Highlights of the 2001 Season
The major task in 2001 was the excavation of Trench 15, an area 7 metres by 7 metres in the field. This crossed the line of the ditch and was where Magnetrometry had shown up circular features. It was anticipated that this might have been an area containing Roundhouses
An extract form Stuart Holden's report, however, illustrates the complexity of the site and the difficulties of interpretation:
"An average of 0.29m of topsoil was removed down onto the natural sandstone bedrock without any trace of features cut into them....The ditch could be clearly seen cut into the natural rock running east to west across the trench and it was envisaged that the hut circles would be too, however this was not the case...Glacial action had produced mixed soils with fragments of sandstone which, when lying within the depressions in the bedrock, created an illusion of features. Despite careful excavatiuon it was not always possible to distinguish genuine features from those occuring naturally"
By the end of the excavation 14 meters of the ditch had been
exposed, the longest excavated stretch so far. It was found to vary in
width from 1.5 to 2.2m and to average 1.6m deep from the current
ground surface. It appeared to have been cut following natural breaks in the Bedrock, giving a linear characteristic along this length.
It was with great excitement that from the bottom of the trench, towards the eastern end, a number of sherds from the same pottery vessel were found. These were later reconstructed and are now known as the Mellor Pot