On this day...3rd August

Today we are going to take the opportunity to celebrate bulk finds! Beginning with this wheelbarrow load of daub (left), photographed in 2014. It is the job of our lovely Bren (and helpers, willing or not) to clean, count, weigh and record all bulk finds. Here we see our ‘daub-lady’ (pictured below) enthusing about a particularly large and wattle-marked chunk, much to the amusement of Adrian!

Pottery sherds are also classified as bulk finds. It is not uncommon for decorated pieces to be found, but in 2015 two sherds that were particularly noteworthy for different reasons were discovered from Trench 20 on Chalkpit Field.

The first was this small sherd of stamped Ipswich ware (left), dating to c. AD 720-850. It has been decorated with a circular rouletting design which will have been made by impressing a die, most probably fashioned from wood into the wet clay.

The second is really quite rare (pictured right). It is a sherd from a Buttermarket type bottle, also dating to the Middle Saxon period and named after the excavated kiln in Ipswich where they were produced. These vessels were well-made and highly decorated, with combed geometric incised patterns over most of the body. It is rare for sherds such as these to be found outside Ipswich.

All finds have to be cleaned and we finish today with this busy picture of Gill (left), with several volunteers tackling this task. Don’t they look happy! Must be nearly tea-break 😊