SHARP - Weblog week 3

Week 5 ran very smoothly in terms of the weather with the exception of Friday morning, which saw a number of offsite activities being carried out until morning break when the rain had stopped. Week 5 also saw the "Artefacts and Ecofacts" course running as well as the "B.E.R.T."

The Human Remains team have been recording solidly since week 3 and this week found some very interesting pathological evidence:

Fibula
An isolated fracture was found in the shaft of a right fibula. This type of fracture occurs by direct violence from the side. It would have been painful but not severely incapacitating as the intact tibia will provide support at this level. New bone formation around the fracture has become prominent and solid. This injury may not have been rested at all, thereby providing generous stimulation to heal quickly. This dense, smooth edged callus shows this was a fully recovered and uncomplicated 'old' injury sustained long before the time of death. No other healed fractures or osteophytes around the area of the ankle ligaments were found and there was no sign of joint wear or arthritis to suggest a more severe injury may have happened at the time.

Clavicle
A transverse fracture through the shaft of a left clavicle. Over 90% of modern clavicle fractures occur by a direct blow to the shoulder as in a fall onto the side. Sometimes when falling from a height onto an outstretched hand the force directed up the arm may also produce this kind of injury. The clavicle is a fast healer and treatment is to support the weight of the arm which is pulling the outer end downwards and the shoulder forwards. This can be done with a sling, initially for comfort, until active use can be resumed at the discretion of the injured person. The bridging callus between the parallel shafts has smooth, consolidated edges in this example but the position of the original fracture can still be seen. A prominent lump would have been clearly visible so close under the skin. This is a good, strong union that would leave no disability and happened long before the time of death. -- Ray Baldry

Elsewhere in the parish the Roman Project have been storming ahead with yet more pottery and the back of a Roman brooch that has been dated to the late Iron Age/early Roman. Matt's interpretation of the site is still that of a large farmstead, with his reasoning being that the large cobbled surface is much more likely to have been a yard surface rather than a trackway as it has nowhere to go and is actually within the enclosure. Also this week the Roman Project has uncovered a pit which contained burnt corn and therefore may be representing some form of corn processing going on within the site, also uncovered was a very large posthole with large flint packing which may have been from an earlier phase, however, this posthole was right on the edge of the trench and so whether there are any more postholes to go with the one already discovered will be a question left unanswered.

As for the Boneyard excavations New trench, Old trench and the Baulk had yet another good week. New trench uncovered another skeleton so apologies for lying last week and saying that there weren't any more, the skelly discovered appears to be the remainder of the charnel found in the coffin burial a few weeks ago. Elsewhere on the trench there has been a mass investigation of earlier phases and checking that nothing has been missed in areas which are interpreted as the natural and wont be opened again next year. Also this week has seen our mystery feature, beautifully excavated by Jane and although no conclusions have been firmly made about it, latest interpretation is that it is two postholes. This week also saw the rest of the Baulk disappear as it merges into New trench. As Jonny and his team move further north they are uncovering more and more of the Roman ditch as well as a late Saxon pit and Saxon ditches. One of the Saxon ditches dates to the late Saxon period and appears to be a continuation of the ditch found in New trench. The Old trench has had to put a holt to excavating skellies so that the Human Remains team can actually go home at the end of the season and so have been looking at the Iron Age features within the trench. The main Iron age feature looked at this week was a gully, believed to be the same gully in which the hoard was found in 2003, also this week the Old trench have put two large slots in to look for any prehistory evidence, results of the slots next week!!