Dunning: Part two!

I really am going to try to finish up the rest of my dig in this post. Like last year, they offered field trips on our days off. The first day off I went on a field trip of my own - to Huntingtower Castle and into Perth (as we stayed just outside Perth).

Approaching the castle.

Original painted ceiling.

Wearing a cape as I wandered through the castle.

Interesting hotel in Perth.

Carved faces on an old church (cathedral?) in Perth.

From the museum: medieval lace found in an excavation in the 1970s.

On the summer solstice a small group of us went to one of the other sites - Leadketty Farm where prehistoric excavations were being carried out - to celebrate the solstice.

Summer solstice. 

Beautiful barley fields. 

We had wee flags and danced about.

Kenny Brophy, the prehistoric expert & one of the professors in charge of SERF.

Look at that HUGE trench! Would you believe it was 10:30 at night? 

Some on-site photos from Dunning.

My trench!

Midsomer Murder moment: older folks coming into the churchyard to paint. It was wonderfully charming!

Steve Driscoll (in the red trousers) examining things in the trench. 

The second field trip - the Medieval one - I did go on, even though I'd been the year before. We wore capes again at Elcho Castle. Lovely!

Ewan Campbell showed this to me - a plant called mouse ear. 

Some of the lovely folks on the dig. Left to right: Cait, Kirk, David, Kelsi (glasses), and Erica.

Wild mountain thyme!

We had an open day for people in the community to see what we'd been up to. This is a small portion of the Victorian rubbish we dug through in search of traces of a medieval monastery. 

Clay pipes.

Ink wells.

We discovered that the 1st of July was St Serf's Day, so we decided we had better celebrate it. In Dunning, St Serf is known for saving the villagers by slaying a dragon. So Carolyn, Kirk and I made a dragon for the occasion. We made wee figures, too, of Steve Driscoll, Adrian Maldonado (who was in charge of our trench) & Ewan Campbell, and stuck them on the dragon.

Working hard on the dragon.

The dragon!

We put him up on a ranging rod on site. 

We thought we should slay the dragon & maybe even burn him, but Steve Driscoll was very reluctant to do so, and only pretended to slay the dragon.

Steve & the dragon. 

Things got very deep in our trench. A medieval wall was discovered just two days before the end of the dig.

Adrian finding out the line of the wall. 

Visiting the monument to Maggie Wall.

Last day of the dig! 

The end of dig costume party!

Dressing up as Steve Driscoll! 

Adrian glued bits of the midden to his shirt. 

Steve as St Serf.

Kelsi, Adrian & myself. 

Delightful Dunning Again!

I was very lucky to be able to go on another 3 week dig through the university to Dunning. Like last year (for an account of that see my old blog, posts in August & September: http://mairiglasgow.blogspot.co.uk/) there were three digs going on in the area: a prehistoric dig in the fields of Leadketty Farm, A hill fort (Kay Craig, opposite last years Castle Craig), and just outside the churchyard of Dunning itself. Again, like last year, I was able to work in Dunning. It was wonderful to be in a familiar spot. If anything, this dig was even more delightful than last years, possibly due to the fact that I wasn't worried about getting things done for my portfolio. As I dedicated at least five posts to my field school experience last year, many of the pictures I took this year will be repeats. Also, due to the fact that I am still behind on this blog, I want to TRY to keep it all in one post. It looks like it'll spill into two, but I'll try to stop at that!

The finds processing takes place in an old girl's school. In rather Jane Eyre-ish style, a boys school was built first, and this one next to it in the 1840s. Someone put this sign up on a cupboard. 

Some of the Victorian rubbish we dug through in Dunning.

The tower of St Serf's church.

A memorial tree. I don't know if this is the original, or if others have been planted in its place over the years. See the picture below.

One thing that WAS different this year is that Ewan Campbell (one of the professors) dug a tiny trench right up against the tower wall, to see it it had been built before the church, or at the same time. 

A standing stone in a strawberry farm.

Something else different this year: I helped out with the "Wee Big Dig" where we dug in the schoolyard, and got primary school children to help us. 

One of our 1m x 1m squares.

This tiny stone leaning against the gravestone is a fragment of a Pictish carved stone. It is VERY worn. This wasn't discovered till recently (in St Serf's churchyard).

My hands getting a little bit grubby. 

Woefully behind: jaunt to Edinburgh

Before I went on my dig, Rachel & I met up with our friend Nothando and went to Edinburgh. I had to leave early, so all I managed was the National Museum. But it was amazing!

Edinburgh Castle. 

Tiny, ornate & beautiful relic box. I've seen it in books before, it was nice to finally meet it. 

Medieval jewellery. 

Special Temple Trip

At the very end of May/ beginning of June, I went on a YSA temple trip. It was kind of a special trip for a few reasons ( one perhaps being that it will be my last temple trip as a YSA, as I turn 31 in August, and I won't be a *young* single adult, I'll just be a single adult!). What made it so important is that my friend Mercy was going through for her endowments, and I was going as her escort! I was greatly honoured that she had chosen me. Later in the day we went again while a friend of ours went through in preparation for her mission. It was a lovely weekend all round.