Ivan Clowsley

Have trowel will travel!

It's Sunday night and I’m watching tv with the Mrs. It’s 10 pm; bedtime soon.

I check my phone: A message from Penny!

“Are you busy tomorrow?”

“Why’s that?” says I.

“Tim’s asking – we need another digger tomorrow’.

Any chance of a proper sleep that night was now over. I’d have to speak to work, but I doubt I’d get a reply at this time of night, but I’ll try anyway.

After a restless night, I look at my phone at around 6 am and yes; I can have the day off: thanks boss!

I jump out of bed, text Penny to say I’ll be there, pack my bags and I’m off to Banburyshire, as the locals call it.

The scene that greeted me as I walked across the wheat fields.

Warning I am not paid for this endorsement, but what a brilliant app. What.3words is it guides you to within 3 metres of anywhere you want to go. Which is handy when your destination is in the middle of a farmer’s field!

One reservation. It was going to be hot, very hot. Would there be any shade?

I arrived on site about 10.30 and digging was underway already, but there was a much smaller crew than was usual for a Time Team dig.

There was some shade, a gazebo had been erected, and there was lots of water provided. Tim asked me to put up another gazebo, then I did some sieving: or at least I tried to. The soil was just lumps of clay, baked rock hard, which was terrible for trying to sieve. Then Tim called me over and I was placed in the thick of it; helping to excavate the Sarcophagus with Derek, Lawrence and Pete.

We carefully worked around the broken pieces of the lid and removed them.

When bits of bone started to appear, Naomi came in to help excavate these.

I then started to work with Pete on revealing a quadrant of the outside of the Sarcophagus. It was boiling hot, and sweat was dripping down my nose. I took frequent drink and shade breaks and was relieved when time was called we then went to the pub.

The Saye and Sele Arms opened specially for us. The landlord was a genial host and served us pints of the local ale, which went down a treat. I think that was called Saye and Sele Ale! - Popular names in these parts, as these are the names of the owners of Broughton Castle.

In the beer garden, a scene was shot discussing the day’s proceedings and wearily, we went to our hotel to clean up.

Archaeology, especially Time Team, is very social as you all know, and after an excellent curry we returned to the hotel for a sing song; accompanied by Tim and camera, sound, drone and Guru Steve, on guitar.

These sing songs are something of a tradition, but we were all exhausted and didn’t sing for long as we couldn’t keep our eyes open any longer!

Naomi lifts the bones as the team watch on.

The next day meant an early start: After a hearty full English breakfast, it was back to the site. Fortunately, we had some cloud around today which hopefully meant it wouldn’t be quite so hot. We carried on where we had left off yesterday – we still had quite a lot to get done. We were looking for the grave cut, which we’d found on one side of the Sarcophagus. We also needed to get to the bottom of the Sarcophagus to reveal its depth.

It was a humid today, so we needed to keep hydrated and as it was quite a small space to work in, we worked in shifts with the help of the Itinerary History and Archaeology Society, (ITHAS) volunteers to shift the soil and help clean the outside of the Sarcophagus, whilst, Naomi and Lawrence continued to work on its contents.

As we beavered away, we could see the chisel marks made by the stone mason. When we reached the base of the Sarcophagus and compared it to the inside where the bones were sitting, we were quite amazed to see how deep the base was. We also revealed a quite narrow `cut` at the end of the Sarcophagus which meant that when the grave was dug out back in the 3rd/4th century AD, they must have eased the Sarcophagus in from the side. It must have been a hell of a weight, and it was suggested with accurate measurements, an approximate weight could be worked out.

While we worked on the outside, Lawrence and Naomi continued excavating the inside of the Sarcophagus, carefully identifying and lifting the bones. I said to Naomi that this was a once in a lifetime experience and she agreed that it was why she loved Time Team; so many unique experiences. Pete and I were uncovering several different burnt areas around the grave, which were thought to be evidence of offerings made around the Sarcophagus to the lady buried there, or perhaps evidence of Roman barbeques!

Samples of charcoal, along with soil from under the Sarcophagus were taken for analysis to determine their composition.

The afternoon was taken up filming between rain showers and low flying aircraft interrupting the proceedings, then backfilling began, ably assisted by a very friendly digger driver, Jon.

And so, after two intensive, sweltering days of digging, it was over. What a fantastic dig.

What a lucky boy I am!

Thanks to Penny Lock for the use of her photographs.

Update; This article was written before the announcement that these smaller digs would become a regular part of the digging calendar; and a Name has been announced too; the Time Team Expedition Crew!

We’ve also had the news that Tony Robinson will be involved again on the Time Team specials.

Lots to look forward to in 2023.

Join up and help make more Time Team digs happen with Patreon!