Photo 1
On Sunday 3rd August, the site was open to the public, and we counted over 500 visitors. Here, James Cheetham explains a group of visitors what has been found in Trench 7.
Photo 2
The Open Day was also attended by the Doncaster Community Arts who provided a range of activities for children from Askern Ward, and other local organisations
Photo 3
As part of our work, we excavated parts of the terminals of the ditches in Trench 3. These ditches provide excellent opportunities for palaeoenvironmental sampling, which was undertaken this week.
Photo 4
The outer ditch terminal provided a some surprises: two skulls were found here, one with some neck vertebrae in place. Further analysis will be used to found out what happened to the men or women whose skulls were buried here. There is no doubt that they date to the Iron Age.
Photo 5
During this week, we began the back filling of the site - here the spoil of Trench 5 is being returned. The site will be restored to what is was before we started our large-scale excavations, and it will be managed by the Carstairs Countryside Trust, ensuring the protection of the remaining features of the site. For the larger enclosure, however, it is most unlikely that this will include the wet-preservation of any organic remains. Nevertheless, even as a 'dry' site, it deserves conservation and continued protection as a scheduled monument.