Thursday 26th July, Our Last Day

Hey Guys!

 Well today was our last day working over here in the Scilly Isles. Tomorrow we will be heading back to the mainland after a brilliant month!

We were working on Tean and Samson today. This mostly involved backfilling our trenches, which means putting all the soil that we have dug out back in. Although this covers up the archaeology, which is a shame, it is the only way to preserve it properly. If we left it open it may be broken or washed away. In the deepest part of the trench we put modern things at the bottom such as a milk carton and a coin. This is so that if someone else digs in the same place they will know when it was last dug. That waythey wont be confused by the layers of soil on top, which are all mixed up. It rained heavily today so we got very wet, but it felt good once we had finished.

I have really enjoyed coming over here and meeting some of you. Hopefully I will be able to come over next year and see you again. The Isles of Scilly have to be some of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. Those of you who live here are very lucky!

 Hope you have enjoyed reading this blog!

Rhiannon

Tuesday 24th July – Nearing the end

Hey Guys!

 After an eventful day yesterday, today was quite quiet for me, as i stayed in  camp to help make dinner and sort out finds so that they are all sent to the right places at the end of this week. The others were on Samson working hard so that we finish on time at the end of the week. Two of the archaeoloists went for a walk around Brhyer and discovered the remains of a horse in the cliff face which was very exciting!

Tomorrow is the Samson picnic, as long as the weather holds out, which should be loads of fun and allow some of you to see real archaeology taking place! Hope to see lots of you there! Come and tell us what you think of the blog!

Rhiannon

Monday 23rd July, After a dark and stormy night…

Hey Guys,

 Today we were meant to be going to Samson to carry on with the work we were doing on the island. Unfortunately it had been blowing gale force winds and raining heavily all night, meaning none of us slept very well. When we woke up it was still very windy and wet.

Two of our tents had blown down, one with people inside and the other tents were looking very unstable. We helped to tie down our own tents and rescue the people trapped inside the collapsed tent. We then ran around the campsite helping the other campers who were having problems. One of the tents had to be held down by a whole group of us so that it didnt blow away! It was very exciting, but also very tiring after a night with not much sleep. Luckily a cooked breakfast was made for us to give us more energy.

The rain did not stop until this afternoon so we were unable to go over to Samson. Instead we spent our day keeping an eye on the tents and in the warm of the local pub and community centre where many of us read Harry Potter, (and where I managed to finish it)! – any one else finished yet? What did you think? 

This evening the weather got much better and we were able to dry all our wet things and have a nice dinner. We are all in need of a good sleep tonight and hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow! Hope none of you were kept awake by the storm last night. Imagine the noise it made on our tents!

Speak to you tomorrow when we will have hopefully managed to do some more work!

 Rhiannon

Sunday 22nd July, Samson Open Day

Hey Guys!

 It was the open day on Samson today, so I spent most of the day meeting lots of people and showing them round the islands. They seemed to be really interested in what we were doing and what they could see. I also met a lot of people who are Michael Morpurgo fans and learnt a lot from them about his book “Why the Whales came.” Have any of you read any of his books? He visited the site a few days ago, which was very exciting for all of us!

This afternoon there were less people to show round so my friend Kayleigh and I drew a plan of the floor in one of the trenches. This is a very important part of archaeology, as when we go home we have to cover up anything we find with soil so that it is not damaged. We draw plans so we know exactly what is under the ground so that we can dig it up again if we need to. It is just like doing one of those drawings in a puzzle book where you are given a picture and have to copy it onto a grid, except we have to be very accurate and often have to measure the thing we are drawing.

 Hope everyone has had a good weekend. We have four more days over here so I will keep you updated every day until we leave! Hope to see some of you at the Samson picnic!

 Rhiannon

Tean Blog- Sunday 22nd

Sunday 22nd

Today I basically just read Harry potter and the deathly hallow’s all day. I was going to go to Samson but the weather was just horrible, so I stayed in the tent mostly all day reading. At lunch I managed to come out off the tent and at my lunch while chatting to one of the students. Then I retired back to the tent (Harry potter was getting quite exciting by then). At tea I finally came out and had some bean on toast, and after diner I had one of my new cakes I had bought. I then went to the pub continuing to read Harry potter and finally bed!

Weather-Rainy, Windy and just plane horrible!

Scilly Tean Blog Saturday

Saturday 21st

Today I bought some more cake!!……………………. actually maybe I should start from the beginning.  OK then (it was my mums day off) I woke up but didn’t have breakfast because I was given the choice to stay  in the campsite or go to St. Mary’s and I changed my mind at the last minute and had to hurry to catch the boat! (again) .  In St. Mary’s I went shopping and looked for gifts for my…………self and of course my friends!  We then had to go food shopping and I bought a lot of chocolate (for my pack lunches).  We then had lunch out and I had a tuna and cheese toasted sandwiches and some cheesey chips (I love cheesey chips  – yummy).  W

We then went back to the shops and I bought a crystal angel to hang in my window and I can’t say what else in case my dad reads this!  We then went home and I read the new Harry potter book which we had ordered from Amazon to arrive on the campsite on the day.  Also I read my new manga book which I also ordered and then ate some cake went to the pub and went to sleep………!

Weather- Cloudy, Wind and slightly sunny

Note from mother – Enda is fine and also reading Harry Potter as one of the students powered through the book and has lent it to him.  He went crabbing tonight and caught fourteen feisty crabs (his words) – they drew blood on both he and Dan.  

Nintendo DSs have been confiscated but kids are surviving.  

Scilly Tean – Friday 20th July

Friday

Today I had a lie in Yeah! (It’s about time) and woke up in a boiling hot tent – not nice feeling to have! I then got out the tent in desperation and went to have breakfast in my pyjamas.  We then had to hurry to the community centre for the meet ‘the archaeologist’s day’ (I didn’t take part in it – I just sat around playing on my DS).  Around lunch time I was told to get the sandwiches so I went back to the mess tent and got them.  I then had a desire for chocolate, so I went to the shop as well and bought an Kit Kat and lots of other yummy things with the money I found in the pocket of the tent.  I then went back to the community centre and I found that my mum had gone to the tent and not finding me, made some more sandwiches and didn’t want the ones I got!!! (I was a bit annoyed…… and disappointed) .  We then came home and then ate dinner went to the PUB! And…………. ZZZZZZZZZZ!

By the way my mum was saying that I sounded as though I am bored with the Scilly isles but just to confirm I do enjoy being here!……………… when  its sunny!!

Weather-Sunny, cloudy and a cool breeze

Friday 20th July, Digging on Samson

Hey Guys!

 Today I have been digging just outside one of the houses on Samson. We have been digging down using our trowels and a tool that is a bit like a pick axe called a mattock to see if we can find what we call a lynchet. Lynchet is the word we use for a field boundary like a hedge or fence where earth gets blown and makes a mound. It was hard work as the soil was very hard and dry. We were also taking measurements on the island so that we can put them onto a map later.

On Bryher some of the archaeologists were running an open day in the community hall and talked to lots of people about what we have been doing. We will be running another open day on Samson on Sunday so come along if you want to find out more! And even if you miss that i’m sure i’ll see some of you on the Samson picnic on Tuesday!

Tomorrow we are having a well deserved break as we have been working very hard and I am hoping to grab a copy of the new Harry Potter Book! Are any of you out there big Harry Potter fans?

I will speak to you soon. Have a great weekend!

Rhiannon

Thurs 19th July, Rhiannon’s First Blog!

Hey Guys, it’s Rhiannon here! Some of you may remember me from when I visited St. Mary’s primary school. I also visited the secondary school and showed some of you from St. Martin’s around Tean.

 Sally went home today so I have taken over the Scilly Kid blog for the last week. Today I have been showing some peole around Tean and then filling in some of the trenches (holes), that we dug so that no one falls in when we are gone! It was very very hot and hard work. Some of the children that are staying with us dressed up and pretended to be the buried bodies that were found 50 years ago!

 

The other people in our group were digging and drawing on Samson, where we hope to see a lot of you next week. In all it was a good day as the weather was really really good so even though the work was hard we really enjoyed ourselves.

Please ask me lots of questions – anything you want even if it is about being an archaeologist or just living in a tent! Do any of you out there think you want to be archaeologists after seeing and reading about what we are doing? Hope you enjoy reading this version of the blog. Sally will keep checking it and keep in contact so don’t worry! Speak to you tomorrow!

Rhiannon

Scilly Tean Blog

Hello and this is my first blog from the isles of Scilly – anyway I told you earlier that I was no good at diary’s and guess what I was right! I came here on Friday and it is now Thursday, anyway better get on with it!

This is a small account of the days I’ve experienced so far……………………….

Friday

Today I woke up at 2:00 am and found myself in the Tesco’s car park in Penzance.  We had been travelling all night in the car – since 10:00pm on Thursday after going to see Harry potter 5 – anyway we then went into Tesco’s and bought……………..SOCKS.  We then headed back to the car and I went back to sleep and then next woke at 8:00 (still not a reasonable time I prefer getting up at midday).  We then packed our luggage into a container and got on the boat.  We immediately went down to the buffet and got a cooked breakfast.  After that I sat down and somehow fell asleep.  When I woke up I felt very sea sick, the boat was rocking very badly and I don’t think  there was one person on that boat that didn’t feel slightly sick –  after hearing the news we were delayed by an hour I felt even worse.

Finally when we got off the boat I felt ok actually surprisingly, but the weather wasn’t feeling the same way. It was raining and cloudy, not a good first impressing of the Scilly isles (but I had been here before) ‘  We then got on the smaller boat to Bryher-  my mum wasn’t their yet (she was moving from St. Martins which they had been on for 2 weeks already) so we waited in the pub on the island.  When she finally arrived along with all the students we went up to the campsite and put are tent up and finally went to bed…………….ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

weather-rain, cloud and high winds (not nice especially trying to put up a tent)

Saturday

Today I did nothing much really so I cant say much but I did read my book, listen to music on my Ipod and look around the island and managing to get lost and that was it………..really…………….!

Weather-Cloud and Sun! (OK)

Sunday

Sorry my mind gone blank and all I can remember was that I was dearly missing furniture especially my super king size bed! Oh and we went to the pub again.

Weather- sunny I think!

Monday

 Today was my mums day off so we went to St. Marys to do the shopping a look around the shops it was nice -I like shopping.  We also went to a café for lunch and I had a ham and cheese pannine it was very yummy mmmmmmmmm – we then did more shopping but this time food shopping boring! But I did buy a nice cake! We then caught the boat home and guess what! We went to the pub! ……………. again! (we only go because its warm and there is furniture there).

Weather-Sunny (Yeah!)

Tuesday

Today I had to get up at 8:00 dun dun duuun too early and I tried to get up I did but I did not succeed and fell asleep again, only when my mum woke me up and said that we were going to miss the boat did I have to get up quickly and run to catch the boat. When we actually got there not much was happening we went to the reading room (a room for the islanders to meet in kind of like a town hall) and I read my 2nd book so far and played on my Nintendo DS (Mario kart mostly).  For lunch I had a Cornish pasty and a chocolate and orange cookie – it was yummy and the pasty was huge-  also we managed to adopted a dog who followed us all the way back from the bakery and back to the reading room and it wouldn’t go back home (it was a cute dog though) until a girl had to pull it back.  Moving on we got the boat back and – I guess you can see a pattern here – we went to the pub and then to sleep!!!

Weather- Very sunny (I got sun burn)

Wednesday

Today I had to get up early again and again I fell back to sleep and had to run to catch the boat . We were going to the abandoned island called Samson. When we got there my mum put up are new sun shelter that was sent in the post and it has very large pegs called stakes (like the one you use to kill vampires but they were plastic and it said rock buster on the side) I read my book (2nd book) and played my Nintendo DS.  I ate my lunch at 11:00am because I was hungry and when it came to lunch time I was even more hungry and I only had a apple left.  After lunch we went down to the beach I think it took at least half an hour to put on my wet suit then I felt as if I was strangling – anyway I made it to the sea in the end. I didn’t actually do much swimming, I made a crab farm instead for the crabs my brother caught ( one was called bubbles and one was called snipper) after getting back on the boat home I found after tea, to my dismay, that my cake I bought was missing!!!! I was forced to conclude that the great cake thief of Bryher had been at work! I questioned all suspects – but none owned up.  I was about to move on to the torture stage when the constable (my mum) steped in telling me to stop and she would buy me a new cake! I then retired to the pub where I had a pint (other words a J2O) and thought over the crime scene,  I then was so tired so I went to bed! CASE CLOSED!!! (Maybe…………..I will not go easy if I discover the culprit)

Weather-Sunny AGAIN!

Thursday

Today I did the same thing as always,  get woken up by my mum again and I then fell back asleep again and then ran to the boat again .  Today I went with my mum to Tean another abandoned island and put the sun shelter up and finished book 2 and played Mariocart DS as well and that was about it and now I’m having tea and I am officially up to date!!!! Hip hip hooray! And you can guess the rest of my day (e.g. pub and bed)

Weather-Sunny!!