October 11, 2018
by Gaile Juknevicius
This week was a lot of the same old, same old. I moved into Cutting 4, our test trench, to find the returning wall of the eastern building. The team consisted of Danni, David, and myself. When I joined them, they had already cut down through the sod and uncovered a layer of rubble but had yet to find anything.
Opening a new cutting consists of lots of recording, including digital, written, and drawn. Because archaeology is a destructive process, it is important for others to know exactly what you uncovered. Therefore, as we trowelled Cutting 4 this week, we took written notes on all the different layers of soil and drew plans of what the cutting looked like during different stages. We also took levels using the dumpy level in order to compare the rubble layer that we exposed to the rubble layer in Cutting 3 to see if they were at the same level. We eventually exposed what we thought was a robber’s trench from the quarry of stone in the previous centuries.
Despite the slow week, Danni found some interesting red clay pottery sherds. We will have to wait until next week for any answer as to what kind it is. Typically, on a site like this you can find Saintonge, a fine French pottery used for wine and oils, Leinster Cooking Ware, a coarse local ware; and English wares such as Ham Green A and B.
During the weekend, there were a few local festivals, including the Kilmore Seafood Festival, which we ended up going to on Saturday. The small town was filled with locals and visitors alike. The chipper was splitting at its seams because who doesn’t want some fish and chips with a refreshing glass of cider on a hot summer evening? While it’s wonderful being able to dig every day and be in my element, it’s also important to experience local culture and have a bit of fun!
