May 23 - May 29 2015
The 'Sutterby Dig' will run from Saturday May 23rd to Friday May 29th. We will be excavating at the west end of Sutterby Church to re-expose the foundation plinth found during the broggling for gravestones last May.
Our trenches are quite small so we will need only five diggers each day, plus two site assistants, each day (although diggers and site assistants can swap about if they are fit and able). Dave Start and Julia Brocklehurst will be the site supervisors.
On the first day we will be de-turfing the area and trowelling back to a level surface. Deturfing can be quite heavy work. On successive days we will be steadily trowelling down in 'spits' (arbitrary layers of 10cms at a time) until we hit archaeology. We will then continue to trowel down, recording the archaeology as we go. Apart from the de-turfing, being a 'digger' involves a lot (I mean a LOT) of kneeling and manual work with the trowel. - You will need to bring working (e.g. gardening) gloves and Knee pads if you have sensitive knees!
Site Assistants will sieve the buckets of soil moved by the diggers, wash any finds recovered (by diggers and in sieves), bag and label dry finds and generally help out.
We will set up a booking system for volunteers (through Denise) and initially you can book for up to 2 days digging (or assisting), but if there is high demand we might have to limit participation to one day only. If demand is low we may ask you if you can do more.
We do not plan to have half day shifts, but if all you can manage is a half day, talk to Denise, who will be sympathetic.
There will be an evening's instructional course on 'How to Dig' on Tuesday May 12th at Swaby Village Hall from 7.30 - 9.30. If you already have some experience of excavation it is not essential to attend the course, but everyone intending to dig will benefit from attending.
You should be up to date with your Tetanus jabs.
We will do our best to be tranquil and quiet during the excavation so as not to disturb the owls and their young. We will hold an Open Day the day after we finish on Saturday 30 May.
To book: contact Denise Wheatley 01790 754079 spiritofsutterby@gmail.com For more information: contact Dave Start 01507 480620 villagesutterby@gmail.com