The first day of the 2014 season has gotten off to a flying start! Plenty of pottery sherds were also coming up too.
Over at The Hub, Greg and James set up the displays, which will be added to throughout the week. They also began painting some signs, since the door to The Hub is quite tucked away.
To round off the first day, a lot of good work with plenty more to look forward to!
Day 21 saw the majority of the excavation finished on site, with only a few areas needing further exploration. There were some exciting finds for the last day, including several large pieces of Bronze Age pottery and an unfinished Neolithic arrowhead. Day 21 sadly was also the last day that the visitors center at the Hub was open.
Day 22 Was all about the final site photograph. The last few areas under excavation were finished, while the whole site was swept clean. This was to make sure that all the features showed up nicely in the picture, which was taken from 80 feet high from the platform of a cherry-picker.
Day 23 The final day on site has mainly involved cleaning tools and making sure all the records are up-to-date, before the site is back filled.
While this was happening several van-loads of equipment were taken back to Exeter for storage until the beginning of next years excavation season. The finds from the 2013 excavation were the first to arrive and conservation work has now begun.
The penultimate day of excavation on site today, and what was expected to be a frantic time here in Ipplepen was eased hugely by the large numbers of new volunteers we have here on site. Work continued in the Bronze/ Iron Age pits with several volunteers under the supervision of Nick, who has been working on the feature steadily for the past month.The final bulk in the eastern ditch that runs into the ring ditch is still being removed, and a large amount of Bronze Age pottery has been coming out of that all day. By the end of the day both Marc and Ben were confident that we would have achieved our aims by tomorrow evening.
It was also a good day in the visitor center in the Hub, with a steady flow of visitors throughout the day, amounting to almost seventy in all.
The Ipplepen Archaeological Project on BBC Spotlight (13.50 minutes in)-http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b038mtj1/Spotlight_19_08_2013/
Thank you to all of the (nearly) 1000 visitors to the site today and around 450 visitors to the Hub. It was amazing to see so much interest in the site. The Hub was fit to burst at times and the site saw a constant flow of eager enthusiasts. We have had some really helpful feedback too, so another thank you goes to all who took the time to fill in a visitor survey. We look forward to seeing you all back at next year’s Open Day. Work will continue on site tomorrow, starting the final week of the season, and the Hub will be open as usual; opening times and location are listed on the blog.
Thank you all once again from all involved at the Ipplepen Archaeological Project.
Yes the time has finally come! It is the Ipplepen Archaeological Project Site Open Day Today! Visit us at both the Ipplepen Community Hub and at the actual Archaeological site free of charge from 11:00-16:00 on site and 12:30-16:00 at the Hub.
It is already looking to be a beautiful day, so why not make it that much more special with a glimpse back into Devon’s past!
Work progressed as usual today on site, with several bulks being removed and features being planned. There was a lot of work done to make the site ready for the Open Day.
including finds washing, and adding to the displays in the Hub. A team photo was also taken today, and shall be uploaded shortly.
Rain in the morning gave a miserable start to the day, but this soon brightened up into a bright but cool day. Most of the work took place on the Eastern half of the site, exploring post holes in the North, and a field boundary in the south.
In the center of the ring ditch work continued on excavating a wide pit-like feature, eventually revealing a possible pit beneath this to be excavated tomorrow. The large pit just to the east of the ring ditch was finished today, and work continues in the Bronze/ Iron Age pits in the North of the site, the excavator of these giving an explanatory talk in the late afternoon.
The Hub saw its busiest day so far with 45 visitors coming in over the course of the day.
Another hot day on site, the geophysical work in the adjacent field was finished today, as were several features on site. Two features from the south east quadrant of the site were finished, one being a section of a Romano-British field boundary, which was photographed and drawn, and the other was a deep feature that has yet to be interpreted.
Both Bill Horner (Devon County Archaeologist) and Sam Moorhead (National Finds Advisor for the PAS) were on site today, and in the afternoon Sam Moorhead gave students and volunteers a talk on roman coins from the area. During this talk some of the coins found by one of the co-discoverers of the site Jim Wills were passed round, while Sam pointed out key features.
The Hub saw another fairly busy day, and the good weather was made use of, when a display was moved outside.
An exciting day on site today, with plenty of cake all round (Amy one of the Students had her birthday today).
There were also a lot of new volunteers on site so, in spite of the cake, lots of work got done. Even more interesting features were found when yesterday’s geophysical results were loaded up, adding to our knowledge of the (already impressive) amount of archaeology in the area.
The sunny weather brought many visitors to the Hub, with record numbers of people visiting today. The heat was made easier to bear by a cool breeze, meaning that digging conditions were comfortable.
The finds have kept coming, some pieces of Black Burnished Ware were found by students Amy and Chris. At the end of the day the students and volunteers were given an explanation of what has been happening on site by supervisors Marc and Ben.
