Diary

Digging for Britain "Siston Dig" now on YouTube.Click on the link below, our segment is 37 minutes in. Digging for Britain S11E03 - A Norman Panic Room and a Mesolithic Fish Trap - YouTube read more ...

Sorry for the delay but I've finally gotten around to giving a little more understanding to the wall alignments I mentioned in the previous post. This could possibly point us in the direction of what the final phases of occupation looked like 700 years ago. Also an oblique view of the field last spring with trench positions marked on - but what a wonderful place to live! Credit: Alex Christofides read more ...

I've begun a new dig report focused on Trench TR35 and related structural elements from other trenches. Evidence suggests an alignment of walls in the final occupation phases, these structures are found in the uppermost stratigraphy on top of earlier buildings so at the moment it is assumed the last phase. As we expose more areas hopefully we will eventually make sense of the medieval or earlier o read more ...

Weather really has put an end to digging on site, so some SAG members came along with Zillah and I to Rockfield Studios near Monmouth. Very briefly Rockfield is a recording studio set up by brothers Kingsley and Charles Ward in the 1960s and has been hugely successful but in their own unique way. The Studios are analogue and the machinery is mostly from the 1970s and 80s. I keep an open mind and s read more ...

With less opportunity for digging due to rain and shorter days, our group are now visiting places connected with archaeology. Today we had a fantastic insight into the "backroom' work carried out by English Heritage. By this I mean the storage, recording and conservation of literally tens of thousands of artefacts big and small. The English Heritage staff were extremely helpful and eager to help u read more ...

Our blog has been a bit quiet because we’ve been away on a “busman’s holiday”! Pompeii, Ercolano (Herculaneum) and the fabulous National Archaeological Museum, Naples.Where do I start? Pompeii was too big and too busy. Ercolano is smaller, intimate and allows you to feel the lives of the people who lived and died there. And there are not enough superlatives to describe the Museum. Naples sits belo read more ...

Just a note that I've just posted a link to our latest dig report, if Viking, sorry Anglo Scandinavian, is your thing then take a look. I have inverted the image below so the scale is upside down but correct, but my personal thoughts are this the right way. More on these mounts in Report no.9 Zoomorphic? Viking mounts .David read more ...

We feel fairly confident with the dating of the section of wall and the paving to the west of the wall in TR46 for two reasons. Firstly the paved surface. Zillah has found a piece of horseshoe that appears to be Clark's Type 2 that is lobated and calkined. This can be dated to the 11th to late 12th century and was sealed underneath a stone in the path. This means the path was laid at or about the read more ...

We were back on site today and uncovered more of the wall structure in TR46. The wall is 800mm wide and at the moment we have about 2m. exposed. It appear to be built on a rough rubble foundation and importantly it aligns with a similar structure found 15m. to the west. This internal dimension is classic for a middle to low status post Saxo Norman dwelling but its early days to assume they may be read more ...

We had an extra days digging yesterday as Clair Young MP visited the site, we'll write about this separately. Mary K. , Pam and Julie dug along the east site of Trench TR46 and made a fantastic discovery. It's something we've been looking for for a while now and that thing is a possible purpose why the long triangular shaped mound is there! Up to yesterday the previous trenches over the mound have read more ...

With a wet and windy Friday in the forecast we dug Thursday and Friday morning until rain stopped digging. Progress has been made, the Marys did a nice job of making the sections in TR28 perpendicular- so it's possible to record them more accurately. We'll cover this over for the winter after Clair Young MP's visit on Wednesday. A large amount of animal bone was recovered from this work.TR46 is pr read more ...

We had some interesting small finds for the first time since August. Zillah found an almost completly intact wrought iron weed hook 11th to 13th century. Mary Lennox found part of an iron buckle almost certainly medieval in TR28. Also Mary and Zillah found an unusual nail each. The nails are possibly special 'fiddle key' horseshoe nails, which would give extra grip. The images don't really do them read more ...

A good day at the dig yesterday with just a handful of us including Steve and Pam ,Julie, Mary L. plus Zillah and I and a short visit from Karen. Mary carried on cleaning up the sections in TR28 and TR25 more on this later. But the most exciting find is the possibility of a pathway made up of flat stones placed tidily together found in the north west corner on TR46. It does seem to go on further n read more ...

We've just posted three new 3D trench models. Go to Drone Surveys to view them. Thanks Alex for the great photogrammetry .David read more ...

Luckily it was really good conditions for photography today with cloud cover at times so there was no shadow. Alex is preparing 3D models for three trenches and we'll post them as soon as they are ready. While we were with Alex we had a good tidy up and just sat back and enjoyed the beautiful Glebe Field , no wonder our ancestors have lived in this little sheltered patch of England for thousands o read more ...

Non-Stop Archaeology!What a busy week. Tuesday a display in the Church hall as part of the Heritage Open Days Festival, quite a few visitors with lots of questions.Church Hall display Wednesday an evening with Yate and District Archaeology Group and Andrew Buchanan talking about A Roman Villa Rustica. A site we visited and now we know a lot more about it.Thursday a SAG workshop with pottery expert read more ...

Dig Day 19th September 2021 Another productive day in the Glebe Field. Ten of us on site and the interest it creates was ably demonstrated by Mo and Aaron both digging in TR46. Mo and Aaron in TR46TR 46 is our newest trench and is over the northern end of the mound. Finds, by the standards of the Glebe Field, are a bit thin now but that may well change next week as we get further into the Medieval read more ...

Against all expectations last Friday 5th September the general consensus was the ground was now soft enough for a new evaluation trench across the mound possibly forming part of an inner enclosure . The site chosen is over the north end of the large high resistance anomaly as can be seen on the image below. Its position will give a good contrast between high and lower resistance and it is our cont read more ...

We had the most interesting and worthwhile couple of days with brilliant people. I won't try to take you through the whole course, but we started with identifying the elements of our own skeletons and worked through to rebuilding the structure of animals. See the images below. The recording process was far more complicated than rebuilding a skeleton as we were trying to identify elements from some read more ...

Hello everyone, sorry for the delay in posting this entry - Ziilah and I have been on an animal bone recognition and recording course near Cardiff for a few days, more on this later. But first, what a fantastic evening last Saturday and a special thank you to Melissa and Charlie for coming up with the idea, secondly for allowing the use of the Rectory and grounds and finally for offering to donate read more ...

Looking at some of the smaller potsherds found in TR39, it appears we have a tiny piece of Roman Samian ware but also what is possible a piece of Oxford ware. Last year Zillah found the base pictured below in TR31, which is closer to the main trench on the platform. Samian ware, mass produced in Gaul was prevalent during the first two and half centuries of Roman Britain but the clay supply was exh read more ...

That didn’t go to plan then. We visited Langport, Somerset today with the intention of having a tour around a recently discovered Roman Villa. We drove along the Somerton Road towards the site and were suddenly aware of double-parked cars everywhere and people wearing wellies all heading in the same direction. We saw the site entrance and a sign -overflow car park, great. Sadly, though the queue w read more ...

Not many of us digging yesterday Catherine, Julie, Mary L and me. Chatting and digging is good for the soul and it's amazing what you can find out.I was telling Julie and Mary that David and I are going on a two day Zooarchaeology course (more to follow) and would be taking some of our huge bone collection including some of our bone tools and objects.I showed Julie a photo of one of our star finds read more ...

Just a short discussion on what is probably one of our most early and rare finds. Back in April Catherine found a very crudely made potsherd in TR39 with oolitic inclusions. Experts have seen the object and agree it's either Iron Age or Early Saxon. Had it definitely been a base or rim section it would have been more diagnostic but the most recent view is it is Early or Pagan Saxon. If it is Saxon read more ...

Another happy Friday in the Glebe Field. We are digging a ditch in trench 45 and it is full of green glazed ware. We can identify some of it as Ham Green ware from the north side of Bristol 1100 - 1250 and Laverstock ware from the Salisbury area 11th - 14th century.Why so much high status table ware? I can only think that at some point we had a dinning table with jugs full of wine and ale along wi read more ...

Despite the hot weather last Friday Julie pushed on with the sondage in Trench 41/34 and established the layer thickness of the ochre and charcoal is 100mm in depth. Under this seem to be an olive green natural very sticky clay yet another variation of natural in the relatively small Glebe Field. There was no shortage of large pieces of ochre presumably on site for processing.David read more ...

Catherine and Julie have contributed to removing soil in TR24 on the north side of the brook ,which reinforced the bank and possibly formed part of the inner enclosure that is seen on the resistivity survey. This is turning out to be an interesting area to dig ,especially as it's nice and shady. David read more ...

A hot day in the Glebe field but some good and interesting finds including a handle stub and rim potsherd found in the TR45 ditch feature. It is unusual as the green glaze finish is like sandpaper and the fabric lighter in weight than the usual Ham Green so the jury is out. More to come later.David read more ...

Julie had a good day last Friday in Trench 34/41 , exposing more of the red ochre and charcoal deposits. On reflection this is not looking hearth like due to the naturally coloured clay and soil the ochre and charcoal are mixed with. However, we may just not have found the seat of the hearth, the magnetometry response shows a larger area not yet explored. So it was decided to take a sondage down t read more ...

Entry by Zillah Another enjoyable Friday digging in the Glebe field. Friday is St Annes bellringing morning and we have to raise our voices over the pealing. It was quite noisy yesterday with a neighbour hedge cutting and a delivery wagon reversing down the lane. It is a special place when all is quiet and the birds are singing and I imagine a utopian Saxon village with folk quietly going about th read more ...

We had a very productive day in Trench 45 last Friday 1st August. The Marys, Pam and Zillah all spent time exposing a ditch about 1 metre wide and about 400mm deep. At the moment the purpose of the ditch is unclear but it is bottoming out on an undisturbed natural limestone layer. Below is a west to east view of the ditch, the image doesn't make it easy to define but the redeposited fill is darker read more ...

Avon Archaeological Society came over today to visit our site in Siston. David gave an overview of our finds and what we know about the site, who we think lived there and how it has developed over the ages. When everyone had finished looking at the dig site it was time for Stephen to give a talk about our local Church St Annes, before going up to Siston Court for a brief history of the building. read more ...

The Soldino Coin: A Silver Thread Through Venetian Commerce The Soldino was a small silver coin first minted in Venice in 1332 under the rule of Doge Francesco Dandolo. Its name derives from "soldo," which originally meant "solidus," the name of a late Roman gold coin. Over time, the term came to signify a variety of silver and copper denominations used across Italy. The Soldino was a lightweight read more ...

While opening up a new trench we discovered this Roman coin called the Valens Winged Victory.The Valens "Winged Victory" coin refers to a Roman coin featuring Emperor Valens (reigned AD 364–378), typically on the obverse, and a personification of Victory with wings on the reverse. These coins were part of the late Roman imperial coinage, produced during a time of significant military and political read more ...

The Siston Dig is now on IPlayer - Click on the link below, our segment is 37 minutes in. Digging for Britain - Series 11: 3. A Norman Panic Room and a Mesolithic Fish Trap - BBC iPlayer read more ...

Today we uncovered a small hooked tag or Saxon bronze fastener. See attached examples. read more ...

We uncovered a late Roman Plate Buckle, below is the buckle before cleaning. The following pictures show the Buckle after careful cleaning and preservation. Examples of Buckles of the same type. Due to the amount of corrosion, we have decided not to open out the Buckle. read more ...

Today we have found part of what we think is a Medieval Padlock. You can see a sprung piece of metal connected to the base which would lock the shaft in place inside a housing. To open the lock, a Key would be used to compress the sprung metal allowing the shaft to slide out of the lock housing.l k read more ...

Today we found an Iron Buckle and an Iron Pommel. Perhaps from a knife or a mount. We think it might have been tinned making it shine. Either way these are a first for us in the site. read more ...

The hook fastener is not in the best condition but is an every day item that someone used. read more ...

Anglo Scandinavian mounts and possible book cover or equestrian decoration copper alloy artifact. read more ...

Today we found another Fibula Brooch, a copper annular brooch and also a buckle and plate A copper Annular BroochBrooch with broken pinBuckle and Plate read more ...

A special thanks to Alex who did this fantastic 3D model of the main excavation at the dig site. Use your mouse to rotate the image.https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/siston-main-excavation-29-08-23-model-7fcaca0916f94cb7b0ee39a0abeb7dc1 read more ...

A good day filming Digging for Britain with their production crew. We had some great finds during the day and took the opportunity as the site was clean and tidy to do a drone survey. Results of the survey to follow. We look forward to seeing the episode early in the New Year. read more ...

We had a team of eight people today, digging, sifting and cleaning finds, followed by a big tidy up of the site. We had a so many finds in three hours we had to stop, as there was just too much to cope with. In other news SAG has been approached by a researcher for Digging For Britain. They are very keen on filming our dig, and helping us to research the history of the site and surrounding area. F read more ...

New trenches have been opened and digging has commenced. We have had some lovely finds over the Bank Holiday weekend, now we have to work out what they are, bag and tag them, then add them to our database. read more ...

Pottery Identification - Peterborough ArchaeologyGloucester pottery fabric type series (potsherd.net) read more ...

Today we had a Drone Survey of the work carried out this summer, as our digging for this year is coming to an end. Here are some excellent aerial images of the site including a 3D model.Trenches 07,11 & 133D Model read more ...