LAARC VIP4 – Week 5
November 7, 2009 Archaeology, LAARC, LAARC VIP, VolunteersWeek 5: Registered Finds in the morning…
That was the set up this week as we almost reach the half way point of this project. Monday’s team started the day with the registered finds from Baynard House, Queen Victoria St, (MM74). All the material from the site was checked for good packaging and updated as appropriate as well as all the finds cards, which volunteers updated the location on. They then began the next site, Bain Dawes House, Minories (MN74) and completed all the finds from this site too! An excellent amount of work was achieved – almost 300 finds checked off in one morning.
Tuesday’s team, also did a fantastic job as they started updating material from one of the most important sites in LAARC, New Fresh Wharf (NFW74). Included in its archive were amazing examples of Roman wooden writing tablets that had survived due to the site’s water logged conditions and its proximity to the Thames. The site also produced some fantastic clay Venus figurines and excellent stamped ceramics.
…General Finds in the afternoon
Both Monday and Tuesday’s volunteers worked on general finds from Harp Lane (HL74), Monday’s team finishing off the pottery and starting the building material, which Tuesday’s team completed.
Wednesday’s team from the U3A, also worked on general finds this week as their session focused on pottery from Shoreditch Park (NNR05). Previously, mixed pottery styles were altogether, bagged up by context, but the contexts not in one flowing sequence within the boxes. By the end of the day, different wares and styles had been separated and everything was back in the boxes, organised by their context. A huge achievement.
No action this week on Thursday, but despite the lack of volunteers, Glynn and Adam made the most of the time and started to rebox the updated material, to see if any space can be saved. So far, VIP4 has reduced the number of registered finds boxes by 6 and we think the general finds will have an extra shelf full of space by the end of the 10 weeks!
For more photos visit Flickr