We all arrived back on site full of expectation this morning. After yesterdays great start to the excavation we were sure there would be more items of interest turning up soon. And we were right. Very early on in the day Ann, one of our excavators, uncovered a magnificent bronze and enamel stud. This was a very exciting find. If our first interpretation proves correct then the stud is Iron Age or Early Medieval (Pictish) in date. This is the kind of decorative item that would be used to enhance other items like leatherwork or woodwork. This find came from trench E which is the large trench on the north west side of the mound.

This is the magnificent stud found today in Trench E.
More slag was recovered from what appears to be a midden layer on the north side of this trench. In the other trenches the first signs of structure have begun to appear. Trench B is a long trnch running up the north side of the mound and was intended to investigate what looked like a ditch running round the mound on the geophysics plot. There is stony structure there, but its still too early to say for sure what it might be. Trench C is another large trench, this time in the south west area of the mound. Because the topsoil was so deep the trench has had to be stepped in for health and safety reasons, this makes it look like a sunken swimming pool with a sundeck, and it has already been nicknamed the swimming pool trench. Lets hope it doesn't actually live up to its name if it starts to rain.
We also had a lucky discovery today. We were digging a deep pit some way from the site to use as a dump for our chemical toilet. An eagle eyed digger called a halt, there at the bottom of the pit there was a cremation. Luckily we found this before the pit was used for its original purpose !! This cremation in now being properly excavted, sampled and recorded. We now need to dig another pit for the toilet elsewhere, who knows what we will find in that ? We are having lots of visitors to our site. Many people are coming to see the structure in the mound and are very exicted to see an excavation in progress. We even have a dedicated member of the team who shows the visitors around, explaining whats happening. Of course the excavation is also being filmed for a Time Team documentry to be shown in the UK. So despite being a few miles from a town in quiet farmland the site is actually a very busy place.

This is a general shot of Minehowe, showing the new cover over the enterance to the underground chamber.
Trench A also got under way today. This trench lines up with Trench B but is on the south east of the mound. Pretty quickly Martin and Nick, who are excavating this trench started to uncover some very obviously man made stone work, this looks like it may be quite extensive and they are carefully trowelling clean so we can judge its extent.

Another exciting day over, but lots more of them to come, yet again the just seems to be whetting our appetite for more and more discoveries.