Well we are under way. The sky was overcast and threatening but the mood was positive as we started the excavations. We opted to start the excavation at the enclosed settlement in Site 3, which has a lot of potential, and elected to put the first of our trenches across the outer wall. We immediately came down onto the stone structure of the wall and we are hopeful to find more about it and perhaps get some dating material. Its still early days but we will update tomorrow on progress here.

_{Aerial view of Trench 1 showing the structure of the wall.}

Our trench 2 was in the interior of the enclosure, and this was intended to discover if there were any significant soil deposits within the area. There was a lot of uncertainty over this matter as the outcropping limestone pavement was prevalent all around.  In the event we quickly came down onto the natural pavement resolving that issue, but we have at least clarified how shallow the natural is in these areas and we are now able to make more informed decisions about the placement of the next trenches.

_{Starting work on Trench 2 and this shows how close the pavement is to the surface.}

Jamie took Cecilia and Carol around the wider site to provide some guidance on site identification. This is particularly pertinent because although the features are clearly significant and form a very coherent pattern, but they are not that obvious and it is necessary to get the eye in to be able to recognise them. The task was helped using an Ipad which had a GPS located to show where we were on a map of the site. We will continue with this process in future days as it proved very useful.

We took the opportunity to survey the settlement site using a drone, which was successful, although surveying in the survey control points was not quite as successful. Our survey grade GPS requires mobile phone signal to get corrections and we were struggling to get these because of the limited phone signal in the area, so we will be bringing another GPS in tomorrow.

_{Landing the drone.}

Tomorrow is another day and the prospects are for better weather. So watch this space