Leaf is great

Working on a site over the border in Somerset this week and this came up under the digging machines bucket:

Probably Late Neolithic. Which just goes to show that one must always keep ones eyes peeled!

Is life boring? Ditch it!

I've been working on a site the last couple of weeks, an evaluation, and we have come to the conclusion that it is a Roman-British fortified settlement; quite rare in Somerset.

We have cut through two large parallel defensive ditches, 4m wide by just under 2m deep:

We had RB pottery from the covering material and ditch fills, as well as some slingshot:

The Durotriges were famous for their skill with the slingshot and so were recruited into the Roman army. Unfortunately they ended up in hot countries in the middle east!

With careful excavation one digger found marks in the bottom of his trench:

This was made by a dolobra, an entrenching tool very much like our own mattock:

Another nice find was a flint scraper or knife with evidence of wear on the edge:

It fits nicely in the hand and is Late Neolithic:

We are hoping that the site will go to full excavation and we can uncover the full extent of the defensive settlement and earlier features.