The Big Dig 2021 — Day 16

Progress Report.  Day 16.  

Tomorrow (Friday) we close up Trenches 10 and 12.  In spite of the rain, the dig has been very successful, with 16 in situ burials excavated in 10 and samples collected for further analysis.  Even the many fragments of disturbed human burials will reveal information about past inhabitants of Lismore.  For example, Angela has found a skull fragment with a sword cut injury.  A trial sub-trench in 12 has confirmed that there are further burials under the cobble layer but these will not be excavated.  Combining the information from these trenches and the findings in 2018, we now have a good idea about the boundary of the Early Church cemetery.

Meanwhile Clare has been investigating the hearths in Trench 10, taking samples of charcoal that will help in dating the different levels in the area.

Trench 11 poses so many questions.  We now have an idea of the curved wall and the entrance to the roundhouse, and its slabbed floor.   The only finds to date are flint, suggesting that the roundhouse is Bronze Age, but the structure to the east, at the same level under the peat has yielded medieval pottery in addition to a lot of burning.  So the age of the roundhouse remains uncertain.

Trench 11 will be covered with plastic sheeting and protected against damage by sheep grazing so that we can come back in dry weather in 2022 to complete the investigation, hoping to gain definite evidence of the age of the structures.

People have asked how we knew that there was a building under the peat.  This was one of the important clues from the geophysical survey in 2019, which showed two potential buildings, one round and one square.

The main task now is to raise the finance for all the post-excavation analyses!