December! My second last week

 Week starting 2/12/2024

We began on Monday by finishing the hoeing of area 3B. There were quite a lot of small features exposed that appeared to be pits and post holes with spreads of charcoal scattered across. One very noticeable feature was a gully shaped stretch of charcoal that extended out of the trench, so it won't be possible to fully excavate. The rain came in the afternoon and stopped work for the day so proper excavation of the features will have to continue tomorrow. 

The stone linear in area 3A still needed sections to be excavated, so Gargee and Tom went on with that whilst me Sarah and Mark started on the smaller group of features in area 3B. There were many tags that we'd put down marking where possible features appear, so I started on the edge of the area where the tags were more sparse. Most of these ended up being nothing, after I scraped off the topsoil that appeared a different colour, there was nothing below, although I did get fooled by a couple of stone sockets that I thought may be pits. There were a couple of post holes that I did get to excavate, containing only one fill, so by Naomi's instructions I did not have to draw them. Again, it rained too much in the afternoon so we went inside. 

The next day I started by excavating a large charcoal covered area that could be a pit of some sort. However, I quite quickly realised that it was just in the top layer of soil and was just a spread. This means it was just a pile of charcoal from one of the nearby pits filled with charcoal that had been squashed down and spread out by the soil on top. Sarah had been stuck on a feature for the past couple of days and was getting more and more confused, one post hole had turned into a huge pit, I wasn't convinced that it was a feature. When Naomi returned she explained that there were multiple features within each other and Sarah should have noticed and excavated them one after the other. 

I uncovered a pit that was not originally marked by a tag, it had a soft silty upper fill and a rocky bottom fill, containing basalt, flint and limestone, with occasional charcoal flakes. I half sectioned it, photographed and then drew it up. When fully recorded I excavated the other half. 

My last weekend in Belfast was a good one, all my friends came out on Saturday, including Vishad as he was back from his trip to India. We made it a classic by starting in spoons and making it to Kremlin (the club). I was a very fun one. Sunday I woke up slightly rough but it was my last chance to go and see the murals on Falls road, so this is what I did. Where Shankhill road and Falls road meet there is still a fence and gate separating them, it is quite menacing. There is a long wall that extends into Falls road and around the corner to the main road that is covered in murals, these murals are done by artists that are given permission and a specific space on the wall. The murals change about every 4 years, so most of them here are murals dedicated the Palestine and their war against tyranny. Many of them relating the Irish struggle for independence against the British to Palestine's from Israel.