Hike #2 by Tanya and Monika

MONIKA: Today we embraced the beautiful weather for our second long hike along Hadrian’s Wall. Embarking not so early this morning, we set out from where we ended our hike last week, across from the Mile Castle, to continue our trek along the Wall. Today we hike about 6.5 miles crossing over 7 of the 9 Nicks of Thirlwall and the Sycamore gap ending the day at Housteads fort. Along our hike today, Tanya and I hiked what felt like what was a rollercoaster constantly hiking up and then down. Today on our hike I noticed more the geological features of the landscape because of the talk we had from Mike about the geological formation of features in Britain on Tuesday. It was interesting to consider how such amazing and defining landscapes of the country were shaped. My favorite part of the hike was being able to see the continuation of the Wall for miles. The weather today was great, about 19° and completely blue skies. The beginning of the hike we were all optimistic about the day, but there were definitely some butterflies about how difficult the hike would be. By lunch, all fears about the hike were diminished and it seemed like we had all built up how difficult the hike would be and shocked ourselves.

TANYA: As Monika mentioned the weather was absolutely beautiful! I didn’t know it would be this nice early on and had on many layers. About 3 minutes into the hike already I began losing layers and was down to a couple tank tops! It was absolutely gorgeous out and we could see all around us! We decided to stop for lunch at the Sycamore gap under the famous Sycamore tree (that everyone recognizes from the Robin Hood TV show). Going up the 7 nicks was exhausting and we could all feel the burn in our legs but felt so accomplished after we reached the top each and every time. All around me the group had giant smiles on their faces as they marvelled at the spectacular view for miles all around us.

 

My favourite part of the hike was taking a small break in the most completed milecastle (number 37). You could even see a significant portion of the gate still in tact. We took plenty of pictures and goofed around in this area. After finally reaching our destination at Housesteads I was in disbelief and a little sad that it had come to an end so soon. We may coax Alex to plan out another hike for next weekend! I will allow someone else to fill you all in on the beautiful site that was Housesteasds!

 

From Monika and Tanya Until next time!!! Toodles!

 

A Suprise While Hiking

I know that posts have (or will soon be) up about our most recent hike on Saturday, but I thought I’d share an interesting find from our hike up Barcombe Hill on Tuesday. Beneath an old memorial (consisting of a large stone cross atop large blocks of limestone) for a coal worker killed while working, an unexpected discovery was wedged beneath the heavy stones.

A Geocache!

Geocaches can be part of an organized ‘scavenger-hunt’ like activity, but many individuals leave them out in unusual places for adventurous souls to find. This one had a lovely card on the inside explaining what it was, and even contact information for the person who left it! There was a little notebook inside where we left our mark.

Overall, one of the many wonderful experiences during the hike!

The reality of archaeology…

This week was all about the reality of archaeology for me. I started the week with my first pottery find! The pieces I found had rims, which means that they are diagnostic pieces and can be used for dating.

The rest of the week I continued digging without finding much in my area. To my left, however, a stone feature was being uncovered (exciting!). On Friday, I found a smooth stone, which I hoped belonged to the stone feature. It is a beautiful stone…

Unfortunatly, the stone was a lone ranger and had to be removed with the rest of the area I was digging up. With this said, this week has taught me that archaeology can at times be unpredictable. What is initially thought about the layout of the trench with one find (e.g. the lenght of the stone feature), can very easily be changed by another find (e.g. my lone stone). On the bright side, Norman’s wife made cupcakes! 🙂

I look forward to working in the North Field again next week!

-Felicia

Now the Excavation Begins!

So this week we have finally gotten the opportunity to begin the excavation of our new 3 metre section of trench, which we deturfed last week. We started the week by digging out the first layer of topsoil, which is referred to in archaeology as the first layer of stratum. The term stratum is the singular form of the word strata which refers to each individual layer of soil type as you dig down through the earth. Each new layer is characterized by its composition and is described by the colour and contents of the soil. Each new layer must be recorded, and it is important in determining which period of occupation each new layer of stratum corresponds to. After removing the first layer of topsoil we found a new layer of clay and sandstone, which needed to be excavated to see if there were any artefacts dating to Roman occupation. After finding a few small finds, including a piece of “black shiny stuff” (which may be a material called jet, but needs to be tested before it can be labeled as such), and a piece of lead slag along with some pottery sherds, we began excavation into deeper layers hoping to find more.

This picture is an excellent example of the new layer of stratum containing clay and sandstone. You can see the tiles we hoped to uncover further

My job for most of this week has been to explore a section of the trench which was thought to perhaps contain a larger section of clay tiles, which were uncovered last year in a much lower section of the already dug trench. In order to reach this layer and perhaps uncover more of the tile, I was required to dig about two feet down into the next layer of stratum. After a few hours of clearing away clay and sandstone carefully, while at the same time sifting the dirt for artefacts, I had reached what we hoped to be a new layer of these clay tiles. Now that I was closer to the surface of what we hoped were the tiles, I put down my spade and picked up a trowel to do a bit of fine digging.

Doing a bit of trowelling to make sure not to damage any artefacts below

Unfortunately, after uncovering an area that we had hoped to contain these tiles, we were disappointed to find out that they abruptly ended just an inch into the new section I had dug. But today proved a more fruitful day, and after digging further to the north of our trench on the same level of the clay tiles, I managed to uncover a rubble course of sandstone, a main building material of the Romans. This may be a wall of some kind, but due to weather restrictions we could not fully uncover this rubble course. Hopefully tomorrow will prove to be a better day, and we will able to explore this rubble course further, but it does look promising. I will post some more pictures tomorrow with our findings!

North is where I’m standing in the picture, and after finding no further sections of tile I expanded my trench northward.

Waiting for the Rain

I think that many in the group today were hoping that the morning would be bringing lots of rain, as the weather report called for, so we could take a bit of a rest from digging and learn how to wash pottery finds. But a new lesson that I learned today was that the weather forecast is usually unreliable and the weather can change quite rapidly. So the morning was spent removing another layer of soil from our trench and seeing if we could find any new features or artefacts. I was working with Monika and Emily today and we began to uncover an interesting feature that sparked our excitement and gave us more motivation to work through the indecisive misty weather. We had found a difference in soil from the surrounding area and upper levels, plus larger rocks and pieces of brick that seem promising to finding a possibly larger, connected feature.

However, after lunch the rain came and put a hold on our new interest. But the afternoon also proved to be entertaining as the crew and I learned how to clean pottery sherds and animal bones. One object of interest that I was lucky enough to have in my bag to clean was a sherd of Samian ware with a design on it. The design is not full but seems to have two men on it: one on the left, which only the legs can be seen, that looks to be seated, and a second figure that appears to be partially draped and dancing, although this is just my own observation. It was very interesting to finally see in person and touch an object that has been discussed in class and seen in textbooks. So even though it was rainy, the day proved to be full of surprises and excitement. 

What is this ?!?!?- hints and clues

Hello everyone!
Thank-you to everyone who has been participating! But unfortunately none the response were correct!

Hopefully this image will give you a little clue in identifying the object.

Good-Luck, and remember to leave your guesses in the comment section.

 

-Veronica

“Is this a rock?”

Hi Guys,

So today was the beginning of our first full week of excavation and it flew by.  This week we plan to be on site all week digging down to the Roman level in the areas where the trench was extended.  After the deturfing of last week, this week we are more concentrated on slowly removing levels of soil while sifting through them.

So far we have dug another half a foot off the extension of the trench.  Already in soil so high up and potentially part of the plow-zone we have found some remains of the Romans.  Things we found are pottery sherds, some potential jet and pipe stems.  Mostly from this upper layer we found remains from the Victorian or Medieval periods.  The only thing I can report finding was shards of Victorian or Medieval pottery which was very delicate and shiny.  In part this is how we can tell its not from the Romans because of the glaze used.

Tomorrow we are continuing to dig down and I’m sure as the week progresses we will continue finding more and more Roman remains.

-Monika

Ps.  The title refers to the probing question we have all been constantly asking as we sift through the dirt and try to distinguish from Roman remain or rock!

A view of the trench, with some nice sunny weather last week (hopefully it’ll hold up!)

Reflection on First Week

Hello Everyone!

So…this first week has been amazing! Wednesday we had our first full day on site, cleaning up the havoc that came with the harsh weather from this past winter. We had cleaned up a ridiculous amount of cut grass from the site the day before which made walking around the trench much more convenient, however a few tufts still remained in the trench itself and these had to be cleared. We also discovered some new amphibious friends lurking under a tarp in the trench. They were quickly scooped up into a pail and I assume are (happily) enjoying their new home somewhere in Bradley Burn (a creek nearby).

Thursday we all clambered into our minibus in the morning to take a field trip to a museum in Corbridge on the site of an old Roman village and fort originally named Coria. We were lucky enough to be able to examine the many sherds of pottery that are still in the process of being sorted in the museum basement (see the picture below). Many times these sherds from very old excavations are found as a jumbled mess in boxes with vague lables such as “rim sherds” or “beaker fragments”. It is then the job of very,very patient and dedicated scholars (two Western students doing an internship there right now!) to sort and label each sherd and organize them into their proper storage categories. After Corbridge, we set off again to the site of Chesters, where we admired the remains of the fort that rests there, including a lovely bathhouse that sits along the river North Tyne. Finally we traveled back west and admired a mithraeum (a religious structure built to worship the Roman god Mithras) at the site of Brocolitia.

Friday we again hitched a ride on our minibus to the Great North museum in Newcastle, where we had an interesting and very informative session on Roman broaches by Rob Collins, an expert in the field! We then spent a few hours wandering around the museum and exploring the sights of the city! We then made our way to South Shields to the ancient Roman site of Arbeia where we were able to enjoy a full scale reconstruction of the praetorium (head commander’s house) that once stood on site, as well as a reconstruction of a rampart tower!

Finally, on Saturday we all went on our first big hike of the season! It was by far the most challenging, educational, and breathtaking hike I have ever had the luck and wherewithal to accomplish! We started out at the Roman site of Birdoswald, and followed Hadrian’s Wall east all the way back to our cottages at Haltwhistle…a fair trek, let me assure you. The most challenging and rewarding part of the hike was near the end, when we started on the first few “nine nicks of Thirlwall”, each “nick” being an incredibly steep, thigh-burning incline, with the most incredible reward waiting at the top.

One can only imagine what a Roman soldier stationed on this section of wall thought, looking out onto the lowland marshes and meadows of the barbarian north…would he stop occasionally on his defensive mission and look out to admire this incredible landscape, and wonder what lay beyond the horizon? Would there be thoughts of conquest on his mind? Of disdain for the cold harsh climate of the land he was to defend, or simply of a nice drink and some rest at the end of his shift? In any case, although the wall now lays, in some places crumbled and overgrown with weeds and turf, we can still experience the view that the ancients would have seen, and beneath the ground we walk, a history in stone lays half consumed by the landscape, waiting and watching the world in silence.

A very clever or a very dumb lamb.

It’s a milecastle!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thirlwall Castle ruins

View from the top of one of the nine nicks

One of the nine nicks of Thirlwall. Imagine the steepest hill you’ve ever climbed. Now multiply that the incline by 4. I know it doesn’t look that steep but believe me, it is.

Lambs posing for a picture.

THE SITE. yes.

A very ornate brooch!

Organization of pottery sherds, an exhaustive process.

 

 

So all of the Vindolanda Field School crew had an exciting day yesterday as we had our first hike along Hadrian’s wall. We started the morning at Birdoswald Roman Fort and trekked our way East checking out the milecastles and towers that are dotted along the wall. At the beginning of our hike we also got to see the remains of an ancient bridge. It was situated near the modern day bridge and allowed us to interpret how the bridge would’ve been constructed and the change of the river since antiquity.

Continuing on our journey we spent lunch at the Medieval Thirlwall Castle where there is supposedly some treasure guarded by spells and magic. Further along the wall we looked at milecastles and towers that have ditches around the perimeter that outline the shape, but no sign of the foundations or stone of the original building. These structures have had their stones robbed and used for other structures and farm walls since the Romans. As we got closer to our finishing point, the hills began to turn steeper and steeper, providing all of us with a thigh burning challenge. However, the views from the top were incredible and well worth the effort. The crew ended the day at the Milecastle tavern where we all sat down for a celebratory drink and chatted about our trek.

A picture of the cliff faces on the Nine Nicks of Thirlwall

 

Hey Everyone!

This trip has been nothing short of amazing. I can’t believe everything I’ve seen in the last week here in the north of England. Today we woke up around 8 am and prepared ourselves for our long trip ahead. We boarded the bus around 9 am and made our way to the site of Birdoswald, a Roman military fort located on the south side of the Roman wall. Here would mark the start of our 7-mile hike along Hadrian’s Wall, ending with the first section of what is often referred to as the nine nicks of Thirlwall. It’s given this name due to the rolling hills and large cliff faces that dominate a large section of the wall. Although the Romans would not have needed to defend this section, due to its natural defensive cliffs, the wall continues to run up and down over these “nicks” and creates one of the most visually striking sections of the wall. This section of the wall also contains the highest remaining section of wall, reaching a height of almost 7 feet. The view from the top of this section of the wall is spectacular. I could not have imagined hauling all of these stones up to the top of these ridges in order to construct the wall, hiking up and down them was a hard enough task in itself.

 

This image shows the contour of the wall, running up and down the hills of the nine nicks. Imagine the difficulty in constructing the wall way up here

 

Walking up to first ridge of the nine nicks is truly daunting. Pictures do not do the steep angle of the hills justice. I imagine myself thinking what the native tribes of northern England and Scotland felt upon confronting such a massive wall. Milecastles are placed every Roman mile, with two guard towers, called turrets, in between each milecastle. Now some people may be wondering what a milecastle is so I will explain them a bit further. Milecastles were small access points located every Roman mile along the frontier of Hadrian’s Wall. A Roman mile is a little shorter than our mile today, approximately .93 to the modern mile. These access points would allow people who were given permission to cross from the Romanized south into the barbarian northern lands and vice versa. A small unit of soldiers would be stationed here number about 30 – 40 troops in each milecastle. They were placed every mile regardless of their location, even if the area to the north was a massive cliff wall, as is the case atop the nine nicks. They resemble small Roman forts and would have been similar to guard towers, called turrets, only differing in their size and contents. Within these milecastles would have been 1-2 barrack blocks to house the stationed men, depending on the milecastle and its location. These soldiers would have guarded the northern frontier and would welcome through its gates individuals who were deemed a non-threat to the Roman south. It dominates the landscape and is something everyone should get the opportunity to see in their lifetime.

The experience of hiking this massive section of wall was an experience I am truly grateful for. Next week we will be walking another 7-miles to the east covering the next section of the nine nicks of Thirlwall, and I can’t wait!

 

Dr. Greene explaining the construction of a Milecastle. You can see the foundation for a barrack block on the right.

This image shows just how large the nine nicks are, completely dominating the landscape.