Ossamenta

Yesterday I went for a long walk through the parks, just enjoying the autumn. I do miss the Swedish autumn - you don't really get the smell of fir forests around here - but I'll take what I can get. I'm a seasonal person: not one or two favourite seasons - I love them all. (Although I must admit that the typical winter in Skåne* is best enjoyed from indoors, with a mug of hot chocolate and a good book or two.)



Pathway in University Parks along the river.


*: grey, sideways rain/sleet, temperature a bit above freezing, but with a lazy wind that blows right through you rather than around you.

It’s my last week on site, and the lovely weather we’ve been having in October (in general sunny mixed with overcast and 15-18°C) has now been substituted for November rain. It’s a clay site, and with every step you get a centimetre taller - not always evenly. I’m sure health and safety would have something to say about walking around on what’s technically high heels.

The last samples have been taken from bone ditch and two transverse sections of it have been fully excavated, photographed and drawn. What remains to do is to excavate the last bits of two buildings, and then we’re done. Despite that it was fun to be out on site, I’ll be glad to be back indoors.

I feel pity for those who have to work outside through the winter - a reality in the UK, unlike in colder Sweden, where most archaeologists either go unemployed or, if they can, take temporary work until the digging season start again. I’m not sure which way is better. In Sweden, you never know if/when you’ll get excavation work the next spring, so the uncertainty isn’t good. Also, most employers like workers who will stay on a while, not just for a few months, so it can be difficult to get a winter job. The archaeology season overlaps with the seasonal winter jobs, so we often can’t take those either. On the other hand, digging in winter (i.e. the cold and rainy/sleety season) is nasty.