Monday 7 October

A wet start to the day - and it wasn't supposed to rain! They say Arncliffe has its own micro-climate and it would appear to be true.

However, as Jane said on a previous occasion - "were we deterred?"  No of course not - we simply moved the tent along and kept on digging! 

And when it was coffee time, we just sat in our deck chairs in the pouring rain – strange people these folk who dabble in archaeology!!

Coffee in the rain (c) photo by Ruth Spencer 

However under the tent, Alison and Ruth finished cleaning the south side of the wall trench, while Vena and Peter continued to clean the north end. Lynne, Ann, Pauline and Mark continued to work in the other two trenches, while Roger assisted, supervised or offered advice as needed. Oh yes, and he did plot in some of the finds from Saturday in between.

Digging in the rain (c) photo by Ruth Spencer 

We were delighted to welcome Mark, who has never dug before, but proved to be very handy with the mattock later in the day!

At lunch-time Roger awarded the prize for the best trowelled trench to Peter and Vena and said that their trench was an example to us all.

The perfect trench (c) photo by Ruth Spencer 

When all the trenches were cleaned to Roger's satisfaction, he photographed them from his usual position on top of the ladder.

The rain had stopped at lunch-time and the sun made intermittent appearances throughout the afternoon. This probably encouraged the appearance of three visitors from the village during the afternoon, who expressed interest in what we were doing. 

Diggers in the sunshine (c) photo by Ruth Spencer

There were no finds of any significance today, more bits of bone and a few pieces of pot, but there is always tomorrow..........

Ruth Spencer