Hello Time Team community: Here is the second Dig diary entry from the Ness:
The JCB has gone; the mattocks and trowels are now in action...
The rain has also come and gone and returned – this is Orkney!
The midges have been largely absent so far...but when the wind drops the cleggs appear out of nowhere...
Anyway, trench news: Jackie has found a feature – looks like stones within a small pit – and a small sherd of prehistoric pot! She’s also found some rocks!
An old pipe has also appeared crossing the trench...Nick says it runs across the whole field apparently...so everyone is asking ‘why didn’t it show in the GPR data?’ Unfortunately, like bone, we can’t detect plastic and because the pipe is not laid in a trench, it remains ‘invisible’ to magnetic and electrical detection technique. From John Gater.
Also you might notice the FIRST find from our test pit, found by Ness team member Sigurd Towrie.
The jury is out - maybe early neolithic or Bronze Age depending the on the tang.
Either way its VERY unusual here - what do you think?