Although the excavation at Barrow Clump has finished, work on the results continues behind the scenes. Angus Forshaw, Community Archaeologist at Wessex Archaeology, reports on what he has been doing and the next steps of the project:
It has been just over a month since we finished excavations at Barrow Clump for 2012. Many of you are probably wondering what has been happening in this time regarding all the fantastic archaeology that we discovered on site.
Following the excavation, most of us here at Wessex took a short holiday - a much deserved rest as well as time to reacclimatise for a return to the real world. Then it was back to the archaeology, though this time instead of excavating features it has involved going through the mountain of paperwork and drawings produced during the dig, accurately recording all that was uncovered. I have been cross-referencing the various site registers to make sure everything matches up to ensure that during the hive of activity that was the excavation, everything has been recorded correctly.
This has actually been a thoroughly enjoyable aspect of the work for me, as it has put the whole site into perspective. During the excavation it is easy to miss the big picture when you are so focused on your own area of work.
The next stage of work will involve the writing up of our findings in an Interim Report, explaining the archaeology that we have uncovered so far. As well as this, there will be some post-excavation work involving the cleaning of finds and human bone and sieving through grave samples taken during the excavation. This will be open to local volunteers and will hopefully turn up some interesting results.
Find out more about the post-excavation activities and how you can get involved by clicking here.
To return to the main project blog click here.