Digging for Streethouse: Breaking Ground with Archaeologist Dr. Stephen Sherlock
On Saturday August 10th, our team of students in North Yorkshire broke ground at an archaeological dig in Streethouse, UK. Just north of Loftus in an old farm field, the site was first discovered as a focus of curiosity when Dr. Stephen Sherlock had hired a third party to conduct a geophysical scan of the terrain. Upon analysis of the results, Sherlock noticed that there were some indicators of archaeological activity in the field.
The team started off by having an excavator clear five different plots of interest in different areas of the field. It was in the final plot, that Sherlock discovered a suspicious alignment of large stones seemingly in a semi-circle beneath the soil. Once our team of students got in the test pit and began to dig in situ alongside Sherlock, it was quickly determined that this was a peculiar find that would require further analysis. Everyone knew that they had a much larger dig on their hands than initially anticipated.
After the first complete day of the dig, it was determined that this formation of stones seemed to continue on into a full 9-metre-by-9-metre circular pre-historic structure. It was then that the group began the process of a week-long adventure, and had worked with a local excavation team to expand the dig pit to expose the second half of the circle the following Saturday, August 17th.
Over the span of four weeks of digging in collaboration with Dr. Stephen Sherlock, the team made some great discoveries with hopes of finding materials that will later support the age dating of the structure and its surroundings. The structure in itself is very similar to one discovered just a few hundred feet away in a past archaeological dig, which was coined as the “Streethouse Wossit” in 1984. The name Wossit was a contraction of the term ‘What-is-it’ as the significance and use of the structure remains unknown to this day.
We look forward to continuing to provide updates on this developing project, and look forward to supporting the work being done by Dr. Sherlock across the pond - even more-so now that there are so many questions to answer!