2010 – Day Four

The day started with a fresh wind…. and lots of scarves, hats and hot coffee.

With the joy lingering of finally reaching the natural layer the day before, the morning started with a new trench being dozed so that a clear view through the natural layer could be seen. The first part of the morning was spent cleaning out the trench – removing excess soil and straightening up the sides – good archaeological practice which helps to see the changes in the walls of the stratagraphic units. There was a large piece of wood across the ditch and this had to be dug around. Unfortunately this piece of wood was nothing to get excited about.

Dozing the new trench	Finding the Log of wood	Examining the Log of wood

The first Feature found in this trench was another post hole. The post holes are believed to be from the Put-Put course that was in this area until the mid 1990s. As in previous days this Feature was marked with pink flags.

In the meantime, across the creek, outside the Redcliffe Museum another Trailer Dig was going on.  A second group of Clontarf Beach High School Year 8 students had descended on the Trailer known to contain exotic Egyptian relics. Once again, Museum volunteers trained by Abbey Museum staff were guiding the students through their first ‘Dig’.

After a two hour dig session, the students made their way over to the ‘real’ dig and were taken on a tour of the site by Lead Archaeologist, Jon Prangnell.

 Meanwhile, it was determined that the fire pit found on the Day One was sitting on top of the natural layer. Fire can be recognised by charcoal and earth that has been burnt an orange colour. This can clearly be seen in the stratagraphic layer below.

The natural layer, running across the trench,  was bound on two sides with layers of clay ‘fill’ from sewer works so it was decided to extend the trench to the south. This can just be seen in the middle photo below, outlined in yellow paint extending left of the front edge of the trench. At the same time soil tests were being undertaken. Soil samples are mixed with water and the consistency then helps to determine what type of soil it is.

Fire layer seen in stratigraphy	The next trench – yellow line	Testing soil

After lunch, the new trench was dozed.

During the afternoon, Pam Armstrong, Senior Manager Cultural Services, was invited to dig out the post hole uncovered in the morning. In the 15 minutes that Pam was on site she discovered the oldest artefact found so far – a green bottle neck dated 1870 – 1910. According to Jon, the style of the lip, which was hand formed onto a machined moulded bottle, dated the bottle closer to 1870 than to 1910.

Eureka! we are in early Redcliffe.  But not quite First Settlement which is dated 1824 -182.

Yet another extension to the trench is made, forming an ‘L’ shape to the new section. This is crossed by water pipes that presumably fed the water pond in the Put Put.  The trench also revealed another post hole. The rest of the afternoon was spent cleaning up the new trenches ready for some ‘real’ excavation work on Day 5 – our last day.

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