We arrived on site today just in time to see the last of the mist clearing from the common. The previous night’s rain had soften the soils slightly and the cows had evidently taken a particular interest in trench 6 (many thanks to Ian for being on cow pat clearance duties). We were joined for the first time by Joe today, who is with us for a couple of days and was posted to trench 6 along with Keith and Ian.

Richard and Hillary finished excavating trench 9 and after a final clean up made light work of the photogrammetry before beginning the section drawing. This one should be ready for backfilling tomorrow.

Cecilia returned today and stepped in to trench 5 to give Bob some help. Yesterday’s excavations at the round house had exposed what appeared to be a soil and rubble core at the heart of the wall and today’s efforts demonstrated that the wall footing had been built directly on to the limestone pavement. Following its disuse the outer face of the wall appears to have collapsed downslope, leaving a scattering of rubble and soil over the limestone pavement. The decision was made to widen the trench slightly to expose more of the wall in plan.

After rescuing it from the cows Ian, Joe and Keith, ably assisted by Katie, pressed on with the excavation of trench 6, exposing what is probably our most substantial bank yet in the process. No more finds sadly to follow up our piece of chert, but environmental samples may yet provide us with some valuable dating material.

Today was the last day for Bob, Ian and Hillary, but many thanks for all their help and hope to see them again next year.

In other news special mention should be given to the heroic actions of Andy in chasing the cows away from our site tent after lunch!