Most of the nights here have been pretty cold, last night the worst so far, but it's going to be that way again tonight. I have just enough sleeping bag and clothes to stay warm so far. The last three days have been perfect for fieldwork, with very varied weather ranging from bright and sunny to complete cloud cover to even a spot of rain -- if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes for it to change. Working in a castle ward high above the sea on these clear days with dramatic skies is most refreshing.

At tonight's Quiz Night competition, my team placed last, although not terribly: four of six teams scored 33-35 out of 60, but the usual winning team made 44. My team's members completely differed from last time, because they all left on the weekend.

They had me in Trench 3 today, trowelling, which is fine by me. Found a few corroded iron nails, and the usual bones and green-glazed medieval pottery sherds. One of the students next to me found a rather nice bone pin (the kind used for making nets) and literally danced around happily loudly exclaiming she had found something (after I confirmed what it was). This drew the attention of the director who told her with a straight face that it was just a goose bone, disappointing her greatly (he had me going too). He proclaimed that the worked hole in it was for nerves to pass through despite my protests! He can lie very well, and seems to be quite a rascal!


Pano of Trench 8 (taken last week, shored up to prevent collapse, now much deeper)