Midway through the season

The second week of Berkeley is drawing to a close and we have accomplished a lot in a short period of time!

Our sections are nice and clean and thanks to all the hard work of our undergrads they are ready for photography. Site Supervisor Emily and her crew were hard at work this morning taking photos of all of the ditches so we can finish the recording of these features. Our students are continuing to empty the slot that was discovered at the back of the trench last week and our new pit is being cleaned ready for recording.

In more exciting news, we have made a couple of discoveries! In our Tudor tavern corner of the trench we have discovered a lead powder cap and a musket ball. A powder cap is a nifty device that would have served two purposes. Firstly, it would have capped a vessel containing gunpowder and secondly it would have been a way of measuring the perfect amount of gunpowder required for one shot.

Left: musket ball, Right: lead gunpowder cap

One of our Site Supervisor, Emily, has a theory about which period these items belong. The layer above where these artefacts were found was a tavern that had been destroyed during the civil war. The rubble was spread out around and pieces of debris fell in between the cobbles in the layer underneath, which is cobbled. Our finds were discovered sandwiched between these two layers, which Emily thinks means that these artefacts were highly likely to have derived from the civil war.


The location of our amazing finds

Drawings of the features of the trench have continued today, and our more artistically inclined students have been tasked with this job. Check out this photo that amazing Anna drew today!

Anna's drawing

In other news, we had a visit from departmental family and friends. Teachers of archaeology and anthropology alike have come to visit the post-ex and excavation sites. 


 Mhairi Gibson and her family

We've had an amazing two weeks so far, check back next week for more updates!

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