29th
2009 THE STORY SO FAR
CULVER ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT BLOG. 2009 Sorry for the delay in writing this blog up, it has been a hectic couple of weeks, although moreover a very productive couple of weeks. We started machining on Friday 7th August around lunchtime, prior to that the morning was spent with Sarah Foster David Millum, and oneself armed with 100-metre tapes and ranging poles. We attempted to relocate our 2008 geophysical grid, I might add in a field of dead sweetcorn plants (they had already be harvested), yet they still stood taller than we did. Our aim for the excavations in Court House Field was to locate the S-bend in the Roman road, and attempt to discover why and what they had diverted around. The aim of the excavations in Pond Field was to reopen part of the 2007 excavations to full excavate the features that disappeared under the bulks and the remaining Bronze Age cremations that where left in situ. Our third site was to be ‘The Crink’, which is the route of the Greensand Way, unfortunately due to the wet weather in July, the combining of the oats has been delayed and the crop is still in the field (When they finally get the crop out, I might still put an evaluation trench up there just to get an idea of what is to come). The machining in Court House field went very well; we went straight down on to the road surface. We opened up an area approximately 50 metres X 30 metres. The machining took a day and half to open up Court House field. During that time, David and Sarah had gone over to Pond Filed and sprayed out the area to be stripped back. This area was opened up on the Monday tenth of August Our students and volunteers started to clean back the road surface, this was very hard work and over the following week and half, they moved tonnes of earth off the road. Furthermore, the results were amazing. The S-bend, of the road, has been located, and in a good state of preservation. We also have had several finds, three iron objects (awaiting x-ray) and a Roman coin in need of conservation and identification, although it is probably a sestertius. In Pond Field, the state of preservation of the road is poor to say the least; this appears to be much closer the surface than it is in Court House Field. The strip back was finished in one day. On Tuesday, Clive Meaton turned up to help with the supervision and to do some planning. We dropped our students and volunteers into Court House field, with to start cleaning the road back to expose the width and some of the metalling surviving at the edges of the road. We left Sarah supervising the road, David, Clive and I went over to Pond field and we climbed up to the top of the spoil heaps. The two flanking ditches of the road showed up very clearly, we spray-painted the rough edges in (on clay sites they=2 0dry very quickly and become a uniform light greyish/brown and virtually impossible to see unless they have been left open to weather for some considerable time). We also sprayed up any possible features that were showing. For the next few days, we left Pond Field to weather out, David and Clive set out the grid so Clive could start his Pre Ex plan. The rest of the team headed over to Court House Field to carry on cleaning the road. In addition, this year for the first time, we had the West Kent Metal Detecting Club attend site, they marked possible finds on the site and lifted topsoil finds in the surrounding area. This proved to be a very successful venture; we have at last count 14 coins, 11 being Roman. Unfortunately, most are in a poor state and will need some conservation work, but most will be identifiable. Any other metal finds where also recovered including lead weights, a c1700’s pistol shot, buckles, and hobnails. At the start of week two we where still cleaning back the road and had started also cleaning back the Pond Field site. The more we uncover and clean up the road, the more impressive it looks. The students and volunteers finally cleaned back the 40 metres of road we had exposed. Furthermore, from the top of the spoil heap, the road in its full glory can be seen, the S-bend, probably the first time it had seen the light of day for nearly seventeen hundred years (I must say a very well done to all those whose spent back breaking days cleaning, the results is well worth it). In Pond Field we started re-excavating four pits that where only half sectioned in 2007, These will be excavated fully now, one of the most interesting pit is the possible puddling pit in the N-W side of the trench, this has a small gulley running from it into the roadside ditch. We have had some complete pot bases out of it; the bottom ¾ of the pit is full of gaunt clay. I believe it to be part of a possible pottery or tile manufacture process. On the North-East side of the trench, we have a large burnt area, which covers pits and possible postholes; this was also present in the 2007 excavations. It is a finds rich layer, containing Ceramic Building Material (CBM, which is roof tile, floor tiles, box flue tiles etc), pottery and areas of burnt clay. Our biggest enemy at present is the weather (and let us set the record straight I am not complaining about the hot weather). The site is very dry indeed which makes cleaning back and actually seeing features very hard work. Although with gratitude to the farmer Mark Stroude, he lent us 500-gallon water bowser and a water pump so we could fill the tanks and spray the site. We then needed to down grade the watering (the water pump was putting gallons per minute on it), so a friend of mine Robin Day came=2 0to the rescue with a generator and the fittings to convert the pipe down to half-inch garden hose. Although the tyre exploded, so we are waiting for a new tyre so we can continue watering the site. Furthermore, another of our volunteers John, kindly lent us a swimming pool water pump which give us more pressure for spraying the site (thanks John) Like Court House Field, Pond Field required cleaning so the features can be seen. Our small army of students and volunteers has expertly done this. In addition, yesterday our possible prehistoric features started appearing. Returning briefly to Court House Field Sarah and I decided that we should expose more along the edge of our road, to see if the road side ditches are visible lower down into the subsoil. Therefore, with kind permission from Mark Stroude, I took the farms JCB to the trench. All other personnel went to continue in Pond Field, with the exception of Sarah, who acted as banks man for me. We took off about 150-200mm and came across some more metalling, which at first we thought was plough drag or where they had been displaced when the road was in use. So we continued eastward, and there was a still trace of road surface, although we had to go another 100-150mm down. We also found a c1840’s field drain (which I need to repair, say no more!). This is possibly another road creating a cross roads (we need to check the western side of the road, before we can confirm this). Furthermore, we believe we have found the eastern ditch as well; today everyone is in the Court House Trench, cleaning back getting ready to put some slots through the ditch and cleaning our possible crossroads. Furthermore if you’re on Facebook check out photos etc on our group page http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Culver-Project-Archaeology/118813744231?ref=ts
