Site Diary: Trench 2

The second main trench takes in some 23 metres of the large Neolithic enclosure that cuts off the cliff itself. Supervised by Jamie Lund and Jim Rylat, the trench was located so that we could look in detail at the structure and history of a decent chunk of this bank, and at the nature of activities both inside and outside of its line. As with Trench 1, we have only scratched the surface so far. However, clear evidence for the robbing of stone to build later walls and perhaps for the digging of wartime foxholes has been identified along the line of the much older bank.

Work so far has confirmed a number of our impressions about the way the bank was put together and the reasons why it is located in the way that it is. The provision of a façade is identifiable in a number of places. It is also clear that the entrance we are excavating is located so as to take advantage of a broad, flat earthfast boulder. This is emerging as a consistent pattern, one seen in earlier excavations, and it suggests choice on the part of those who gathered and built this monument.

This accords rather well with impressions gained through survey, that the bank is laid out to link together prominent natural gritstone outcrops, incorporating them into its' fabric or using them as terminals. The only finds so far comprise small blades and simple tools of flint.