Star find of the day goes to Jackie McKinley on her last day on site before she goes back to her proper job as osteoarchaeologist for Wessex Archaeology, with this very good antler knife handle, you can actually see the groove left by the insertion of the blade into the hilt:
It was our open day today and we couldn't have wanted better weather for it, bright and sunny all day, so much so that we had to keep spraying the surfaces around our little iron smelting hearth with water, not usually a problem we have to deal with too much. It was also a bit of a problem for our Iron Age reenactors, since Iron Age clothing seems to be largely made of wool, so they were quietly melting in the heat. Usually they're quite happy to be swathed in woollen cloaks but not today:
We had lots of visitors including Colleen Batey, who as a specialist in the Viking and Norse periods in the Northern Isles and Caithness was very interested in our trench looking at the extension of the Viking longhouse/byre combination into the neighbouring field, and also found the nicely strimmed Viking house a convenient place to eat lunch:
Second star find of the day went to Poppy with this tiny decorated piece, which at first sight looks to be very finely decorated pottery, but seems a slightly odd texture, wondering about possibly a jet-like substance:
Not sure, it came up right at the end and I was in a bit of a rush to catch the boat, so had to take a quick pic and leave even as it was under discussion. The weather has now closed in and is wet and miserable but at least it stayed good for us today.