28th August

With Brockers, Jake, Tav, Nick, and Duncan (for the morning session).

A bit of fettling of the pulley system and hangers beforehand, some discussion about the best position for pulling up the skip, we settled on the diggers hauling the spoil from the bottom of the pot. Jake and Tav were digging for the morning session, I was on the ledge catching the skip and shuttling the bags along to Brockers at the junction. Brockers then dragged the spoil to the bottom of the entrance where he loaded the skip to Nick and Duncan on the surface. It was a busy session.

Lunch was enjoyed in the sunshine this weekend, Duncan had to leave at this point to attend more pressing matters.

For the afternoon session, me and Brockers were digging in the pot, Nick was on the ledge, Tav shuttling from the junction to the entrance, Jake was on the surface.

In the pot, Brockers uncovered several larger rocks that were too big to break-up with the sledge so will require some reduction in size (plugs and feathers) at a later date. Digging is quite easy and still progressing downwards. On the surface, Jake found time to empty the bags in between batches of spoil arriving from below. By the end of the day, quite a lot of bags were emptied onto the spoil heap and more rocks were added to the stockpile, another productive day.

Author: mendipgeoarch

Archaeologist, Geologist, Speleologist