Freshly Minted: Our first archaeological dig

Well, this past Thursday we returned from our first ever archaeological dig which took place at the Roman fort of Vindolanda, near Hadrian's Wall. We dug for five days and spent five nights at a nearby youth hostel (about a 25 minute walk from the site). We really enjoyed both the digging experience and being able to relax in the Northumberland countryside. Since the whole experience lasted five days, but was largely filled with archaeology and walks through the countryside, I'll just kind of sum up what we did and what we most enjoyed (especially so I don't bore those who aren't as interested in archaeology with tales of digging around in the mud). I'll do this list style...:

-We were blessed with unseasonably warm and sunny weather for much of the time, which was absolutely wonderful as we were outside digging for 6 hours a day. Most days were sunny and gorgeous, with only two cloudy and cooler days. It made the experience much better!

-We took many nice walks along Hadrian's Wall, enjoying both the scenery and the weather. We were lucky because our hostel was near the most picturesque section of the wall. One day after work we even took a three mile walk from the fort of Housesteads back to our hostel (thanks to a ride to Housesteads given by our archaeological supervisor). The many pictures tell the stories better than words.

-It was lambing season, and it was so wonderful to see lots of little lambs bounding, leaping, and playing on the hills, not to mention baaaa-ing in their young voices. It was also very soothing to hear the mooing of cows while we sat in our hostel or walked to the dig. Perhaps not everyone will agree with that sentiment, but we are a pair of country-lovers trapped in the prison of a city center so we quite enjoyed the more relaxed environs.

-There is a really relaxing and friendly pub with a nice country feel just yards from our hostel and we enjoyed going there a few nights with members of the dig. We even had a delicious meal there one night.

-We met many nice people on the dig and really enjoyed bonding with them both while digging and over a pint.

-We saw several beautiful sunsets on the wall, including one night where we hiked up and camped out on the wall just for that purpose, getting back to the hostel just as it was getting too dark to see.

-Since it was so early in the season, there were no bugs out yet! It certainly made the digging experience more bearable.

-Finally regarding the archaeology itself...we both really did enjoy the digging experience and found it both rewarding and entertaining (well, at times). Our first finds included pieces of finger rings, lots of pottery bits, some nails, other iron bits, and burnt bone. We wished we could have stayed on another week and were somewhat sad to be heading back to the city (though I'm sure our sore bodies appreciate the end of the digging and walking).

Anyway, here are some pictures from our trip.

Walking to the hostel the first day, then our first walk along the wall of the trip...