Backyard Archeology

We fell in love with BBC's Time Team. The idea that you can dig pretty much anywhere in Britain and find some really interesting archeology. It's fabulous. Wow. Now I do know that lots of people have been watching the show for ages, but, coming from California, it's a real eye opener. You mean the Romans and the Middle Ages and the Neanderthals all left stuff behind in people's back yards?

Yes, but not mine...

Or at least not in this hole.

We did, however, find:
Broken pottery-- mostly modern.
(A few pieces may date back to the 1800's)
Dog skeleton
Broken window frames
Bicycle -- with hand brakes, and balloon tires, so not ancient
Meerschaum pipe pieces -- Unknown ages

The house was built in the 1870's, and this looks mostly like the detritus of people living in it and remodeling it since then. We didn't find any indication of remains from the Mortlake tapestry works, the brewery or the pottery works that were nearby. Those could have dated back to the 1400's, easily. There also didn't seem to be anything related to St. Mary's Church. We're rank amateurs and didn't do a thorough job, so there's no guarantee we didn't miss something, but it seems reasonable to say that this patch was market gardens until Victorian times.

We hit Thames River sand about 4 ft down. It all looked geological from then on down. The hole reached 6ft in the center, in the end. We dug some of the sand out for the sand box and re-filled the hole. We added manure from a local stable and voila - a new vegetable patch!

On to the next project...