Excavations at the Royal Bull’s Head Inn – Days 5&6 – October 17&18, 2014

The week at the Royal Bull’s head Inn is drawing to a close, and we are making all efforts to finalize Square C and Square D, as well as to focus on the geophys work on the hillside. The geophys work is vital to knowing where to place our future excavations; Aaron and Kelsey are putting in very long days with their ground-penetrating radar and magnetometer, walking over 5km in linear distance each, every day. 

Having spent the week looking closely at the paved path that we excavated in Square B, I think we can offer a revised interpretation of the feature. Originally we thought that the irregular placement of the cobbles was related to movement of the black soil. However, upon closer examination we think that the stones were deliberately placed in the soil diagonally, in order to provide traction for the horses as they pull the carriages and drays up and down the hill. (Nothing would be slipperier than flat, broad paving stones, covered in black-soil mud.) What really contributed to this idea was the observation that the stones are laid out consistently in one direction in the eastern half of the square, and in the other direction in the western half of the square. It’s not very easy to see from this photograph, but it was easily discernible first hand. Can you see the line running roughly down the centre? that’s the delineation that marks the two paving methods.

This implies that it was deliberate and not a product of soil movement. It also indicates the direction of travel. Horses going up the hill would require the stones to be laid toward them at an angle to gain traction, as is the case in the eastern half of the square, and going downhill, they would get traction and support if the stones were angled away from them, as they are in the western half of the square. So the horses pulled the carts uphill on the right hand side, and downhill on the left. I’ve tried to illustrate my point in these mock-ups.

Square D really came into its own on the last day of excavations. We came down upon four, roughly parallel timber beams that extended beyond the limits of the excavation. There is every chance that these form the timber foundations of a slab hut. Unfortunately we do not have time to finalise the excavation this year, so we have backfilled it and plan to come back to it in the 2015 field season.

As ever, thanks to our wonderful volunteers Eddie Thangavelu, Mark Meara, Alyssa Madden, Leanne Bateman, Peter Stainton, Daniel Derouet and Grant Mottram. Also Jillian Smith, Chloe Delaney and Wendy Van Der Spoel.