Its been a while since the Cosmeston dig finished so I am going to bring everything I have together in this blog to kind of finalise the excavation then continue onto some other things I have been doing.
The Cosmeston dig turned out to be a very successful research project. We did indeed locate the manor house or "Cosmeston Castle" as it was known. The main exterior wall was clear to see with the internal floor surface showing as a compacted clay with possible hearths and burning events. During the last few days I found a possible stake hole while cleaning up an area supposed to be the outside of the building. This adds to the evidence that it was outside and also aids interpretation of what the area may have been used for or looked like.
The small finds were much fewer than were found in the earlier season, but in my opinion the actual archaeology we found was much better and answered more questions. Shiny objects are great but they would be useless without features such as walls and pits to be able to relate or tie them back to. However, I know how much everyone likes to see (not so) shiny (anymore) objects. Here are a couple that were found towards the end of the excavation as we were getting down onto better archaeology.
I hope I will be able to find the rest of the photos I took from Cosmeston. The final pictures from the trench just before we left illustrate how much work was put into the dig. Even though the weather was quite hot, we got so much done. The excavations at Cosmeston, will (I believe) continue for at least one more year. So hopefully, even if I dont get the chance to dig there, I can update you with how our interpretation of this site changes in the future.
Just incase the pictures of the artefacts weren't enough for you, here are some Cosmeston archaeologists bidding you a fond farewell. Please be warned not all archaeologists look this good ;o)
