First Day at Foulis

Posted by Cathy - 20:36 on 09 July 2011

Hi everyone, welcome to the Foulis Excavation Blog for 2011!

Today the first participants in the ARCH dig at Foulis were out on site opening Trench 1. We started the day by looking at the site, discussing the trench locations and our excavation strategy. Participants also got a chance to think about what might have been going on at the site through the different periods of use, helped out by some interesting clues relating to the more recent past from our metal detecting finds. Eric Soane of Highland Historical Search Society, who was on site earlier in the week, found a variety of interesting finds in the topsoil. These included a lead stylus, a George III 'bullhead' coin, a few musket balls in varying states of repair and a shoe buckle. These finds indicate activity on the site through the 18th and 19th centuries.

After a short tea break we got into the de-turfing of Trench 1, an area aimed at investigating the presence (or not) of a ditch around the earthen mound and also attempting to identify any stratigraphy (layers) that might tell us more about the formation of the site. After a flurry of activity that cleared about half the trench a thunder storm arrived, prompting a call for an early lunch! A second tent was put up on site to use for shelter and as it became clear that the weather had set in for a while we called a halt at 2pm.

Lets hope for better weather tomorrow so we can finish the de-turfing and get onto the good stuff. Photographs of the metal detecting finds to follow when the cameras dry out!

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