10th August

Vince, Jon, Jake, and Brockers

Went to the cave early to carry up the ‘new’ skips and to tidy up the mess I had left on Thursday. Replaced the skip between the top of the pot and the entrance as that was in an especially ‘sorry state’. I wondered if the team would realise there were ‘fresh’ skips as there was an aroma now pervading the cave in this area anyway! All done I made my way to the dig beyond Trick or Treat (ToT) where I bagged the loose sediment after sifting through it and picking out a few more bone fragments. Some more photos were taken including the cleaned N facing section and bone location, and a bearing of passage direction (dig(s) trending towards east and southeast).

Annotated survey 10th August 2024

The area where the faunal remains appear to be more frequent was covered over with plastic bags and fixed into place with some long plastic tent pegs. Digging could then continue so I swapped place with Jon (the team had arrived, and they had noticed the ‘fresh’ skips!). Jon got on with digging, I hauled away the bags and passed them back to Jake. He carried them across the chamber to Brockers on the other side of the hump. Brockers transported the bags along to the pot. When time allowed Jake went with Brockers to get the filled bags up on to the ledge.

Digging activity was ceased at about midday to get the bags out of the cave and up to the surface where they could be emptied – 53 bags were filled, hauled, and emptied today. More bone fragments were recovered from the spoil heap. Bags empty and hung up, it was time to depart, get changed, and reconvene at the Hunters’ for refreshments.