The dig is finished, it’s been dug!

Then this excavation is over all that’s left is a few days of working with the finds, in my case produce a small osteologic comment on the bones found. There is a kind of sadness when one the last phases of a dig, as you excavate you kind of get familiar with landscape that you create. In this case the two houses and the cellar and you kind of desiccate it to a level where you where everything’s at. And at the final days when you bring in an excavator and deep digs it all to be sure that there are no older structures underneath, the reality that one has lived in for a few weeks or so disappears.

Did we find anything older? Perhaps! We found a hearth that might be prehistoric – but we’ll have to wait for the 14^c analysis. We also found a well underneath one of the houses; it is ca 3 x 3 meter large. We’ve dug about three meters in depth as well though we didn’t get to the bottom of it, the arm of the excavator wasn’t long enough. The well was filled with old building materials and such and had been so since before the house was built, so it’s older but probably not prehistoric.

The well

 

To sign of this particular dig I leave you all with a few finds

A horse hoof found within one of the houses!

A bone from a frog, always fun to find small bones as well.

A tool of some sorts, or rather a part of a tool, perhaps a stylus. The material is yet uncertain but it might be made of tortoise shell.

Another tool, made out of antler.

Though the dig is done I’ve still got a few days of work in Linköping and I’ve got plenty of pictures so there will be a few more posts from or about Linköping.

Magnus Reuterdahl

The excavation has been carried out by Östergötlands County museum.