The excavation is now well underway! Inspired by their visit to Devizes Museum yesterday, the soldiers were eager to get stuck in. The team was given an induction and site tour by Project Manager Phil Andrews, Wessex Archaeology, before diving into the trenches to learn some excavation skills.
The Riflemen are making good progress clearing the topsoil and finds so far include bones, bullets and several tin cans. The highlight of the day came when Sam Nord, an MA student, uncovered a possible Anglo-Saxon brooch.
Sam described how she found the brooch:
In the process of cleaning an area highlighted by our metal detector in Trench 2, I noticed an artefact just one or two centimetres below the surface cleared by the digger the day before. Once I had carefully excavated the artefact I could see that it looked like a brooch, about 3cm in diameter. Around the edge is a barely visible notched pattern and on the surface are small concentric circles. The corrosion on the brooch indicates a copper alloy face, with an iron clasp on the back.
