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| Day Three: Thursday 30 August, am Big news right at the end of last night’s programme. Not only did geophysics find what could be a huge ring ditch just outside the incident room, as well as some interesting looking anomalies that could be the edge of a cemetery, but Katie Hirst in Trench Five hit the beautiful, bright green curve of copper alloy in the soil. Could this be part of a metal vessel or, dare we say it, another Byzantine ‘situla’ (bucket)? All the diggers are up early this morning and busy by 8.30am. The complicated Trench One (where the original bucket was found) is under further investigation by the team who will hopefully have a better idea of what’s going on later this morning. Next to it, Trench Three (where the shield boss and spearhead were found yesterday afternoon) continues to prove exciting. After cleaning takes place around the shield boss, the top of a skull is uncovered directly underneath. ‘It looks like we have somebody who was buried with a shield placed over their head and chest,’ says Time Team digger Jenni Butterworth. ‘The other thing that is exciting is the fact that the bone looks very well-preserved. This could be the best-preserved bone from all of the burials we have here. We’re going to extend the trench because it looks like the burial is on an east-west alignment (different from the others) and we want to get a better idea of what is happening with it.’ Trench Six has reached about one metre deep and Phil Harding is happy with his finds of flint scrapers. ‘We also have a nicely preserved prehistoric soil level,’ says Phil. ‘We’ll plan it and record it, and also plot where the trench is in the field. That way if somebody wants to investigate this in the future they can see exactly where we got to.’ Rob Chester is still digging down in Trench Seven. ‘This is quite peculiar,’ says Rob. ‘Yesterday we were trying to sort out if we had a post hole or a grave. Today we’re still not clear what’s going on. We have a nice clear edge to the feature on one side and the rest looks a bit disturbed either by roots or animals. The material that is filling the feature has chalk in it as well, which we don’t have in the other trenches.’ By mid-morning, Trench Eight (which has been excavated to try and locate a trackway) has been closed and the ditch that was uncovered is being recorded. A new Trench Nine is opened over some of the geophysics anomalies found last night that could be burials on the edge of a cemetery, and the prospecting team continue to survey as much of the field as they can. By 11am, more of the skull under the shield boss in Trench Three has been uncovered and Professor Margaret Cox gets a closer look. ‘This could be another female burial,’ she says with a smile. By late morning Trench One is coming together. It looks like Carenza has a burial on the site of the original Byzantine ‘situla’ together with other grave goods. ‘We have the iron bands that would have been part of a wooden bucket coming through,’ she says. ‘These are in two places, so this person could have been buried with a range of items. We also have a large spearhead.’ The volume of grave goods could represent a larger burial, for a high-status person. Hopefully by this afternoon, Carenza and her team will have this one cracked. After a morning of digging, Katie Hirst is still busy in Trench Five. ‘This is very exciting,’ says Katie. So far, the trench looks like it contains the remains of three individuals with some fantastic grave goods.’ Has she found another situla? With skeletons and artefacts coming out of trenches all over the show, we catch up with series producer Tim Taylor for a pre-lunch summary. 'To be honest, I think the archaeologists and me are feeling a bit overwhelmed,’ he enthuses. ‘This really is a fantastic site and we’re getting some beautiful grave goods coming out. The more we find, the closer we are getting to the person who was actually buried with the bucket. |
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 Spearhead and shield boss from Trench Three
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‘To dig a skeleton in rock-hard soil is very difficult, and we’ve just got to let the archaeologists do their thing. We have the remains of about seven individuals now, so it’s getting quite complicated, but we’ve obviously highlighted the fact that most of the graves have amazing grave goods with them. We’re actually going to seed the whole site, when we finish, with rivets and washers of different metals, to protect it from illegal metal detecting. We have quite a responsibility here to protect this area. I’m very happy with how things are going and hope that this afternoon we can pull the whole story together.’ |
 Tim, overwhelmed on Day Three |
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| Day Three: Thursday 30 August, pm After a quick lunch it’s back to work by 1.30pm. ‘I don’t think we can investigate that great looking ring ditch/settlement enclosure that geophysics picked up last night,’ says Tim Taylor. ‘We are limited with time and the fact that the geophysics results could represent any number of things, all of which are too much for us to take on at this late stage in the dig. But we have recorded it and plotted where it is in the field for future reference.’ Down by the river Ray Walton is getting on well with his ‘situla’ reconstruction. ‘I’m confident that this is going to work out,’ says Ray. ‘It’s been a lot of work but I’m quite happy.’ The pace of work has slowed a little as the careful and delicate task of excavating the skeletons cannot be rushed. By 2.30pm, a fine brooch found with one of the skeletons in Trench Five has been carefully cleaned in situ [in the trench]. Resting halfway down the ribcage, and in the centre of the body, it has the bright green colour of corroded copper alloy, but the condition of the artefact is remarkably good. At 3pm, Sandi Toksvig visits the school where the web team are camped out to record some behind-the-scenes footage. By 4pm, the search is still on for burial evidence in Trench Nine. There are some damp patches in the soil, but no signs of graves yet. Over in Trench Seven, Rob Chester has finally hit some finds in his complicated mix of features. Two skulls have been uncovered, together with a very fine example of a spearhead. Saxon specialist Helen Geake is impressed. ‘The condition of these finds is very good,’ she says. It’s probably due to the different soil conditions that Rob has here, compared to the rest of the site.’ |
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In Trench Five Katie Hirst has finally excavated around the exciting copper alloy find so that it can be lifted in a block of soil and ‘micro excavated’ in a laboratory. Micro excavation is where a delicate, small investigative dig is done on a particularly important find in controlled conditions. It appears that the find was buried with two individuals, one of which was wearing the brooch mentioned above. The way the bones sit in the soil suggests the individuals were buried arm in arm, but bone specialist Professor Margaret Cox doesn’t think that was the case. |
 Logging the exciting Trench Five finds |
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| Over in Trench One Carenza has two separate burials and three small buckets that look almost like tankards. These vessels have strengthening spars running down the sides to hold the bands together. ‘If you look closely you can actually see traces of the wood inside,’ says Carenza, ‘these are just incredible finds.’ The recording of burials is an arduous process, where every bone has to be kept in place and numbered. It takes a great deal of patience and skill, as well as a lot of time. This has effectively put a halt on any new prospecting and the team are now putting together their theories for tonight’s programme. ‘Some of these finds are amazing,’ says Mick Aston, ‘I’m wondering if we could be looking at some sort of chieftain’s family plot. I’m also thinking about why we have so many burials that look like they are in pairs. I can’t say anything yet, but we are going to have a good picture by the time the programme goes out.’ The majority of the work has now moved into the recording and analysis stage. Check out the conclusions of this fascinating excavation. |
 Carenza's latest find |
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