Excavations at Copt Howe day 4: Making progress
Day four was dry but remained largely overcast. Work continued on all three trenches.
Above: Looking towards the Langdale Boulders from the east, showing the two largest rocks (Photo: Aaron Watson, 2018)
Above: Trench 1 on the left and Trench 2 on the right. Beyond, the dramatic profile of the Langdale Pikes dominates the dale (Photo: Aaron Watson, 2018)
Above: Ronnie exploring whether we might be able to gather any more information from Trench 3. Large splinters of rock appear to relate to the quarrying of the rock in relatively recent times (Photo: Aaron Watson, 2018)
Trench 3 continues to smell badly due the waterlogged soil. We think that the stones here are two loose to be ancient and this is tested by excavating a slot through them.
Above: Moyra and Sally continue to work amidst the rotting stink within Trench 3 (Photo: Aaron Watson, 2018)
Above: A 3D model of Trench 3, showing the slot through the unconsolidated stones. Please click on the button to navigate (Photogrammetry: Aaron Watson, 2018)
Above: Richard clambers over the stile connecting Trenches 1 and 3 (Photo: Aaron Watson, 2018)
Pete has finished cleaning Trench 1, revealing two distinct features. Against the rock is a band of placed grey coloured cobbles set within a dark soil. Outside this, the rocks are a lighter colour, more jumbled and set within an orange/brown soil.
Above: Trench 1 after cleaning. A colour difference between the stones is clearly visible (Photo: Aaron Watson, 2018)
Above: A 3D model of Trench 1. Please click on the button to navigate (Photogrammetry: Aaron Watson, 2018)
Above 1: Ronnie begins planning Trench 1 (Photo: Aaron Watson, 2018)
The excavations at Copt Howe were directed by Richard Bradley and Aaron Watson. Many thanks to Yvonne Luke, Diane O'Leary, Nick Russell, Ronnie Scott, Kate Sharpe, Moyra Simon, Peter Style, Sally Taylor and Emma Watson for helping us with the fieldwork.
Thanks also to Historic England for granting permission for us to work at this scheduled monument, and to the National Trust for their support throughout. The excavations were funded by the Prehistoric Society and the Royal Archaeological Institute.
I will update my website with further information as the analysis and interpretation of the excavation continues.