A bit of a last minute rush, but I have just set up a blog which I hope to feed as we explore the Orkneys over the next few days..... ... Click here to view..... http://caorkneytrip.blogspot.co.uk/

For the past few weeks I have been looking at the mass of free software and data available on the internet and using the gps on my phone for surveying. One of the many things I wanted to achieve, was to plot features onto Google Earth and then view them form the air.

With even better technology (new android phone) we are running a blog again of the summer dig. You can access it at any time by clicking on this link.

I have recently learnt how to use 3D modelling software and the ability to take 360 degree pictures of finds. I am posting a couple of trial links here to see how this might work. Trench 14

We have set up another blog to follow the Lithuania Trip. Technology allowing, I will try to keep this page updated on my phone as the trip progresses, but will be reliant on phone and Internet connections all working. Would at least hope to get to an internet pc once a day.

This year I am going to attempt to put into practice some of the tricks that we learnt on the Grundtvig Malta trip by using Google Blogger to keep a “live” online diary of the Summer 2010 dig. You can access it at any time by clicking on this link.

This week a major assault on the ditch took place. It has always been unclear whether the ditch was 2m wide at the surface, or much wider, as the damp area could be read either way. At a depth of 90cm there is a very clear grey/green band of clay, so we chased that layer back out away from the stone revetment, hoping to find a change as we hit the ditch edge.

I thought it would be a good idea to report back to you all on the progress that we have made down at The Wilderness. I intend to post a weekly report here, but we will see how that goes. For this posting I will give a quick tour of Trench on to bring you up to speed.

This week we focused on the ditch at the foot of the bank. When the trench was initially opened we were fortunate to have had some heavy rain, so as the trench dried out, a 2m wide patch became clear.

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.

No finds this week, at all!! So I thought it would be a good idea to look at some finds that turned up a few weeks ago. Derrick carried out a sweep over the trench and detected a strong signal above the back of the bank where most of the finds have been coming from.