Trench 1 - the wilderness

An exploratory slot was opened several weeks ago in the ditch area, and we reached a depth of 1m, and seem still to be going down. This week we opened up the slot to half the trench width, to get some elbow room to go deeper.

2m from the bank, in line with the original damp area, we do seem to be finding an edge. At the moment, we still haven't found the bank edge of the ditch. It would seem it is very close to the stone revetment. I suspect that the stones showing at the top of the ditch on the lower bank have fallen from higher up and lay on the edge of the ditch. If you look at this latest picture you can see the stratigraphy clearly.

10cm of top soil is followed by 20cm of very loose sandy soil. A 20cm darker layer of sandy clay, is above a 10cm silty clay orange/yellow layer. Beneath that, and still going down is a darker more compact clay layer. The bottom of the ditch is still damp after being open for several weeks, and you can easily push your trowel deeper down.


Next week we should have the ditch fully defined.