This month we were back at the Museum of Somerset in Taunton.  The session was led for us by Anne Teather and Andrew Chamberlain who had organised the test pitting day for us in their garden last month.

Anne started out with a PowerPoint talk about what happens when the excavation is over, including washing the finds, sorting and weighing them, identification by experts and finally a written report pulling everything together.

After this the MAYANS began to wash and sort the finds they had recovered from the test pitting in September, including brick and tiles, pottery, glass, clinker, animal bones and rusty iron artefacts.  Some of the more unusual items included the metal clasp of a purse and a glass marble.

Anne and Andrew had also brought along some other artefacts, including animal and human bones and a collection of clay pipes.  The MAYANS took it in turns having a break from finds washing to take a look at these other artefacts.  Anne and Andrew had prepared a number of activities including working out what the animals ate from the sort of teeth they had, identifying different types of bones, and working out the styles and dates of the clay pipes.

A big thank you to Anne and Andrew for coming over to Taunton and for organising another really interesting session for us!