Despite a bruised sky and threatening clouds we managed to stay relatively dry today. The site, which we had to abandon last night due to the continuing rain, was little more than damp underfoot – ideal for excavation.
Today has been a day of visitors. Our first was a newt which had inexplicably crawled into our tea hut overnight – we think he might have been after the Jaffa Cakes. Later in the morning we were joined by Wessex Archaeology’s geophysicists Paul Baggaley and Ben Urmston. They conducted a survey of the unexcavated section of the settlement enclosure which is to the south of our site. This builds upon a smaller geophysical survey that was conducted last year and will help our understanding of the site as a whole.
At lunchtime we were joined by friend of the dig Margaret Melsom, who bought gifts of cakes (much appreciated!), and Jessica Grimm, Wessex Archaeology’s animal bone specialist. Jessica took our team through the basics of animal bone identification and for a short while our tea hut was transformed with jaw bones all over the place.
To finish the day we returned to site. A further eleven features have been excavated and recording continues on eight more. This is fantastic progress and we learn more every day about the prehistoric inhhabitants of Down Farm.