Slow and steady wins the race!

Day four in to the Berkeley dig, and we’re getting into the good stuff! As we begin to remove the last of the Tudor walls, and the remnants of the Roman road, we’re starting to discover the really bright orange level of the Romans.

Clearing away the Roman road

This is being meticulously drawn and recorded under tutelage, with excavation pits popping up as we get to see the varying colour changes from cleaning. All these will have their levels taken so that we can understand the stratigraphy in relation to other features.

As mentioned in yesterday’s blog, the cut of the gully has now been planned which means that all the documentation of the stabling block has been finished!

The west side of the section has been pushed further back showing more evidence of the medieval buildings in the far corner has appeared. A drainage system stretching further towards the modern road, and a wall running between these buildings and the stables, is also visible.

Happy faces of those who have entered the Roman level

By the stables, mortar has been excavated, which is great evidence for buildings and even more exciting is some copper ore, discovered in one of our centre pits (actual evidence of metal-working). The material in the pit, so far, has been dated between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries.

One of the major features is our amazing bread oven! This will be levelled and recorded before we go deeper in to the earth to find out what’s below.

Clearing up the bread oven

As we dig into the Roman period we can look back at earlier finds including the Severn Valley Ware from Berkeley.

It certainly ties in nicely for what is in store for Berkeley this year.

- Alice Woods.