Ossamenta

It’s cold and dark now, and there aren’t as many Christmas lights in peoples’ windows and gardens as I would like to see. I guess it’s a combination of bad finances and that many people in Oxford live in rented rooms (less storage for seasonal items, and of course you usually go elsewhere for Christmas). In times like this, it’s nice to be able to recall warmer times.

Six months ago I was sent out in the field, to a Roman settlement site not very far from Oxford. It’s a gravel quarry site, and as the quarry expands, we get called in again. It’s the site that never ends, or at least if feels like it. I really like it, as it’s rather easy to dig (unless the ground is very dried out) and there’s usually no difficulties in distinguishing the archaeological feature from the natural ground it’s been dug into (as opposed to other sites I’ve been on). At first it was great digging weather - not nice summer weather, but I didn't care - but as the weeks went on it got hotter and on the breaks we tried to sit in the shade of the vans and the site hut, trying to catch a breeze.

( Cut for pictures )

I was sitting at my desk, working on an animal bone report, when they said, ”Hey Lena! We need people on site urgently and your report deadline is not until November.” So off I went to site.

The last time I was excavating was over four years ago, so I felt very much like a newbie, with patches of memories regarding excavation procedures popping up now and again, and well aware that many parts of my body would hurt in the next few days.

People with little experience are usually put on simple tasks. For me, it was digging a ditch section. Piece of cake! Or so I thought… Midway down the ditch I found a circle of large stones. A bit peculiar, so I excavated the middle, and it turned out to be what looked like a stone lining of a pit. After I had planned and photographed the stones, I started to remove them.

And then things got a bit more complicated: what looked like a smaller stone which had shifted vertically, turned out to be a large stone, c. 40 x 25 cm. Such large stones are not likely to be accidentally positioned vertically in a otherwise slightly sloping stone lining. And sure enough, other stones around this one were positioned diagonally downwards, and there was a gap in between them. Possibly a stone lining of a posthole in the middle of the possible pit. And again it was time to plan and photograph.

And the fun didn’t end there. When I removed the larger vertical and diagonal stones, I found that the ”posthole” extended sideways, now with horisontal stones. Was this a (much smaller) pit lining? Back to the plan, and add the new stones. And below these stones: an articulated cattle pelvis and lower spine. And the table water.

That was my last day on site before heading off to Sweden for a symposium in honour of Elisabeth Iregren, professor in osteology at Lund university, who was retiring. When I came back to site my ditch had been taken over my one of my co-workers and it was now over a metre deep. No more peculiarities apparently.