Dig diary – reaching the base of the central hearth

Day 14
Thursday, July 23, 2026

Today the focus fell squarely on the hearth, where Jackie continued to excavate through its remaining deposits.

Nothing suitable for radiocarbon dating emerged, and the material proved surprisingly shallow. Combined with the absence of scorch marks on the surviving hearth stones, this could imply the building was only used for a short period of tome — or that it was cleaned out with meticulous regularity. Countering this argument is the lack of scrape-out material around it. Perhaps the occupiers were extremely tidy. A similar situation was encountered in Structure Twenty-Seven, away to the south-east.

Beneath the ash the hearth had, as expected, a well-fitted stone base – a single slab that had been worked to fit the space.

In the south‑western quadrant, another section of the building’s foundation slabs came to light. It’s becoming increasingly clear that this structure lacked the clay floors found in its neighbours to the south‑east. Extending the south‑west section inward, towards the hearth, should help clarify the building’s construction — and, with luck, its purpose.

As site director Nick remarked this afternoon, the whole thing is “very odd.”

Outside the building, and surrounding it, a narrow, dark ring of soil has been visible for some time. It was suspected this may represent a gully, or drain, so it was decided to excavate. And that’s exactly what it is. The excavated sections lie to the north of the structure, where another drain runs at right angles from the building to join the encircling gully.