All of us at TAG would like to warmly thank everyone who participated in our test-pitting ‘taster-event’ at Windmill House on the 4th and 5th May.
Despite the weather not being the best, everyone worked very hard, did a great job, and were fantastic company. We are very pleased with how it went and hope our lovely volunteers enjoyed themselves, learnt new skills, and have been left eager for more archaeology.
We excavated 12 test-pits, one of which (TP9) remains unfinished. They produced a total of 65 finds, the majority of which are worked lithics, including a nice earlier Bronze Age thumbnail scraper and what is possibly an incomplete earlier Neolithic leaf-shaped arrowhead. An extension to TP9 suggests there may be an archaeological feature here, and we intend to further enlarge the area of excavation so we can dig it in its entirety. Its fill has already produced a hazelnut.
In short, we have found evidence for settlement and landuse, and hope to be back on site soon (possibly in July), to continue with the excavation of TP9. We will, of course, be looking for volunteers and will notify everyone when we have some dates.
Two of the best flints found in close proximity to each other (within 0.5m) on day 1 of the Windmill House test pit excavations. Found in sieved soil from a 1m square pit, the top image shows a beautiful worked thumbnail scraper. The lower image shows an earlier patinated bladelet.
Very well done to all volunteers and especially the expert supervision from 5 professional archaeologists for their hard work.
Photos from the day
Thornborough Archaeology Group 