I attended a Flint Knapping Workshop at Butser Ancient Farm (Chalton,
Hampshire) today. The rest of the team were at Hallowe’en Rift, the following summary
of the morning’s activities penned by Tav:
“Tav, Duncan, Brockers, Jon, Jake and Alex
Tav installed the hose extension into the old dig (which in the
end wasn’t needed) and then headed up to the Cold Gnarly North armed with the
new pump and main hose, which Dunc straightened out to ease the flow of water.
While Tav pumped the pool, the rest of the team continued work in the
Soft South (Jon’s report to follow). The new pump worked very well and cleared
almost all the water until it finally became blocked with slurry when down to
the final dregs. Both pump and hose were later removed for cleaning. With the
water gone, Tav set about clearing the bang debris, which was strewn quite a
long way down the crawl in mostly handy plate-sized lumps. A few larger pieces
were levered off the roof and wall, but these were easily broken up with a lump
hammer. It proved a long drag back down the crawl and across the bed of the
ex-lake, to reach the skip which Dunc hauled up from his familiar position on
the corner. However, all proceeded smoothly and by close of play all the bang
debris had successfully been removed.”
Jon’ account of the morning’s activities:
“While
Tav and Duncan addressed matters in the Cold Gnarly North, the rest of
the team (Jon, Paul, Jake and Alex) resumed work in the Soft South.
Jake
returned to underground duties, initially working at the junction.
Alex, who cycled to the morning’s activities, was lightly dressed and
only ventured to
the bottom of the entrance shaft. That left Paul and Jon once again
working at the dig face…
…until
the music stopped. The first time this happened, Alex found himself at
the surface, with Duncan at the bottom of the entrance. The second
time, Duncan
had returned North, Jake was at the bottom of the entrance and Jon was
at the junction. At the third time of asking, Alex and Jake shared
surface duties Jon loaded at the entrance and Paul manned the junction…
…and so on.
Total tally for the day from both ends was 70 bags and 16 rocks.
Another useful session.”
