At about this time, near the end of the excavation, digging gradually decreases and the all-important recording speeds up. However spectacular the excavated remains are – and believe me these are spectacular – they are worthless unless recorded accurately enough to be able to re-create the archaeology in the office. It almost feels like the site is slowly grinding to a halt.
Then on Tuesday lunchtime, some real excitement...
A young pot washer sees something remarkable and rare. She is washing yet another sherd of Roman pottery. Her hands are cold. This must be the hundredth sherd washed today – or is it the thousandth? But this is different. With the mud washed off the sherd she can clearly see writing. The pot is a fairly standard type of Roman ceramic strainer, with many holes in the base for letting liquids escape. But inscribed round the side of the pot near the base is clear, and precisely created, writing. Before firing the vessel, someone had written the alphabet in the wet clay. On this sherd the letters from the middle the alphabet. How utterly remarkable. A craftsman, a literate potter, practising his or her writing skills on a humble kitchen vessel. Decoration is art but this is writing, a powerful symbol and a direct way of communicating with those who use his wares (and those who dig them up 2000 years later). It is not the only pot in Britain with the alphabet inscribed on it. Three other examples are known from elsewhere. But this is ours, in Sleaford, at Old Place, and we are all excited about it, none more so than the project’s pottery expert. No-one has ever seen him so fired-up. The site at Old Place is still buzzing! What else could be left there to find before back-filling?
Then on Tuesday lunchtime, some real excitement...
A young pot washer sees something remarkable and rare. She is washing yet another sherd of Roman pottery. Her hands are cold. This must be the hundredth sherd washed today – or is it the thousandth? But this is different. With the mud washed off the sherd she can clearly see writing. The pot is a fairly standard type of Roman ceramic strainer, with many holes in the base for letting liquids escape. But inscribed round the side of the pot near the base is clear, and precisely created, writing. Before firing the vessel, someone had written the alphabet in the wet clay. On this sherd the letters from the middle the alphabet. How utterly remarkable. A craftsman, a literate potter, practising his or her writing skills on a humble kitchen vessel. Decoration is art but this is writing, a powerful symbol and a direct way of communicating with those who use his wares (and those who dig them up 2000 years later). It is not the only pot in Britain with the alphabet inscribed on it. Three other examples are known from elsewhere. But this is ours, in Sleaford, at Old Place, and we are all excited about it, none more so than the project’s pottery expert. No-one has ever seen him so fired-up. The site at Old Place is still buzzing! What else could be left there to find before back-filling?