Grampus Heritage & Training
Limited 2013 Placement Report
Chloe Rebecca Dyche
Grampus Heritage & Training Limited 2013 Summer Placement, Šahy
Slovakia
During June and July in the summer of 2013, two supervisors, thirteen
students and I spent five weeks excavating a Bronze Age Hatvan site in Šahy,
Slovakia. Over the course of these five weeks we found many Hatvan pottery
fragments, one human bone, non-human bone material and daub.
As an undergraduate forensic anthropology student in-field experience is an
essential part of my course. I applied to Grampus Heritage and Training Limited in
early 2013 and the process was very easy. I followed the instructions and applied
online, not long after I was emailed back with the travel and accommodation details
and artefacts.
My time in Slovakia was fantastic, we spent twenty days onsite excavating,
this included digging, mattocking and trowelling the soil, planning the trenches and
features, filling out context sheets, collecting soil samples, photographing the
progress onsite and recording information in context, samples, planning and
photograph logs. In our spare time we relaxed around the pool or travelled to tourist
spots such as: Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava and Esztergom.
Placement top tips:
1. When visiting cities free walking tour are fantastic value for money and
interesting.
2. Try the local cuisine, the goulash in Hungary was amazing.
3. Keep hydrated onsite, have plenty of water with you especially in the hot
country placements.
4. Take extra opportunities such as visiting and helping at the language
teacher’s school.
5. Explore the area around your accommodation; you never know what you
may find.
6. Talk to the locals, they can give you information about anything you may
need and it pays to be friendly. Our group got invited to a charity concert
which was brilliant.
The site:
During this placement we spent twenty
days onsite excavating, during this time we
used mattocks, shovels and trowels to get to
the natural soil level where artefacts can be
found. Findings included a non-human
metatarsal, a human clavicle and a vast
amount of pottery.
A typical portion of Hatvan pottery.
During this time I personally excavated
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Grampus Heritage & Training
Limited 2013 Placement Report
Chloe Rebecca Dyche
a posthole and a possible daub furnace in ditch 6. In addition to these we found
other ditches which we presumed to be the surrounding ditches for the settlement.
In addition to excavating I also learnt how to plan a section and trench as
these aren’t covered in my university course. We also had to take soil samples,
photograph the site as excavation progressed.
Context sheets were also used to document
the different soil layers and features found
onsite and registers were used to record any
photographs taken, samples collected, context
numbers used and plans drawn. When the day
was done we bagged and labelled the finds,
when the weather didn’t permit excavation we
spent the day cleaning the finds at the local
town hall.
Posthole in ditch [6], trench 2.
Trench 2 fully excavated for the 2013 season.
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Grampus Heritage & Training
Limited 2013 Placement Report
Chloe Rebecca Dyche
Weekends away:
When we were not working on the site, we spent our time site seeing and
relaxing by the pool. The first weekend we spent by the pool but the second we
went to see the Roman Basilica at Esztergom. The view of the Danube was lovely as
was the Basilica.
The river Danube from the top of the Roman Basilica at Esztergom.
The third weekend went left the site early, two of the group headed off the
Prague while the rest of us went to Bratislava and Vienna. We spent one day in
Bratislava as the city is very small and then we moved onto Vienna. While in
Bratislava some of the group visited the castle and others went on a very informative
free walking tour. We took the night train to Vienna which came from Berlin; it was
like something out of Harry Potter. When in Vienna we did some shopping, went to
the National History museum, we looked at the butterflies in the butterfly house and
I visited the Spanish horse riding school.
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Grampus Heritage & Training
Limited 2013 Placement Report
Chloe Rebecca Dyche
The Natural History museum in the museum quarter, Vienna.
Our last weekend was spent in Budapest as this was where we were flying
home from. While there some of the group visited the Roman Baths while others
went exploring to the art quarters. While walking through the City Park my group
visited the Vajdahunyad Castle and had lunch at a traditional Hungarian pub named
after the assassinated archduke Franz Ferdinand.
Vajdahunyad Castle, City Park, Budapest.
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