Arrival
It was late July when I found out I was accepted as an NLHF placement on TEF23, I remember the shock and excitement immediately rolling over me as I rushed to call my family to start organising the trip down to Teffont. After the long drive from Manchester to Salisbury I signed in with the office at St Marys accommodation block, meeting David to collect my boots, coat and waterproofs the scheme provided me, with this being the final part of my kit to be ready for tomorrow's excavation. The next morning I woke up early, had breakfast, got showered and dressed in my waterproofs, ready for my first day of work.
Figure 1 : The excavation site (facing SW from the most NE point)
Excavation
On excavation days we arrived at the barn at 8.30 and began with a training session on a principle of excavation or talk from an industry expert to gain more insight into archaeological careers. We would then make our way from the barn to the dig site (Figure 1) for 9.30. The field we excavated was a gorgeous green opening surrounded by towering pines. I remember being blown away by how lovely it was, juxtaposed by the huge mound of unearthed soil towering to the sides of our trench. It was here where I was introduced to my area, pod B (Better known as Pod Best) where I would spend the bulk of my time working with my supervisor Ruby. The first thing that stood out here was a wall (Figure 2) stretching from the north west side of our area to the south east side. The lower, longest bulk of the wall would become my own mini project which I worked on from the first to the final day. The wall provided the unique challenge of excavating a structure, which I had never done. Not only that but it was also an extremely confusing structure that challenged all of my expectations when we tried to work out its history. Through excavating I found many different contexts as well as an abundance of bone, pottery, burnt stone and a brooch, with my star find being a gorgeous sherd of patterned Samian (Figure 3).
Figure 2: The wall I was excavating after its initial cleaning
My work in my trench gave me very valuable experience in common archaeological practice on, teaching me how to stratigraphically excavate and effectively draw and photograph a feature as well as helping me hone my trowelling and mattocking skills. This work became extremely valuable to building my confidence within the field, going from feeling naive and lost in a trench, to at home and efficient and able to make my own decisions and inferences over asking Ruby for advice. Despite the torrential rainfall turning the site into a mudplain, every morning was a new and exciting journey to find out more about what was going on at TEF23.
Figure 3: The patterned Samian I found in the wall cut deposit
Post-excavation
After we finished with the initial 3 weeks of excavating, we went into Post-Ex. Here I got to experience the typical washing, drying, bagging, boxing and floatation which I had previously grown to love, with the introduction of flotation sampling and sorting, as well as working with metal which I had never done before. Working with the metal provided a unique but interesting challenge with a more light dry brush approach in concept to that of the daub I had previously worked with. Sorting the dry residues ,however, was a highlight, being able to examine all manner of environmental remains was amazing being my first key opportunity to interact with archaeobotanical remains which is a key interest of mine. Overall post-ex was one of the most enjoyable parts, the barn became the perfect venue to interact with finds as well as learn more about them, with lessons on coins, zooarchaeology and metalwork helping to teach me the basis of the fields.
Summary
Overall my experience with the Teffont project has been incredible and has been the best and most educationally supportive excavation I have been on thus far. I have left Salisbury with both lifelong friends and valuable skills which I would have had no chance to access without my time there. If it wasn't for the NLHF Positive Action Placement position, I would have had no chance at having this formative experience which has allowed me to grow and develop my interests more than ever before. By giving me the opportunity and the funds to participate it allowed me to gain a broader understanding of the skillset it takes and develop my own strengths even further. It also gave me the opportunity to peer into future careers through the Wessex archaeology trip, guiding my path towards comprehensive careers over broad goals.