The Concordia Team had to dig down some 3.5m to reach the opus sectile floor of the colonnaded building.  The room is a fine discovery.  But the height of the baulk and the use of the area to the north as a road could endanger team members.  So today, we used a backhoe to lower the level of the road by about a meter and to create a lower “shelf” next to the square.  Some tumble resulted, but the site will be safer as a result.

In the small finds department, Jim retrieved a large bowl trapped when two stones fell together.  We think we have most of the parts to assemble the find.

At the conclusion of the first two weeks of the season, we say “farewell” to half of our team returning to Canada and the USA.  We have accomplished quite a bit in our short time together. Here is the whole team at the end of today’s work:

We also had several small finds.  Stefanie wields the dagger she found near the paved plaza:

And, simply because eight are not enough, Dr. Cambers uncovers Cistern I as the day drew to a close (4.5 m deep).

Today’s items from the field include a coin found near the floor of a room in YYZZ4.  For Christine, this is her second coin of the season!

Not too far away in the same square Jason recovered an intact late Roman bow fibula, a brooch for fastening clothes or cloaks:

A third interesting find comes from the area of the paved plaza undergoing excavation.  It is a piece of bone jewelry (?) decorated with two rows of eyelets (to ward off the evil eye?):

Lastly, no season at the NEC would be complete without the discovery of another cistern.  Here is Cistern H from the paved plaza east of the apse:

It was a stunning day for small finds as Brennan unearthed a hoard of finds outside the doorway of W1904.  Brennan is shown here holding a metal pouring pot (tea anyone?)