The Dig: Day 2

Introduction

On Monday, we resumed The Dig, continuing to reveal the orthostats and ‘incised’ stones.

The Work

The Introduction

We’ve now found the edges of the third orthostat and believe it is not incised. This is because the lines are quite wobbly, which you would not expect to see in a man-made carving. Also, tree roots have been growing on top of it and may have created the markings. Meanwhile, the second orthostat is more likely to be incised as the lines are straighter. However, we couldn’t see a pattern.

The Enclosure

Yesterday, we began looking for more orthostats and large stones, that would have been used in the enclosure’s walls. However, there is a large gap where a stone or stones have fallen down. Also, we began to remove moss from the wall.

The Finds

The main finds were two different-sized stones. Their smoothness suggests that their original home was the river: when stones are tumbled around in water, they gain a smooth surface.

One of the uses for these stones may have been knapping. Knapping is when a rock is used to shape another material. After several tests with a copper penny, we discovered the two new finds as well as Find 1 are much harder than limestone. These tests also told us that the three finds we have are made from igneous or metamorphic rock, which are harder than sedimentary rocks like limestone.

Another theory is that these rocks were brought up from the river to be smelted. This is because they contain iron oxide, which we discovered by testing with a compass (the needle of a compass is a magnet and iron oxide is magnetic). The reddish colour in Find 2 and the orange colouration in Find 3 also support the presence of iron. Finally, the previous dig found slag, a by-product of smelting. This tells us that the enclosure was used during the iron age and that some iron smelting occurred.

Our final theory is that the rocks may be pot-boiler stones. These stones were warmed in fire and then placed into a pot in order to heat up water.

Click here to see photos of Finds 1, 2 and 3.

Conclusion

Progress

Overall, we’ve continued to reveal the wall and orthostats and found two stones with three possible uses.

Next Steps

Next time, we’ll try to find the stones that make up the gap in the enclosure’s wall.