And so, the first official week of JAM has reached its conclusion, and by gosh was it beyond expectations.
Image: The skull of the Venerable Bede himself!
You may have seen our early update in the week, and we at Jarrow Hall commend and honestly admire the people of Jarrow’s commitment to the bit. I can quite honestly say that this was perhaps the funniest thing I have ever found on an archaeological site, but we have to reiterate; please DO NOT enter the site after hours!
Doing so puts you at risk of injury when there is no-one to help you and although entering the site after hours also poses a risk to archaeology; you are far more valuable!
If you are really curious about what we’re doing, come during the day for a chat, or sign up to volunteer on site.
Oh and the Mayor was also on site!
Image: Mayor of South Tyneside, Jay Potts, visited site for the official opening.
As for dig updates; we had another great day with the Veterans’ Archaeology Association North East, who will be joining us on Mondays throughout September. With their help, we were able to finish de-turfing our main trench: hopefully the first Trench of many for JAM.
Image: Getting ready to remove the last bits of topsoil from Trench 1.
We have found a surprising amount of material just in the topsoil, including what the author likes to call, “The Forbidden Snack Tray”; a mysterious sealed tin and a pop bottle with residue adhered to the base.
Image: The Mysteriously heavy recovered during de-turfing.
The tin in particular caused some consternation amongst the JAMFam as there was potential that it contained a hazardous substance or was even some kind of battery. However, after research and discussion it was decided that the tin should be opened to determine whether its contents were shelf stable and wouldn’t pose a greater risk by being left to degrade in our storeroom.
Image: Opening the Tin.
We proceeded to open the tin with the VAANE, who were quickly able to identify the object as an intact World War 1 or World War 2 ration tin, completely with mushy biscuits. This makes perfect sense, as the area of Drewett’s’ park was used extensively during World War 2, and is known to have been the location of temporary buildings as well as multiple Barrage Balloons; designed to deter enemy aircrafts. This forgotten ration tin is an artefact from Jarrow’s War time history which we are now working to preserve.
Image: The contents of the ration tin, we can make out some individual items within the tin, but all are highly degraded.
We were also unfortunately rained off site on Wednesday so seized the opportunity to do some artefact processing in Jarrow Hall; sorting through what we had recovered from the topsoil. We sorted and washed our finds, separating anything which might be of particular interest for study.
Images: The JAMFam cleaning and sorting finds at Jarrow Hall.
This is a slow-going, but important part of the archaeological process, and is often the time where we get to have a closer look at what we’ve recovered and start to make sense of it all. It’s also a great excuse to drink tea, eat biscuits and chat out of the rain.
We were also joined by Dake from the collections team, who is on a student placement with Jarrow Hall to make 3D models of the items in our collection. He began making a 3D model of our rations tin and was kind enough to walk us through the process of 3D photogrammetry from start to finish.
Image: creating a 3D model of the WW2 ration tin.
Archaeology is a destructive process, and even a visual comparison of the contents of the tin between when it was opened and now shows a marked difference in its contents as they begin to dry out and degrade. By using techniques such 3D modeling we can create the most accurate set of records possible to ensure that the information the object might contain is preserved for archaeologists of the future.
As the weekend draws near, we hope to record Trench 1 prior to excavation. Traditionally this is done with photography and a scale plan drawing, usually 1:20 or 1:50, and recording sheets (yay paperwork!) but as this is an early update, you’ll have to wait until next week to catch a glimpse at all of that exciting stuff.