Vindolanda Day 8: Finding what was lost

Posted on April 29, 2024  •  2 minutes  • 249 words

This is part of a series where I document my time volunteering at an archaeological dig in North England in April 2024. Have a look at some of the other posts to see some of the cool things I got up to.

Today’s report is short, partly because there isn’t much interesting to say for day 8 and partly because my phone died half way through the afternoon.

I am still excavating in the trench to the East of the site, though there is a rumour I will be returned to the Horrible Pile of Rocks to finally chuck them on the spoil heap, once they’ve been mapped.

I did manage to find a few things today: some more pottery, some bits and bobs I can’t mention, and a set of three cow’s teeth (pictured above). The acidic soil (we aren’t in the anaerobic layer) meant that the teeth fell apart as I touched them, though one was sturdy enough to make it into the “misc” bag.

When you find something more interesting, you get the “Staff of Recognition”. This is a reflective target for the theodolite to take an exact position of where the find occurred. These data are assembled into maps that can chart out all the broaches/whetstones/swords/buckles/4th century coins/whatever is found.

We are still inside an unknown building: its too big to be a barracks (even a cavalry one). It would be exciting to find out what exactly it was and why it was so large…