Southborough Valley Community Archaeology Project

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Friday 30 October 2015

Research visit to Tunbridge Wells Museum & Art Gallery

Jane loves a bit of pottery
When the trowels are scraped clean and the drawing boards are put away, you will often find the field archaeologist seeking out a local ale house to quench the thirst of a hard day’s work. What happens then when the winter months close in and there is no activity on site? 

Rob is trained on how to lift boxes! 
Desk based research is the bane of many archaeologists. This is a time to open up the files and folders, reacquaint oneself with the Harris matrix and try to put all the pieces back together. As the first season of excavation has officially come to an end, a team has been assembled to take on the task of understanding what we have uncovered in the Southborough Valley this summer.

Goldmine.
Tunbridge Wells Museum & Art Gallery holds in its collection an extensive amount of archaeological material which can be used for research.  SHAAS was fortunate to be given access to the material recovered from J. H. Money’s excavations of the Iron Age hill-fort at Castle Hill and the iron working site of Minepit Wood. The SHAAS researchers spent the day digging through the basement of the museum in order to better understand the archaeology of the surrounding area. 


Jenny prefers the paper trail.

Some like to delegate... 
Flint Photo Shoot. 
We were pleasantly surprised by the high standard of site records from the 1960s. J.H. Money definitely was a diligent archaeologist. Our desk based research will certainly benefit from accessing primary sources. 


A very enjoyable and productive day.

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