Announcements – Oldbury Camp

Day 13 – Measuring Up

Maiya Pina-Dacier — Sun, 02 Jul 2017 14:13:49 +0000

Trench 16 is having its measurements taken. Ken and Mima are producing the Plan Drawing: a birds-eye-view of the trench.

Meanwhile, Barney and Dave are producing the Section Drawing: a face-on drawing of the layers we’ve dug gown through.

And at the bottom of the rampart, Mary is double-boarding it like a boss.

Day 13 – Chris Finds Pottery

Maiya Pina-Dacier — Sun, 02 Jul 2017 11:30:19 +0000

Chris has found a piece of pottery at the bottom of Barry’s ditch – it might not look like much , but it’s EXACTLY the kind of thing we’ve been hoping to find.

We’ve uploaded onto Digital Dig Team as Small Find 33. We can’t wait to get it examined and find out how old it is, because it could just be the clue that tells us how old our hillfort is.

Day 13 – Barry’s Found The Bottom Of The Ditch!

Maiya Pina-Dacier — Sun, 02 Jul 2017 10:30:43 +0000

Barry has found the bottom of the ditch between the inner and outer rampart. This is where things get interesting, because it’s where we’re hoping to find the crucial evidence that can tell us how old the hillfort is.

Day 13 – Finds Room

Maiya Pina-Dacier — Sun, 02 Jul 2017 10:00:14 +0000

Johanna is all set up in the Finds Room and ready to start processing the bulk finds (the finds that would be impractical to record individually because there are so many of them).

Time for the weigh-in… it’s finds processing day #countingsherds #TheToot @TheDigVenturers pic.twitter.com/DRABjyCRoa

— manda forster (@manda_forster) July 2, 2017

Day 13 – It’s our last day

Maiya Pina-Dacier — Sun, 02 Jul 2017 09:30:25 +0000

It’s our last dig day at The Toot and things are strangely serene on site. There’s a few things left to do, including finding the bottom of the hillfort ditch, measuring up the all the trenches and making sure all the finds are cleaned, dried and sorted before we pack them up and head home.

Hello from #Gloucestershire! It’s our last dig day at #TheToot – our favourite West Country hillfort @DrJaninaRamirez 🤗 pic.twitter.com/OnL5ppwb5e

— DigVentures (@TheDigVenturers) July 2, 2017

Day 12 – End of day larks

Maiya Pina-Dacier — Sat, 01 Jul 2017 16:30:41 +0000

Time for an end of day trench boogie from Mima and Lizzie – both of whom were trying archaeology for the very first time!

Day 12 – Maiya in a trench

Maiya Pina-Dacier — Sat, 01 Jul 2017 15:30:41 +0000

It’s nearly the end of Day 12 – our penultimate day of digging. Excavation is oh so nearly complete. But we still need to get to the bottom of Trench 15 and Maiya’s leapt in to lend a hand.

⛏️ @muckymaiya living up to her name pic.twitter.com/vlqazJie5M

— Chris Casswell (@CasswellArch) July 1, 2017

Day 12 – Trench 16 in 3D

Maiya Pina-Dacier — Sat, 01 Jul 2017 12:54:49 +0000

Trench 16 is now ready for you to explore in 3D! Take a look inside and you can see exactly how the hillfort’s ramparts were built, and where we took all the soil samples for OSL analysis from. Make sure you look out for the layer of buried turf (grey), the rampart’s hard red clay capping, and its soft, sandy inner core.

Day 12 – Two Mary’s

Maiya Pina-Dacier — Sat, 01 Jul 2017 12:23:36 +0000

Hail the two Marys! Mary and Mary worshipping at the altar of archaeology… if they pray hard enough, they might just find some Iron Age pottery in among the sods and clods!