Boxford

Author: boxfordparish (Page 3 of 11)

Dig Day 8 Visited by Aunty Beeb

28th August 2019 /

Anthony Beeson being interviewed by BBC South Today (to be screened on Friday)

Freya

Matt

Joy

Fay and Emma

Washing the floor for the first time in 1700 years

A visit to the site today by Alan Baylis and his wife Margaret. Alan and his family had farmed the Mud Hole field for many generations. It was he who pointed out the true location of the villa in the field

Some of David’s photos below of the “workers” yesterday when it was so hot.

Whilst some took a moment or two to chill!

Matt and Tina carefully extricating the metal hoard found in the wall yesterday by Alex.

Photos above from David and Richard

Coin photo and research thus far by Chris

Boxford Dig day 7 – the mosaic revealed

27th August 2019 /

At the beginning of the day Matt set the diggers a task of removing the last of the debris from the mosaic……..by the time of the morning break! It focussed minds and all heads were down and working hard.

But we did it!

Next it was down to fine brushing in preparation for several sponge downs!

In the meanwhile, Alex had found a metal stash in the mosaic room wall – who put it there? Was this at the end of the Roman era, from someone using a derelict villa to hide it, in a chaotic cashless society when bartering would have been important?

Hook or earring? Made of copper so possibly the latter.

This tool was also found but is it Roman? Possibly Victorian left by the farmer putting in the land drain.

A message across the centuries – one that we still have to decipher!

Photos today from Richard and Chris

Dig day 6 – Phew what a scorcher!

26th August 2019 /

Brilliant shot of the site

Some Roman put his foot in it – you can see the hobnails

Absolute miracle that this ring came to whole considering the mattocking!

Some of the finds processing team

Anthony happy in his work cleaning and deciphering the images on the mosaic

Patiently cleaning back the mosaic

Photos from David and Richard with thanks

Day 5 – Saturday -The Reveal begins!

25th August 2019 /

Considering it’s only day 5 (week 1) of the dig, it’s really amazing just how much has been accomplished. Thanks to all diggers, sievers, washers and recorders for all they have done over the past week – it has exceeded expectations. By the end of the day, nearly half the mosaic had been exposed – thankfully in pretty good order and the finds processing team has kept up with what has been coming out of the ground. People found themselves stopping work and gazing at what was being revealed but we will have to resist that temptation if we are going to be able display the mosaic in all its glory and to Matt’s satisfaction for the Open Day on Saturday 31st August.

The Boxford contingent

I am sure there was a wall there!

Without the sponsors we would not be here

A Telemon appears with eyes, belly button and all!

Photos today from Mike, Joy and David

Day 4 for diggers

23rd August 2019 /

Despite a very warm day Matt was well pleased with progress. Everyone headed for shade at lunchtime.

Mortarium pieces?

Rather grisly selection but there have been a lot of bones!

and sadly some of these tesserae – that should be in the mosaic.

Photos from Joy, Helen and Liz

Morning briefing from Matt

  • A break from mattocking
  • Admiring the view
  • That front door is here somewhere
  • What did you say this was?
  • Harvesting in the adjacent field
  • Looking for shade
  • Hive of industry
  • A swinging sieve!
  • The 3 Mattockeers

Thanks to David for Friday’s photos

Day 3 for Diggers

22nd August 2019 /

Good progress made today, good weather, good company and even some finds.

The very keen return quickly after the tea break.

Jim with some serious help from Joel in trench 1.

That wretched land drain again!

Very nice little Roman brooch – still in working order.

Photos today from Richard

Day 2 for diggers

21st August 2019 /

Great progress so early in the dig although trench 1 turned into a serious mattocking day!

Matt and Sam deliberating
Gently does it!
Walls showing up clearly in trench 2
Aerial view of both trenches
An unexpected find – an antler in trench 2
Finds cleaning – somebody’s got to do it!

Photos kindly supplied by David and Richard

Day 1 for diggers!

20th August 2019 /
Diggers on the march!
Matt’s morning briefing
The mosaic trench (2) is on the left. The righthand trench is through the middle of the villa
Men and women at work!
A big boot find in trench 1 – actually on a wall!

A really successful day with all hands working hard to clean the trenches and some good pottery and glass finds.
It was really great to be able to catch up on lots of news with friends from the previous digs and we welcomed several newcomers too.

We made a start to MHV19!

19th August 2019 /

A terrific start to the dig! Marquees, Gary’s tent and our Sponsors Board all up on Saturday; loos, tools and equipment delivered today – so we look very posh! To cap it all, Matt spotted that red tesserae border as Scud was excavating the mosaic trench.

  • Scud on the Mosaic trench

But this time it’s in a different place – we can see it clearly up against the party wall to the adjoining room and it looks fine. So here’s hoping the central panels will be as good.

The red tesserae border
Matt – A happy man!

Photos thanks to Dave

BOXFORD DIG – OPEN DAY

7th August 2019 /

Boxford’s community project to fully excavate the Bellerophon Mosaic in the local Roman villa will be starting soon. Also in the planning is an Open Day for members of the public to see this extraordinary mosaic for themselves. The date has been set as Saturday August 31st and the site will be open from 10am to 4pm.

The mosaic only partially uncovered in 2017 due to time constraints, was considered by experts to be the most important Roman mosaic found in the UK for the last fifty years. It depicts many scenes from Greek myths – almost like a story book or a cartoon strip on the floor. The chief character is the celebrated flying knight of Greek myth – Bellerophon, son of the god Poseidon who is frequently portrayed on the back of the winged horse Pegasus.

Volunteers return this year in the hope that the remainder of the mosaic is undamaged and when fully uncovered will perhaps reveal the owner of this modest villa. From the little we have seen so far, he must have been well educated and probably well travelled. Why did he come to Boxford and what happened to the villa are questions that still hang in the air.

Below: Richard Miller’s photo from 2017

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