Tuesday 8th October

Eight of us arrived on site just in time for the Arncliffe micro-climate to set in with its usual damp welcome. Nothing deters a hopeful archaeologist, however, and we all set to work eagerly anticipating exciting finds. 

Eager anticipation spurs them on (c) photo by Pauline Dodsworth

New girl Maggie was happy to work outside the shelter of the tent and so was immediately accepted by the old hands. 

The back-breaking task of planning  (c) photo by Pauline Dodsworth 

Vera and Ann opted to carry out the detailed planning of the main trench through the wall, in preparation for tomorrow’s removal of the all the stones which had previously been carefully cleaned and photographed.

A rather large molehill.....  (c) photo by Lynne Primmer 

Meanwhile, the spoil heap grew larger and larger... Peter and Alan continued clearing the lower reaches of the trench on the north side of the wall whilst  Pauline and Ruth worked at the gravel layer on the outer trench.  Their trench was becoming deeper and deeper and we feared that one of them would eventually disappear headfirst into it. (An interesting find for archaeologists of the future.)

Lynne’s trench was extended by a square meter to one side. She and Maggie soon overcame the logistics of marking out a square meter and quickly worked down to the level of the adjacent trenches: is there a feature there??

Digging continues despite the changeable weather (c) photo by Lynne Primmer 

By late morning the sun had reappeared and re-confirmed why we do archaeology in the beautiful Dales landscape.

Roger again tolerated with his usual good humour the numerous questions about stones which looked like artefacts or bone, the point of (not) keeping bits of charcoal and so on. But we carry on regardless. Who knows what conclusions will be drawn from this when the dig eventually comes to an end?

A moment of reflection - but no answers yet  (c) photo by Lynne Primmer 

 “The investigation is in its early days and we are currently exploring various lines of enquiry.” (RM c.2013, 2012, 2011 etc., etc....)

Anon.