Day 10 at Castle Law

After a day of rest an elite team of hard core archaeologists get back to Castle Law, which today felt like a gritty cyclone.  If you live in Bridge of Earn there may be a few buckets in your back garden (no bucket control).   The team continued to dig... in Trench G a lot of progress was made in finding the outer face of the inner enclosure by Ilia and Johnny.  Gen and Cathy dug through rubble to find....more rubble.  In Trench E Ali was excavating the orange layer left in the original trench and Kenny and Neil kept digging the rampart, exposing stone on the south side and the areas of burnt soil on the crest.

What is that you are casually leaning on Johnny?

Ilia and Johnny point to a lovely giant green angular stone in the facing

Hiding from the wind in Trench E

Day 9 at Castle Law

Thursday was a lovely sunny day and we had several site visits.  Alice Watterson and Kieran Baxter came out to do some photography.  Alice and Kieran are working with the SERF hillfort project to develop a multimedia visualisation of the results of our work (very exciting!)  (see http://digitaldirtvirtualpasts.wordpress.com/ & http://www.topofly.com/ for some of Alice and Kieran's previous amazing work).

Digging continued in full force in all trenches and we are making great progress.

Alice doing some pole photography

Kieran setting up his kite for more photos

Hard work digging through spoil and rubble in Trench G

Neil enjoying the GPS in Trench E

Day 8 at Castle Law

It was again dry at the top of the hill, but very windy...as a wise member of the team noted 'it was not a good day for people with eyes'...  We had a welcome visit from Dr Brophy.  The delicious homemade (but not by Kenny) croissants he brought were even more welcome!

In Trench G the team powered on and the inner wall face of the inner enclosure is now nearly completely exposed (where the antiquarian who first dug it (Bell) left it).  Planning and cleaning (but not necessarily in that order) continued in the other two trenches.

Lauren and Gert working on the inner wall face

Inner wall face...nice!

Johnny and Ilia hold tight as Cathy takes some photos of more rubble

Day 7 at Castle Law

Today was 'Super Tuesday' at Castle Law, not only was the archaeology super, but it was dry with sunny spells the whole day (hoorah!).  In Trench F a stone rubber was found by Ross while cleaning the topsoil from a possible hut platform.  A lot of spoil was removed from Trench G, revealing more of the splendid view from the hill.  The dream team (Gert and Lorraine) uncovered more of the inner face of the inner enclosure.  In Trench F the stone capping of the rampart was unearthed (and recorded with 'cam cam' and 'arm cam').

Ross showing off his rubbing stone

Hard work happening in Trench F

Alistair's view of the Tay estuary and a pylon from Trench G

The dream team at work in Trench G - Like your stone Lorraine!

Neil displays 'arm cam' in Trench E - uncovering stone capping to the rampart

Day 6 at Castle Law

Today saw new and enthusiastic faces at Castle Law, ready to take in the magic of the hill.  Though by the end of the day the magic was a bit soggy with the rain....

In Trench G the diggers worked through some Victorian spoil to reveal the beginnigs of the inner stone face of the inner enclosure as well as more stone ...but which may be original collapse (ohh...).  In Trench F remains of the topsoil was excavated to uncover a large spread of gravel material and a random arrangement of larger stones (no hut platform yet).  In Trench E, Kenny got to the bottom of the old trench (finding Adrian's old broken trowel in the backfill!)

Andrew and Lauren revealling the face of the inner wall in Trench G

Diggin' Trench F

Kenny displaying the backfill find!

Adrian helping to dry out the wet drawings at the end of the day

Day 5 at Castle Law

Sunday for many people is a day of rest, but not for six archaeology enthusiasts who journeyed to Castle Law...  Archaeologists are faced with many challenges on fieldwork and today it was the wind, which steadily increased in strength into the afternoon.  Ali, unbeknownst to her, accepted the challenge of planning a sloping trench (Trench F) in the wind - and conquered it!  Elsewhere, Neil, Yvonne and Ilia excavated the north face of Trench G, trying hard not to be blown down slope...but in the end there is always a rainbow.

Ali planning Trench F in a gale!

Excavating the north face of Trench G

Enjoying the rainbow but also trying hard not to be blown over