As the covers go on for the last time this year at Devereux’s Pit, Kathryn Price summarises progress with the excavations of this Lower Palaeolithic site.
The third and final week at Devereux’s Pit has seen the continuation of all hands to trowels in steadily and efficiently excavating the northern and eastern sections of Area I. For the first season of a new excavation, a tremendous amount has been achieved in just a short space of time. Almost 300 artefacts have been recovered, more than 100 samples collected for future sieving and analysis, 10 square metres have begun to be systematically excavated and 28 boreholes have been recorded.
In the eastern area of Area I, the initial humps and bumps of left-over sediment from the old quarry pits were removed, and the whole surface is now being excavated as one large area. As the artefacts begin to emerge, the true nature of their scattering is revealed, and rather excitingly, these are in the sediments overlying what we think to be the main archaeological horizon – the main artefact-yielding horizon is still to come!
In the northern end of Area I, excavations concentrated on expanding the previously-dug test pit to follow the extent of the sediments which first yielded the intriguing 100+ artefacts. As the grey clayey sands were excavated both above and below the artefact-rich stony layer, a high number of artefacts from a relatively small area were again revealed including hard and soft hammer flakes, handaxe thinning flakes and a few pieces of burnt flint. There is still much more to be recovered from this area, as in the eastern part of Area I, the majority of the artefact yielding horizon still remains.
The weather has been very kind to us this week, being dry and sunny with cloud cover just when we needed it to carry out the photogrammetry (phew!). Spirits were high as a healthy competition emerged to who would be the first area to reach artefact number 250 (it was the northern area!) but the prizes of cookies and chocolate were shared by all.
It was with some sadness that the site was covered on the last day of the excavations but with the feeling of a great first season reflecting on all that had been achieved. There was also excitement in the air – of knowing that this was just the beginning of the story of Devereux’s Pit.
