of deposit (which today produced one of the very few sheep/goat skulls we have found). Right at the very end of the day, this area unexpectedly revealed a short length of north-south wall that runs under the cobble road surface. Rather unexpected! My current (and quite possible entirely incorrect hypotheses) is that this is part of a structure built alongside the bath and used as an early changing area for people using the open exercise yard. It is possible that when the baths were reshaped and the new internal changing area constructed that this exterior changing room was demolished. The wall certainly seems to be placed under a road surface containing lots of construction debris which I've suggested is related to this refashioning of the bath-house. However, knowing Binchester, this will turn out to be something entirely different!

Binchester 2015: Day Six

Today was the first day of our second week on site and the first time we've had any real rain, although we cracked on through and it soon cleared up. Rather than talking about what has happening on site in detail today I want to reflect a little on the range of finds we've been coming up with so far. 

The most noticeable difference between this season and previous years is the changing profile of our pottery assemblages. In earlier seasons the assemblage has been typically late Roman - dominated by the rather unimpressive Huntcliffe/Calcite Gritted wares typical of the final century of Roman rule in the North of Britain. There have been other wares of course, particularly Black Burnished ware and other grey wares and some mortaria. It is noticeable though that the overwhelming impression of our finds trays has been somewhat monochrome. However, now we are more solidly into 3rd and even 2nd century layers, the ceramic profile is changing. This is most visible in the increasing quantity of red shiny terra sigillata (aka Samian). This is the classic Roman high-quality dining ware. Previously, its appearance had been rare and the vessels tended to be relatively simple. But we are now seeing more and more of it; often highly decorated. We have also been finding increasing quantities of amphora.

The range of finds is still wide- plenty of glass, coins, ceramics, and animal bone. It may just be a random occurrence, but this year we do seem to be finding an awful lot of worked bone, particularly bone pins. In one day last week we had 7-8 bone pins from Trench 2, and not all from the same area. These were presumably use for a variety of functions including clothes fastenings and hairpins. Other patterns I've noticed is the decline in the number of jet objects - with the exception of the very fine jet ring, this year there has been virtually nothing made from jet, lignite or shale - again, this may have chronological implications. This year, though we did have our first decent amber item- a beautiful finger ring from the vicus.

The differences in finds are not just reflected in nice objects, but also in the presence of building debris and constructional material. This is particularly clear in Trench 2, where we seem to have hit a layer across the site that appears to be associated with a major period of reconstruction or even demolition in the bath-house. We've had large quantities of window glass, sometimes quite large fragments, from the roadway in front of the bath-house. Along the side road we've had our first significant quantities of CBM. It appears that this track was consolidated or repaired with dumps of demolition hardcore and rubble from the bath. This has also included fragments of painted plaster (which seems to be associated with the earlier phase of activity in the bath-house as opposed to the plain cream plaster of the later phase), and also some large lumps of tufa, which was commonly used in Roman bath-house construction, particularly for vaults.

Binchester 2015: Day Five

A lovely day on site with both trenches really humming - the students have really got into the rhythm of the excavation now which is very pleasing. In Trench 1, we are slightly out of stratigraphic order, as there is a need to keep some of the barrack wall in situ in case of future display. This means that the floor surfaces we are currently looking at are underlying much of the standing walling. We can see on the basis of the termination points of the gullies, drains and slots that the floor surface we are exploring really relates to the earlier phase of the structure before the later east wall was put in place. As noted yesterday, we are also excavating some features which may even relate to  a  putative timber barrack. On the northern side of the trench, the team who had been slogging through the cobble layers to the east of the bread oven were repaid their hard work, when they uncovered a new wall, parallel and set back from the drainage gully. This also materialised further east, near the large waterhole. It is not clear yet whether this construction is part of an earlier drainage gully or actually structural. If it is structural, what on earth is it? There is not much room for a substantial structure between it and the curtain wall. Nearby, the other teams have continued the thankless task of taking down the external layers between the latrine and the corner tower,

Meanwhile, in Trench 2, the plot thickens in the bath-house. What I thought was going to be a beautiful opus signinum floor to the plunge bath turns out to have had a dump of concrete or similar on top of it - presumably placed as part of the levelling up layer when the later flagstone floor was added. The dump is pretty solid so we're not going to hack it out. In the same area, we've found the point where one of the culverts meets the plunge-bath. We really must start thinking in more detail about the whole issue of water supply to the fortThe removal of the levelling-up layer has also produced a number of nice bone pints- in total I think we had between 7 and 10 bone pins found today, in this area and elsewhere. . In the corridor, the slow task of removing the final area of dump deposit continues in haste. It is showing that the blocking of the southern door of the corridor is far from elegant, with big random rubble blocks dumped with a rough application of mortar. One interesting discovery in this area has been some nice lumps of tufa -  a material used in other Roman bath-houses, both in Britain and elsewhere in the Empire.

In the area between the bath-house and the street we are continuing to take the layers down- it was remarkable how much window glass was found today. Morris found a distinct concentration in one area. It is possible this may have been taken from the windows of the bath-house- perhaps removed to recycle lead from the frames?

Finally, in the area to the west of the bath-house, the road surface is continuing to be removed. The crude surface appears to contain quite a lot of rubble and demolition material, including the biggest concentration of brick and tile we've found so far. Amongst this miscellaneous hardcore we have also found fragments of painted wall plaster. My current hypothesis is that this might indicate that much of this material relates to the period when the bath-house underwent its major replanning.

Slightly image low light blog today as I left my camera on site- but thanks to Alice Naylor for today's photograph - a fragment of a nice glass bracelet she found at the southern end of the barrack.

Binchester 2015: Day 4

Another good day - everything ticking along nicely. In Trench 1, there has been lots of work in the barrack interior. In the officer's compartment more of the stone drain was revealed. In much of the building there is a gingery/brown layer appearing, seemingly associated with stone lined post-holes and possible beam slots (one in the southern end of the building appears to contain lots of charcoal). Charcoal spreads are also found mixed up with the ginger/brown surface. I wonder whether we are seeing hints of an earlier, wooden phase of barrack structure - possibly burnt? In the strip of ground between the barrack and the western trench edge, we've defined a little more of the small stone structure and revealed a nicely worked stone socket for a timber upright. Across the northern strip of the trench, the team have moved masses of material, particularly in the north-west corner and around the latrine area.

In Trench 2, some interesting developments in the bath-house. Having removed some floor slabs and found a rubble spread beneath it, this has itself been removed to uncover the nicely preserved opus signinum base of the plunge bath. We need to get the rest of this area cleared and perhaps try and suss out the slightly confusing underfloor culverts.

Outside the bath-house, there has been lots of muck shifted in the area between the main building and the strip buildings. This has included exposing more of the well-built compound wall- this has emphasised how late the roughly built stone building that abuts it (or rather partially overlies the wall top) must be, Finally, in front of the bath, more of the edge of Dere Street has been defined and the street surface is slowly but surely going down.

More nice finds- glass bead covered with fragments of gold leaf, and a simple but elegant needle stand out in particular.

Binchester 2015: Day Three

We're really hitting our stride now - the student and the volunteers have all got their jobs and are storming ahead. In Trench 1, great progress, with lots of soil being moved. In the corner tower, we seem to have hit a floor surface at the same level as the foundation slabs, which is now revealed and recording is started. Outside the building, there is more progress bringing the levels down - this has revealed more of the exterior of the latrine, including what might be a blocked up doorway, although this is still not certain. Just to the south, Alice and Krishna have done good work dismantling the later phase of the gully and revealing an earlier phase - they have also started recording this properly. In the barrack, there has also been significant movement. This is most apparent within officer's compartment, where more of the nicely worked stone drain has been identified (will get a decent photo tomorrow) as well as parts of other associated drainage gullies, which have been partly dismantled. There are also hints of other features appearing including possible timber slots and stone lined post-holes.

In Trench 2, our small area of work to the north of the eastern strip building has been useful. Over the last couple of days we revealed a west-east wall base of very large stones, similar in build to the strip building and the late rectangular structure in the bath-house compound. We have been trying to ascertain how this new wall related to the adjacent strip building. The students have shown that is not a back wall to the building, but possibly related to another structure, most of which lies beyond the northern edge of the trench. Between this area and the bath-house, several groups of students and volunteers have made short work of getting stuck into the removal of the side road surface and the associated drainage gully features and have been bringing up some nice big lumps of bone. Whilst in the bath itself, the work on the main changing room has reached a stage where recording is now necessary. In the next door corridor, we are starting to remove the final section of fill, now that it has been fully sampled for mag sus and other environmental data. Recording has also started on the beautifully preserved cistern as well. Our final work area is the section between the bath and the Dere Street. This has revealed a nice kerbed edge to the road; the aim is to ultimately expose as much of the front of the bath-house as possible.

Plenty of nice finds- lots of pot, a strange lump of iron sheathed in copper, another ring (and the news that the 'copper' ring found yesterday was actually silver!).

Binchester 2015: Day 2

Despite the horrendous weather overnight, it was a fine day on site today, as we were joined by our volunteer excavators. Many of them have been with us since we first started at Binchester in 2009. In total we had nearly 90 people on site today, which means that work went ahead full steam.

In Trench 1, we continued with yesterday's plans- still trying to link all the features along the northern edge of the trench. We also started removing the interior of the corner tower- this has yet to produce any floor levels, although we live in hope. In the barrack, we've continued with the removal and cleaning of surfaces. We've also already begun the process of breaking the students into the joys of planning, as we started the planning of several parts of the later phase of the roadside gulley to the east and north of the trench, so we can start dismantling it.

In Trench 2, our poking around in the floor of the bath-house changing room has inevitably made things more complicated. The footings of the side wall of the plunge bath that was removed are now clearly visible, and the arrangement of the opus signinum is more complex than we expected, indicating some possible sub-divisions? We've also got a nice patch of concrete? with a possible construction cut for the bath side wall. There are also other undefined patches and areas of discolouration which require more fiddling with to clarify. To the west of the bath-house we have two teams clearing the layers associated with a possible path/road that runs north-south between the bath and the nicely built wall that seperates it from the strip buildings. We have a couple of roadside gullies and also removed some possible collapse tumble along the external edge of the bath wall.

To the south of the bath, we've been clearing the areas beneath where the two late buildings had previously stood, and will try and bring this area down to as low a level as possible over the forthcoming weeks. We also continued the removal of some of the road surfaces in the adjacent area.

More nice finds, several beads (from both trenches), more coins, a nice copper ring and pleasingly what appears to be a flattened gold ring, which will need to be reported as treasure.

Binchester 2015: Day One

 Back on site today for our final season. We started with seventy of our students - our volunteers join us tomorrow. The first part of the first day is always chaotic - we have to site inductions, sort out the fencing, introduce the workers to their tools and do some general site housekeeping. However, by mid-morning, we were working solidly.

In Trench 1, the focus has been on two key areas. First, we are looking at the areas running along the northern edge of the trench, including the exterior of the corner  tower and the latrine. Currently, these have not been keyed in with each other, so we are trying to come down to a common level across this area so we can tie our stratigraphy in more clearly. We've also attempted to clear up the remaining layers of soil that lay to the south of our northern rampart. The new team did great work, moving lots of soil, and exposing more surfaces. Meanwhile, we are also trying to clean up the interior floor levels of the barrack. These were left at varying heights at the end of last season. Today, we had small groups in each compartment exposing the cobble surfaces consistently across the building.

In Trench 2, we only had limited work going on inside the bath-house. Given the fact that we only have seven more weeks to go, we've decided that we are more or less happy with the state the structure has reached and are going to limit are work on its interior. The exception today was the removal of a row of the floor slabs along the east side of the main room, just to give us a quick view of the underlying deposits. This has not revealed much beyond exposing in a bit more detail the nitty gritty of the plunge-bath construction. Just at the end of the day we also started a little small-scale furtling just to better understand the constructional sequence of the external steps up to the porch. In the corridor, we had a small group of second years doing a little bit of environmental work- cleaning up and drawing a section and doing sampling for magnetic susceptibility which will help us characterise the nature of the interior fill deposits of the bath-house.

Most activity is focusing on the areas to the south and west of the bath-house, where we want to focus on better understanding the growth of the street layers and external deposits that encase the bath building. These so far have revealed new surfaces, as well as revealing more of the boundary wall of the bath compound.

Plenty of nice finds- highlight include a nice Rhineland lava millstone, a beautiful jet ring and a nice copper alloy spoon, as well as all the usual pot and bone.