The test pit ‘Dig’ at the premises of the Blide Trust, 54 Victoria Street Kirkwall was still being worked on when I visited again on Saturday.
Soil was being sifted leaving behind an ever growing pile .
Finds were being cleaned, sorted and painstakingly recorded. Volunteers were learning new skills in this aspect of archaeology from the experts there.
The finds will be able to tell the researchers what kind of food the families who occupied the building were eating and also some aspects of their daily lives. If you look closely you will see there are several bits of broken crockery and clay pipes.
Looking carefully at this picture you will also see the block of worked red sandstone wedged in the wall which was probably intended for the Bishop’s Palace or other high status building.
Reporter: Fiona Grahame