Llandygai dig diary
July 18 to July 24
Stripping large areas of the lower parts of the site continues as the machines rumble on stirring up great swathes of dust: the site is in desperate need of rain.
Further down the hill slope, excavations are proceeding on a series of round houses and (possibly associated) ditches A section through one of the ditches has revealed a classic ‘V-section’. It appears to have a consistent, silty fill from top to very near the bottom which might suggest a single episode of backfilling. The extent of the feature has yet to be fully traced.
In the same area, and on the same contour, the remains of a second clay-walled roundhouse has been defined. Finds from one phase of the first house include a number of sherds of Roman pottery (Samian and cooking pot) as well as a fragment of Roman tile.
A third burnt mound has been identified on the same terrace has the other two and is being cleaned before planning and excavation. The horse-shoe shaped ditch contains a considerable amount of burned material. Vickky is excavating
On the upper plateau, work continues on emptying the last of the nine identified pits - which contain sherds of broken and compacted Grooved Ware and other Late Neolithic pottery (see last week's diary).