Today, our students made great progress in all of the trenches. Trenches 7 and 8 were quick to remove the tarp from last year’s excavations, whilst our new trenches continued to remove topsoil, and it is evident that students are becoming more confident using tools and developing their skills!

Trench 3 – Becky

Today our group started out on a new trench with the aim of investigating the outer rampart. It was an exciting prospect since they this trench was not dug last year. We set out to have removed the top soil by the end of the day. We started out by deturfing the trench which despite the steep slope went quickly. With only four people working on the trench we quickly learnt how to good teamwork skills. We learnt it was more productive to cut the squares first before removing the turf. After a good break we began removing the top soil to help our investigation. 

Trench 5 – Junyan

Our goal today is to dig 5-10cm deeper on the trench, and also to further define the structure of the stones near the bedrock. Things went smoothly today and we made good progress on defining the bedrocks. We think the stones beneath the bedrocks were possibly part of some collapsed structure (perhaps a wall). We found one (probably ) sheep bone today. I’ve learnt how to use kraftse, which is pretty handy when it comes to shovelling the ground. I’m definitely became more confident in defining the stones and identifying which are in situ.

Trench 6 – Luke

Our aims today were to continue excavating the top soil and begin defining the rampart feature. Through the use of trowels, mattocks and krafse, we removed the remaining top soil and brought it down to the Callovian layer. The feature was partially defined, cleared and photographed. A nail was also found. The use of tools was polished alongside the correct methodology for excavating round a feature.

Trench 7 – Charlotte B

Today marked day 3 of our day excavation and we started off with excitement by removing the tarp that we had dug down to yesterday that was previously placed the year before. Our aims today, once the tarp was removed were varied with most of the group working to restore the trench to how it looked the year prior. To do this, we used our trowels to remove any roots that had grown onto the rocks through the tarp so that tomorrow we will be able to investigate the walls further and see their extent. Mattocks were also used to add depth to the trench so that it matched the depth from the year previously. On the other end of the trench, we were working to add to the extension, in preparation for tomorrow. By excavating further, we are hoping to shed light on our research questions. Today we have definitely grown more confident in using our trowels and determining the different types of soil through colour and consistency in comparison to dark and loose top soil. 

Trench 8 – Stefven

Our goals were to remove the tarps from Trench 8, check what is underneath, and clean up the area.
We worked to level the area, whilst examining the layout of the rocks, and their relationship to the underlying structures of the archaeology).

Our endeavours were successful; we removed all the tarps from last year’s excavation. Though there is still some levelling needed, our group has done a good job using mattocks to even out the end of the trench.
It was a good day with a commendable amount of work achieved, and we had two artefact finds (an ovular rock that is possibly a stone tool and a round rock that is likely a slingstone).

Throughout the day, our group learnt proper mattocking techniques and improved upon our trowelling and general cleanup skills. It is becoming much easier to see the positioning of the stones we are uncovering, and we have even found some paving stones!

Well done to all our students for a fantastic day of work!

The site is open to the public, so come along to see our progress at Dunsapie! We also have two open days coming up, with guided tours and a chance to see some finds!

Open Days – Saturday 2nd September 2023 – 11am- 2pm

Wednesday 6th September 2023 – 1pm – 3pm

We hope to see you there!