Excavations have started in earnest at our site Aspull with a series of visits last month. Our main aim has been to clear out the trenches left open from last year and finish excavating the ones we hadn't completed. In the main, all the trenches have survived well over winter and despite the wet weather we've had in recent months. This is perhaps not surprising as our site is well drained with the bedrock being porous. The only major damage has been to Trench 1 whose section wall collapsed and is now partly back filled.  Our main worry had been Trench 6a which was the only one that kept filling with water and had to be regularly pumped out. We were surprised to find however that it was only partly filled and could be easily bailed out with buckets. This trench and Trench 7 are the two ditch terminals either side of the west entrance and neither had been full excavated. We have therefore concentrated our efforts on these with the result that we can now fully understand their shape (well almost). Trench 7 turns out to be square ended at the base similar to Trenches 5 and 5a, but with a wide semi-bowl shaped in its upper section. Joining Trench 6 up with 6a has also been a revelation with a wide bedrock floor being exposed. Again the ditch profile seems to be in two sections with the upper being semi-bowl shaped and the lower quite steep.  However, we are having problems understanding the very end of the ditch as the semi-bowl shape gives way to a ramp leading out of the ditch (could this be its access point?).
Trench 5 is where we found the burnt wood which, from Carbon 14 analysis, gave us our mid-Bronze Age date at the end of last year. It seemed to be lying under a mound of stone at the bottom of the ditch. This has now been partly excavated, but despite more charcoal, nothing else has been found so far.
 With the two ditch terminals more or less sorted, we've been able to turn our attentions on what will be our main objective this year i.e. the central mound. Our intention (as mentioned in Newsletter 259) is to extend one of our trenches towards the centre to get an idea of its construction. We've chosen Trench 8 for this and have arranged with the farmer to remove the topsoil for us. Meanwhile we have already cut a section into the existing trench to get an idea of what to expect. However, this has not gone to plan, as it's been proving difficult to identify the natural surface. It maybe therefore that we use a different trench where the surface is more easily detected, such as Trench 1. Obviously still lots for us to do, so if you want to get involved and are not on the list of diggers, let me know - and, as always, full details are on our blog diary here.
Next Meeting
Wednesday 7th June - at the Real Crafty on Upper Dicconson Street starting at 7.30pm as usual. This month we have Dr Alison Burns from Liverpool University who will be giving her talk entitled "Footprints in the Sand" which is a comprehensive study of the Prehistoric Landscapes of the Formby and Sefton Coastline. The last time we had a talk on this subject was 14 years ago, given by Annie Worsley from Edgehill University. She was the first to introduce us to the findings of Gordon Roberts, who had discovered the enigmatic footprints only a few years earlier. The in-depth study that has now been completed, gives us a glimpse of the daily lives of people hunting the wildlife on the salt marshes of the South Lancashire coastline on and off across a period of perhaps 8000 years. It's a fascinating talk so hope to see you there.
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