VOLUNTEER archaeologists are brimming with enthusiasm over some exciting finds made within days of starting an excavation.
Roman pottery shards and handmade nails are among the items that have been found by Altogether Archaeology at Gueswick Hills, near Cotherstone.
It is the third time that the group has dug trenches at the site, which is believed to have been an Iron Age hilltop fort.
The latest area of excavation covers an area where magnetometry survey was carried out by the group in the spring.
Two trenches are being dug with one over what they believe may have been a roundhouse, and the other crosses over a series of three ditches.
Of the pottery that has been uncovered, Altogether Archaeology chairman Tony Metcalfe said: “The piece has the rim of a mortarium – a rough bottom bowl used for cooking.”
Field lead Dr Martin Green added that it was similar to Roman pottery found at Catterick and Piercebridge.
He said: “We are really pleased how things are going, only a few days into the dig.”
The excavations cover three weeks. Items found last year were sent away for analysis and radiocarbon dating, including an animal bone which dates to 7AD. It was found in a ditch.
Dr Green said: “It means the ditch was used 50 years before the Romans arrived – so it’s late Iron Age.”
He added that the bones were packed tightly in the ditch to support the palisade that surrounded the settlement.
Dr Green said: “The palisade around the hilltop was probably to keep out wolves, as well as for security.”
Also interesting was the types of bones discovered which were analysed by renowned animal bones specialist Louisa Gidney.
Dr Green said they include sheep, horse, cattle, pig and goat. Soil sample analysis showed evidence of hazelnut shells and spelt.
Dr Green said: “There was mixed farming here with a range of farm animals.”
Items gathered at the site showed it was inhabited for more than 500 years.
Dr Green said the bone showed it was used in the late Iron Age, and the pottery indicted Roman times, and an annular brooch found last year dates to the early medieval era.
He added: “It is a type that was in use from AD450 to AD550, just after the Romans left.”
Anyone interested in getting involved can visit altogetherarchaeology.org or email Dr Martin Metcalfe at altogetherarchaeology@gmail.com.
