Dig diary – has medieval ploughing erased most of our mysterious structure?
Day Nine
Thursday, July 16, 2026
Work to uncover the final trench quadrant – the north-western one – got under way today, revealing another small section of the circular anomaly. We knew this was here – not because of the ground-penetrating radar results but because of a small test pit had revealed it previously.
At present we seem to have a similar situation to that encountered in all but the north-eastern quadrant – very little remains of the structure.
Why? We think we might have the answer to that as well. You’ll recall, from previous diaries, that we’ve talked about rubble-filled dips and depressions in the south-western and south-eastern quadrants. Based on the excavated evidence so far, as well as previous geophysical survey results, it seems we have evidence of medieval and post-medieval rig and furrows running across the trench north-west to south-east.
Rig and furrow was a ploughing system that created long, parallel raised ridges with sunken furrows between them. These furrows are the rubble-filled depressions we’ve encountered so far. It seems likely the ploughing that created this has removed or damaged much of the underlying archaeology.
Finds remain scarce, although we did find another three small flint fragments today, while, in the south-eastern quadrant Sigurd unearthed a beautifully smooth, almost jet black stone tool. Fitting in the hand perfectly, the artefact had impact marks at one end, suggestive of striking something – perhaps flint. If this was its role, given the wear, it doesn’t seem to have been used long before being lost or discarded.
We’ll finish today with the revelation that our circular anomaly doesn’t actually appear to be circular at all but actually oval-shaped. As to what it represents, this remains stubbornly elusive.
