Category Archives: Trainees

Kilns and kiln furniture!

By Kelly Corlett-Slater

I am a History and Archaeology student at Bishop Grosseteste University and I have been volunteering at Allen Archaeology for four weeks during the summer holidays. During my time here I have been doing post-excavation finds processing with Archive Supervisors Yvonne Rose and Cova Escandon; washing and marking finds from a late Roman kiln site in north Lincolnshire.

My favourite artefacts so far have been large fragments of ‘kiln furniture’ which now appear as very heavy, dark grey pieces of baked clay which would have formed part of the internal workings of a Roman kiln. These would have been in the form of kiln supports, a floor, and possible dividers or ‘wheels’ where the pottery was placed for firing. These were covered in powdery black silt which was easy to wash off. When these artefacts were clean and dry, the evidence as to how they were made becomes apparent. I was able to distinguish the folds in the clay, the fingerprints of the potter or kiln-maker, and the indent marks of straw and twigs that would have occurred when the clay was first used to line the kiln.

Kiln furniture from a site in North Lincolnshire

Allen Archaeology’s trainee Roman pottery specialist, Alice Beasley, explained how the kiln would have looked and functioned, describing how the repeated firing of the kiln would have melted the inclusions within the clay giving it an overall denser and darker appearance.

At least 4,500 sherds of pottery have been recovered surrounding the six kilns on site, with many pieces showing evidence of unsuccessful firing. These have bubbles on both the inner and outer surface that have expanded and exploded in the kiln during firing. To me these are more fascinating than successfully fired pieces of pottery! These unsuccessful broken sherds occur when the potter has not sufficiently beaten the clay to remove excess air bubbles or if sufficient temperatures have not been reached during the firing process.

Pottery sherds showing evidence of unsuccessful firing

Having just completed Antony Lee’s Roman Archaeology module at BGU, I learnt a lot about the different types of Roman pottery found in Lincolnshire and how they were made. Volunteering at Allen Archaeology has compounded this knowledge giving me the wonderful opportunity to have hands on experience with these artefacts and having experts answering my many questions. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here and look forward to returning to do some more voluntary work in the future.

Our Volunteering Experience

By Roksana P. Drobinoga and Louise Wood

We have just finished our first year on the BA Conservation of Cultural Heritage degree course at the University of Lincoln and decided to do some volunteering work during the summer break to improve our knowledge of areas related to the conservation field and to see what happens to the objects before they get to the specialists.

On our first day we started with the Archive Supervisor, Yvonne Rose, explaining what happens to the objects when they arrive from the sites currently being excavated. We were given a tour of the building and shown the offices, the artefact processing room where the objects are cleaned and placed in trays according to their site codes and context numbers, and the drying room where the artefacts are left on designated shelves and in appropriate environmental conditions. We were also shown a number of artefacts which have already been processed and are in storage; for example, Saxon brooches and Roman hair pins. Later, objects are numbered and bagged ready to be given to the archive supervisor to be catalogued before being sent to specialists for further examination.

Our role was finds processing which meant that we were responsible for cleaning the artefacts after they had arrived from site, marking them once they were dry, and bagging them in preparation for cataloguing. We have learnt that each type of material has to be treated differently. For example, you cannot mark shell or human bone and you cannot wash metal objects. We now have a better understanding of the marking/numbering and cataloguing processes.

Roksana (left) and Louise (right) cleaning objects in the artefacts processing room

Our experience with Allen Archaeology has been educational and informative and it was fascinating to handle objects that have been hidden away for hundreds of years! It was interesting to meet some of the archaeologists, hear their stories and learn about their work. In the future, when we receive historic artefacts to work on as part of our course or careers, we will know how much the object has been through and how many people have been involved before it reaches us.

Weekly Round-up

Following on from yesterday’s ‘Ask and Archaeologist’ day we thought we’d do a little office round up to give you an insight into what our staff have been working on this week!

Our Finds and Archive Department have been busy this week preparing finds for archive deposition and preparing material to go off to the relevant specialists. We have also had a number of volunteers come to work with us from the University of Lincoln over the past month and this week we welcomed Roksana and Louise who have been washing various finds from some of our recent sites and marking the pottery ready for archive deposition.

Roksana and Louise marking some pottery from a recent site

The head of our geophysics team, Rob, has been doing some digitisation for a large linear infrastructure site in Lincolnshire as well as doing a watching brief in a small village just outside Lincoln. Mia, one of our Project Supervisors, has been busy working on some building recording reports for a range of sites in Lancashire and Cambridgeshire.

Rob of our Geophysics team looking very studious!

The Heritage Research Team (affectionately known as Heritage HQ) have been working on a variety of desk-based assessments for sites in Nottinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, and Lancashire. Heritage team member Harvey has been out visiting sites in Cambridgeshire and Nottinghamshire and has discovered some interesting cropmarks just outside of the Cambridgeshire Archives at Shire Hall which relate to the site of the old county prison. He thought it might have been a Roman building associated with a known Roman settlement to the north. Better luck with your interpretation next time Harvey, it happens to the best of us! Thanks to the effect of the hot weather on the ground, a lot of cropmarks have now become clearly visible across the UK.

Possible cropmarks visible outside of the Cambridgeshire Archives

And of course, our field teams have been busy across the country! With sites in Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire (amongst others!) our field archaeologists have been working hard to excavate and record an array of archaeological features. We’ve also had some great finds from our sites this week, including some complete Roman vessels from a site in Lincolnshire!

Our field team having fun on site in Leicestershire

So it has been a busy week for us all here at Allen Archaeology and with the food festival coming to Lincoln this weekend I’m sure a few of our staff will be visiting!

Best Site Hut Biscuit with Hazel

Introducing Hazel Taylor, Trainee Project Archaeologist

What is your job role?

Trainee Project Archaeologist

How long have you worked for Allen Archaeology?

6 weeks

How would describe your excavation technique?

I try to find an edge and work from there… although my sections definitely need work!

How long have you been working in archaeology?

6 weeks but I did two training excavations with my university whilst studying for my degree in History and Archaeology

How did you get into archaeology?

By watching a lot of TimeTeam and visiting Pompeii and Herculaneum as part of a Latin trip when I was at school

What is the best thing about your job?

Learning lots of different skills like using GIS

Specialist skills?

Being able to get mud all over my face and arms without even knowing how it got there…

Best site hut biscuit?

It’s hard to choose between a chocolate bourbon or a fruit shortcake!

An introduction to finds processing and conservation

By Lucie (Volunteer from the University of Lincoln)

I’m currently studying for a degree in Conservation of Cultural Heritage at the University of Lincoln and have just finished my second year. As part of the course I have to do a six week work placement to gain some experience of working in the world of conservation, and as I hope to specialise in archaeological conservation when I graduate, I chose to come to Allen Archaeology. This seemed like a perfect opportunity to not only see how a commercial archaeology company works but also to get some hands-on experience.

I’ve been working in the finds department, processing the finds which involves cleaning bags and bags of objects that have come from the various sites that the company are excavating. So far this has mostly comprised sherds of pottery and animal bones along with a few iron nails and pieces of ceramic building material (CBM). Once the finds are clean and dry they are marked and repackaged in labelled bags ready to be archived.

However, it’s not all been bits of broken pottery. I was lucky enough to be given a large Iron Age bowl to work on that had been excavated from one of the sites and was still encased in the clay soil from which it had come from. I carefully removed the soil layer by layer using various tools from my conservation tool kit to ensure there was nothing else within the soil and also to ensure that I didn’t cause any damage.

Conservation of the Iron Age pot in progress

Details of the ‘slash-ware’ start to emerge!

Once as much of the soil as possible had been removed and the pot had had a chance to dry out a little I washed the remaining soil off it using a toothbrush and left it to dry thoroughly. After it had been cleaned there was a pattern visible on the outer surface which is apparently called slash-ware because it looks like it has been slashed. To be one of the first people to see it since it went into the ground is a real thrill and for me, part of the excitement of working with archaeological finds.

Pottery sherds after conservation

I’m really enjoying my time here, getting to be hands on with the finds is great and to be given objects that are thousands of years old to clean is a dream come true for me as this is a job I have wanted to do since I was young.

Best site hut biscuit with Ben

Introducing Ben Lang, Trainee Project Archaeologist

What is your job role?

Trainee Archaeologist

How long have you worked for Allen Archaeology?

2 ½ weeks

How would describe your excavation technique?

Methodical clearing of half the feature in question, followed by measuring and recording the feature.

How long have you been working in archaeology?

One-year commercial work plus I have volunteered on university lead excavations as early as 2011 when I was still doing my BSc (Hons) Archaeology degree.

How did you get into archaeology?

I first started Archaeology as one of my A levels in 2008 before doing a BSc (Hons) Archaeology degree while also volunteering with university lead project abroad. I also had prior experience doing volunteer work with an archaeologist friend in Switzerland helping to reconstruct metal smelting kilns and techniques from his excavation in Cyprus.

What is the best thing about your job?

All the experience I’m learning

Specialist skills?

3D laser scanning, good with computers

Best site hut biscuit?

Chocolate digestives