East Kirk of St Nicholas dig 6th - 10th November 2006 - Week 41
East Kirk of St Nicholas dig 6 to 10 November – Week 41
First of all let me show you some pictures of the little 12th century silver cross which was found late last Friday. I took it straight to the Conservation Lab at Marischal Museum, but of course it was photographed in the ground before that. The first picture shows both the cross and part of its copper alloy chain.
On Monday, further careful excavation showed it was round the neck of the person who was buried wearing it. In the next photo you may be able to see the very decayed remains of the jaw and the teeth, with another part of the chain which had just been revealed before the picture was shot. The chain has turned green as a result of burial, as copper alloy objects always do.
I’m really looking forward to seeing the cross and chain after they’ve been stabilised and cleaned. When that’s done, we may be able to include them in our exhibition ‘Early Glimpses: excavations at St Nicholas Church 2006’, which opens to the public at Provost Skene’s House, Guestrow on Saturday 11 November. I hope that lots of people will visit. There’s a special incentive to go on Tuesday 14 November, because Alison Cameron, the excavation director, is leading three tours of the display, at 11.30, 12.30 and 2.30. Each tour lasts about half an hour and is free of charge– but Ali can only take 12 people on each one, so you must book in advance, on (01224) 641086.
The exhibition summarises the results of the dig so far, but also outlines the main elements of ‘post-excavation’ – the in some ways less glamorous but equally exciting and certainly essential process of conservation, historical research, finds, architectural and skeletal analysis, and illustration, by which a massive amount of data is creatively turned into a coherent story. Who knows what exciting discoveries are still to be made, as evidence from documents is measured against finds in the ground; as plans are checked and objects drawn; as layers of dirt are painstakingly tweaked from delicate objects in the Conservation Lab; and as over 800 skeletons are examined at Glasgow University?
And for the next few weeks, there’s still work continuing on site too. We’re not sure yet what to make of the next two photos. In the first one I expect you can see a circular or oval shape which has been cut by later burials.
It’s composed of two layers, a lower ashy deposit containing fish bones, with an overlay of mussel shells, more clearly visible in the second picture.
We’ve found both those layers before. Previously the mussels seemed to be covering a grave, while the ‘fishy’ layer was cut through by graves. We’ve more digging to do before we can sort this out – but all these layers seem to related to activities in the graveyard outside the early 12th century apse.
For a long time we and the site engineers have been talking about taking down the little stone structures which blocked the doorways that once led from the 15th century choir into St Mary’s Chapel. This week the one on the south side was removed by the contractors, with the archaeological team supervising and recording the process.
You can see the bottom layer of the blocking structure as well as the temporary wooden shuttering put up by the contractors to protect St Mary’s Chapel and the Fair Trade shop within it, just the other side of the doorway.
We’re now carefully taking away the archaeological layers below the stonework in the hope of finding clues as to how people got to the doorway from the floor of the 15th century choir above. We thought we had one possible solution. We imagined that the south wall of the choir (to right of the doorway you’ve been looking at) might have the ‘shadow’ of a flight of four steps visible in it. In the next photo, to right of the scale, you can see the lower part of a blocked window, which regular readers will realise they’ve seen before, I’m sure!
Can you see to right of the window an irregularity in the stonework which might suggest to an archaeologist desperate to discover a flight of steps that they’d found one, lit in some way by the window?!
The 19th century builders of the curved stone structure which blocked the doorway re-used several worked stones, including the one in the next photo. Did this charming face come from St Mary’s Chapel somewhere, or was it a decorative feature within the 15th century choir which the same workmen had just demolished?
STOP PRESS at 2.30pm Friday 10th
Still on the subject of stairs….a phone call from the site reveals that the vaulted staircase leading to the doorway to St Mary’s Chapel on the north side survives and has just been opened up!
For further information and comment, please contact judiths@aberdeencity.gov.uk: 01224 523658.
East Kirk of St Nicholas Week 41
