Your favourite team of dedicated archaeologists are still plugging away at Port Arthur. As proof of that, here is a photo from this afternoon:

I asked them to wave. This is what I got

Seven of us are working away on the excavation, like a bunch of individually-identifiable, colourfully-hatted dwarfs. In this instance I would be Bossy. Or maybe Standy. I won’t give nicknames to the rest of the crew for fear of offence.

We’ve been beavering away for eight days now, ‘cleaning’ the site in preparation for its first photo shoot. You can see in the photo the beautifully cleaned section in front of them (photo right). This comprises a surface of broken dolerite, onto which much post-convict demolition has been compressed. This area corresponds with the former location of the 1856-77 Mechanics’ Yard (hence the gravel – a good yard surface). The crew have had a lovely time cleaning this, picking out the remnant topsoil from the gravel’s intercies to make it look all shiny. There’s hardly been any tears – only tears of joy. We’ve just crossed over into the area where some large workshops buildings used to be, including the 1856-77 foundry. That’s the area with the slightly redder sediment. It’s going to take us about three more days until we have all the remnant topsoil off from this area. 

Once ready, we’ll start our photogrammetric recording, as well as survey the extents of the major contexts. Then we’ll start getting into the new deposits, moving through the demolition debris to expose our convict-period layers.

Horus is doing well. He has made a friend. Boris. They may be related and they do a lot of shouting at each other.

Jess gives Horus a hi-five, birdy style. Boris glowers in the background

They are both big fans of worms.