A Perfect Vision of the Rising Northlands

You may be wondering what that is on the right hand side of the page. Well, gentle readers, it's an award from The Daily Reviewer, a blog review site and '[t]o be included in The Daily Reviewer is a mark of excellence.' Apparently this shite that I pour out has been rated as being in the top 100 Icelandic Blogs. What they don't tell you is there is only one hundred and one blogs in Iceland. I was also wondering why I got an award for an Icelandic Blog, as I haven't lived there since May, but never mind. At the end of the day I got an award and Herr Docktor Clay didn't. so:

IN YOUR FUCKING FACE CLAY!!!!

Back in my world, the titanic struggle with Tim goes on from the Summer House Plantation Trench 3. All the while the trench was being dug was an on going battle about the age of the ditch we found in the trench. It's quite obviously Roman. About halfway down the fills of the ditch was a mass of Roman pottery. Squashed pots, made from Grey Ware were coming out in handfuls. It was the same as having an inscribed stone in the base of the trench saying 'Romulus and Remus were here'. But one day, as I was walking up the field to see Tim's progress, I could hear him a whoopin' and a hollerin'. 'Flint! Flint!' he was crying. As I got to the trench, I asked him what the fuss was all about, he held up the world's smallest piece of flint and started discoursing on how the ditch was obviously prehistoric due to this empirical dating evidence. I argued it could quite easily have been dropped at any time the ditch was open, nothing more than what we call 'background flint'. He told me I was talking bollocks and ignoring the truth. The fact that he will be starting a PhD on Prehistoric South Yorkshire soon apparently has no bearing on his desperation to find evidence for prehistoric activity in an area where there is very little anyway.

The Black Hole of prehistoric activity in England

I was going over Tim's context sheets a few days later and found this little gem. It was written in the comments box of the context sheet for the ditch fill where the flint came from. I reproduce it verbatim here (the emphasises are mine):

'Also recovered were a small lump of flint, a flake of flint with a blade like edge, but unworked, a bone implement in the form of a point (the tip was intact when recovered, but broke off. The end however still shows where the point was worked), two pieces of black cylindrical material (jewelry?) and crucially, a small stone rubber of the kind that might have been used by a specialist crafts person'

These crucial pieces of archaeological dating firmly put the ditch in the Bronze Age, according to Tim's preliminary dating box on the same context sheet. I'm not sure if he's just breaking my balls at the stage or has really fallen hook, line and sinker into his own little fantasy world.

Roman Pottery in situ in SHP Trench 4: It must be Prehistoric!!!

In other work related news, Tom fell over in the night during the weekly barbecue. He was trying to move Danny's tent and paid for his horse play with a dislocated knee cap and a trip to Doncaster Accident and Emergency. He was back on site the next day, with his leg strapped up and orders not to walk on it for about six weeks. So this year's season we have seen two firsts: a human burial and an ambulance at the camp site. I also was 'arrested' by PC Pell, when he turned up to have a chat, the first time I've seen him in twenty years. Emma also showed up at the barbeque, she asked me not to slag her off in this blog, so here goes: Manowar are not Goth, you fucking ape. And finally I went for a massive Chinese meal with the extended family last night, the funniest thing was that Ian was watching in dismay from his table (who had finished their food early) as our table was served course after course of delicious grub.

Our table at Modern China, Rotherham, last night...