Early History of the English Channel Project Fieldwork at Holton Lee 24 July - 11 August 2000

WEEK THREE 7 - 11 August 2000

The third and final week of work on site was full of activity.  The big trench (TR01) at Site Three continued to be worked and an extension was added to TP02 along the line of the heathstone.  In addition, we opened up a new area to the north west of Site Three to further investigate the construction and composition of the bank ...

Site Three

Steve Beach works in the extension to TP02	Base of TP02 extension - note clay bands in side of hole with water visible in the bottom
Vicki Rowe and Mike Green section drawing at the north end of TR01 (the wet end)	Part of what Vicki and Mike were drawing - note the small rise of the bank under the yellow bucket

 
 

One of the first tasks each morning was to rescue toads from TP02
	Most mornings we had to remove about 30 small toads

 

Work on Site Three came to an end whilst the new site (see below) was being started.  Backfilling, as ever, was tiring yet strangely satisfying...

Site Four

The bank observed in TR01 seemed too slight to have been constructed for reclamation purposes.  It was decided to examine a more defined portion of the bank c 500 m north west of Site Three.  This new area of investigation was classed Site Four and it provided the opportunity to develop some new theories for past land use and landscape formation there.
 

The new trench gets underway by the side of a very large Oak stump (estimated to have been c 500 years old when felled)

The team busy at Site Four (Trench 6.0 x 1.0 m)

 
 

Further experience with the Russian corer	Potsherd - one of our few finds	Mike enjoying his digging
Steve assesses the large Oak stump	Vicki and Leila check the samples	Along the line of the bank and 'ditch'

 

Nigel demonstrated skills from his  boyhood to take shots from  'nature's photo tower'

 

The Project Director used more conventional means to acquire her photographs - aided by Mike and Leila's imitation of caped crusaders

 

The final week at Holton Lee coincided with two birthdays - Happy Birthday greetings to Leila and Nigel.  We celebrated with Vicki's delicious chocolate cake during our last day on site, making-up some of that energy expended during our backfilling exertions!

 

Additional information and results of analyses will be added to 'Afterthoughts' in due course

GO TO:

] Welcome	] Introduction	] Survey  May 2000
] Week One 24 - 28 July 2000	] Week Two 31 July - 4 August 2000
] Afterthoughts

Comments and enquires should be addressed to Eileen Wilkes
Early History of the English Channel Project
School of Conservation Sciences, Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus, Poole, Dorset, BH12 5BB, UK

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This page has been compiled and is maintained by Eileen Wilkes, School of Conservation Sciences, Bournemouth University.  Last updated 12 August 2000
All images are copyright Bournemouth University unless otherwise stated.