Things have been heating up on site in more ways than one! The weather has certainly had an impact as the diggers are slowly but surely being drained of energy by the heat, and a 4-wheel drive ice cream van would be very welcome, but the enthusiasm to dig is unwavering!
We have at last finished cleaning and drawing the plans of the stones (every stone recorded, which takes some doing!) and can now begin to remove the top layer and see what lies beneath. This is without doubt one of the most exciting phases of the project. The early stages yesterday revealed a small but unexpected pit, and as we get deeper into the monument we hope to not only find more artefacts but also answer some of the questions about the construction. We are starting to think that the area immediately outside the kerbstones may have been cobbled, which really would be quite special.
Trench A (now named Alfie) is a little behind, and still having it's plan drawn at the moment, but this should be finished by the end of today, as long as the promised thinderstorms hold off. Although it has only been deturfed and cleaned so far, it has still turned up some nice finds, including Arran Pitchstone, worked flint and a very nice hammer stone. I for one am looking forward to getting into the courtyard area and seeing what is there.

Geophysics has been patchy, the ground still being too wet to get good results! (One of the difficulties of a peaty, upland site) but we will be having another go with magnetic susceptibility at some point. Meanwhile the geophysics team had a day out on Saturday and got some great results from a round house (suspected to be Iron Age) away from Blasthill, near the rocky outcrop known as 'The Bastard' on OS maps!

We also opened a small trench on what looks very much like a small quarry, which probably supplied stone for the chambered tomb, and plan to do some experimental archaeology and attempt to quarry our own monolith using nothing but wood, stone and other suitably Neolithic materials. Should be fun!

Richard Tipping has been to visit us too, and taken some cores from the peat bog for environmental analysis, which he is going to rush through. He got some really good cores on this visit, and the prospect of good results seems high.

Finally for this entry, we have been pretty busy in the community too. We have been out to Southend and Dalintober Schools, and Drumlemble School brought about 30 pupils and staff up to visit the site, which was enjoyed by all. We have also been invited to a reception hosted by the Friends of the Museum to meet some of the local dignitaries.

That seems like a lot of news since the last posting, and it is, which is very satisfying. Sometimes a little review like this is needed to help us realise how much we have done. Let's just hope the next one is even better!