So there we were, 9 o'clock on a Saturday morning, waiting to unravel the mysteries of Wincobank Hill. Dr Roger Doonan from the University of Sheffield (looking every bit the archaeologist in his boots and shorts) and the astonishingly young Dr Kate Howell from Florida were here to initiate the Friends into the rites and rituals of Geophysics.
We were a small team, each bringing their own skills and experience to the task. I, Penny, am a project manager so I held the clipboard. Unfortunately I also lost the pen lid. Marie drew on her encyclopaedic knowledge to identify the vegetation and Dr Kate tactfully guided us along the track identifying the more do-able bits where we will have a hope of navigating the uneven ground and brambles with technical gadgetry that sounds very expensive. Dr Roger and Ken mapped the hill fort. Ken is a doctor of the medical variety and in retirement is studying towards an archaeology degree.
By lunch we had walked the terrain and noted any features making x marks the spot diagrams of holes, rocky bits and debris. So far so good. I realised that when I normally walk the hill I look at the trees, I let my imagination wander and gaze into the distance, but although I glance at the ground I rarely feel it with my feet. Today I was aware of every bump and lump, trying to sense some secret story beneath the surface.
A picnic lunch with ice-cream revived us for the challenging task of marking a straight line along the undulating route of the brick track Winco Wood Lane past tree and bush, and along the length of the hill fort. Thankfully, the afternoon shift brought Dave, himself an archaeologist and experienced at lining up yellow flagged bamboo canes, and Mick who usefully was able to produce a fresh stock of flagged and, it has to be said, slightly superior canes from his woodland management toolkit. In this technological age it was refreshing to spend time standing in a line: left a bit, right a bit, fine. A welcome relief from the hours I spend sitting at a computer.
Licensed by English Heritage, we staked at 20m intervals along the track and then endeavoured to peg 40m markers across the ancient monument but the rock almost knowingly resisted the invasion and yielded only to a squirt of yellow paint. Not a lot of digging to be done there I suspect.
And that was it for my first day as a trainee archaeologist. I hope that, in a thousand years or so, another trainee finds my pen lid.
We were a small team, each bringing their own skills and experience to the task. I, Penny, am a project manager so I held the clipboard. Unfortunately I also lost the pen lid. Marie drew on her encyclopaedic knowledge to identify the vegetation and Dr Kate tactfully guided us along the track identifying the more do-able bits where we will have a hope of navigating the uneven ground and brambles with technical gadgetry that sounds very expensive. Dr Roger and Ken mapped the hill fort. Ken is a doctor of the medical variety and in retirement is studying towards an archaeology degree.
By lunch we had walked the terrain and noted any features making x marks the spot diagrams of holes, rocky bits and debris. So far so good. I realised that when I normally walk the hill I look at the trees, I let my imagination wander and gaze into the distance, but although I glance at the ground I rarely feel it with my feet. Today I was aware of every bump and lump, trying to sense some secret story beneath the surface.
A picnic lunch with ice-cream revived us for the challenging task of marking a straight line along the undulating route of the brick track Winco Wood Lane past tree and bush, and along the length of the hill fort. Thankfully, the afternoon shift brought Dave, himself an archaeologist and experienced at lining up yellow flagged bamboo canes, and Mick who usefully was able to produce a fresh stock of flagged and, it has to be said, slightly superior canes from his woodland management toolkit. In this technological age it was refreshing to spend time standing in a line: left a bit, right a bit, fine. A welcome relief from the hours I spend sitting at a computer.
Licensed by English Heritage, we staked at 20m intervals along the track and then endeavoured to peg 40m markers across the ancient monument but the rock almost knowingly resisted the invasion and yielded only to a squirt of yellow paint. Not a lot of digging to be done there I suspect.
And that was it for my first day as a trainee archaeologist. I hope that, in a thousand years or so, another trainee finds my pen lid.
Good Sunday morning Penny! Since leaving the Hill yesterday at 1230 hrs to dash back for the Women's Singles Final, I am so impressed that you have not only "set up" this brilliant blog, but you have also filled it with a fantastic amount of stuff to start with! And all this just from a brief conversation with Dr Roger at our 0900 hrs archaeology gathering at the Chapel! Your technology skills are obviously far greater than you care to admit to! So sorry I missed the "staking out". Will be there next Saturday but not Sunday (in Manchester). MARIE x
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