St Marys Headland, Seaham,Co.Durham, UK Archaeological Dig - August 1999 Day 7 - Tuesday 24th August 1999
08:30. Mondays forecast was for a sunny day today. In the event it is fine but cloudy and not especially warm. Jim expects that the day will be spent exposing the skeletons which have already been revealed and seeking others in the central part of Trench A. Jo and Trevor would continue in Trench E and look beneath the level at which the stones were found. Morning to Lunchtime.
Right:C5 looks to be buried front-down and the arrows indicate the skull and leg bone of a skeleton beneath. Skelton C6 is buried on its back and there may also be bones present from a skeleton beneath - though this will be best confirmed when C6 is lifted. The whole picture created above is one of some
confusion to the novice. Were family members buried together in graves
or is it just chance that the skeleton beneath were buried and then at
a later date the unmarked ground was used again to bury an unrelated body?
How do the ages of the skeletons compare with one another?
15:30. The skull (A1) in the south-west
corner of Trench A has been further exposed to show the skull and some
backbone. More of the skeleton may be hidden within the walls of the trench.
News of Dig'99 has spread and the number of visitors to the site is increasing daily.
Some of todays visitor were from New Zealand.
"Nice ta see ya folks!" One of the new attractions on the site is
Jenny's sweater. At first sight it just looks colourful but closer examination
shows it to be a "magic ganzie" for repelling rain. Note the coloured
umbrellas - row after row of them. You've seen the weather forecast
if Jenny is wearing the sweater tomorrow AND it doesn't rain then it's
magical powered will have been verified.
Niall announced that the work at Dig'99 has attracted the attention of the BBC TV Archaeology team "Meet the Ancestors". They'll be on site on Thursday. Tomorrow the JCB returns. We'll explain why tomorrow evening.
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