Without the benefit of a geophysical survey, choosing the precise location for the excavation is a little hit and miss and needs plenty of thought. Though the few finds we had discovered lay down towards the stream, we decided to excavate further up the slope on the grounds that the bloomery would most likely have been on slightly higher ground. We nevertheless decided to lay the grid over the lower slope just in case this was incorrect. The site grid was created by triangulation but it was difficult to keep the tapes taught and straight in the breeze. The grid squares were marked with pegs and finally we chose the grid squares which we would excavate first.  Once the grid was in place we decided to survey the levels of the site which had substantial slopes on its eastern and southern sides. As we were short of pegs we had to resort to twigs!     Here are the notes of our levelling survey grid. Click on the images to enlarge. |
