A day of sandbags, tarps and tyres…
The last of the tyres going into Trench T this afternoon. (Sigurd Towrie)
It’s been a long, hard day of manual labour in some not-so-pleasant weather conditions, but we’ve covered over around 90 percent of the site.
Aided by volunteers from the public as well as a group of Highland Park Distillery staff, great progress was made cocooning the archaeology with protective sandbags, black plastic and tyres (hundreds of them). To all who turned out to help, you have our heartfelt thanks.
The final section of the site will be covered over tomorrow morning and then we all drift our separate ways, hopefully to return again next year, funding permitting.
A reminder that the site is now closed to the public. An equally heartfelt thanks to the thousands of visitors who dropped in over the past eight weeks and all those who donated to excavation funds and bought goodies from our shop.
It’s your generosity that keeps this dig going.
The tyres move into position beside Structure Twelve this morning. (Sigurd Towrie)
Structure Twelve flanked by tyres and awaiting its winter cover. (Sigurd Towrie)
The plastic sheeting going into Trench J. (Sigurd Towrie)
And unrolled to cover Structure Five. (Sigurd Towrie)
Followed by the layer of tyres. (Sigurd Towrie)
Trench J. Safe and secure for the worst the Orcadian winter can throw at it. (Sigurd Towrie)
Meanwhile, over in Trench T, work, aided by Highland Park volunteers, is going well. (Sigurd Towrie)
With a trench this size, its really a case of all hands on deck and we’re grateful for the extra assistance. (Sigurd Towrie)
The fragile walls of Structure Twelve were next on the agenda. (Sigurd Towrie)
A sandbag chain leading to the area outside Structure Ten. Don’t let the word ‘sandbag’ fool you. These things are heavy. (Sigurd Towrie)
While a second sandbag chain focused on Structure Twelve. (Sigurd Towrie)
And the last job for today was protecting the Structure Ten annex with walls of sandbags. We’re back on site tomorrow to finish the job (Sigurd Towrie)
