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The recent excavations in Alderney have revealed some island secrets dating back to the third and fourth centuries.
The finds included 850 sherds of Roman pottery along with coins and iron nails.
Dig Alderney ran two parallel excavations during May, with paid experts and volunteer specialists working together across numerous trenches.
Dr Phil de Jersey - the States of Guernsey's archaeologist - opened a trio of trenches on Les Huguettes; adjacent to the Iron Age site discovered in the 1960s, while a pair of trenches were dug along Les Mielles, where a large Roman building was discovered in 2017.
As work progressed at both sites during the month, a number of finds were recorded.
Initially, there was little discovered at the Les Huguettes site, but when an additional test trench was opened up it revealed part of an Iron Age round house which the experts say could be explored further in future excavations.
The trenches along Les Mielles provided some excitement with rooms revealed within the Roman structure.
Two had doorways opening onto a courtyard made of huge slabs, while another room led on to an adjacent pavement of slabs.
While working across these areas, the 850 sherds of pottery were discovered.
They were cleaned up by the team of volunteers tasked with sorting through the finds.
Among the items they sorted were a bronze coin of the Emperor Valens era, AD364-367, - which was found in layers overlying the Roman floors of the building found at Les Mielles, while a silver coin of the Caesar Valerian II era, AD255, was found in what would have been open ground when the building was in use.
Several dozen iron nails were also recovered, including boot hobnails and a 20cm nail that the experts said they could only have come from a ship.
Dr Jason Monaghan said that some of the finds were very exciting.
"What came as a surprise was the very late date of the pottery found beneath the floors of the building. It seems that it was not constructed until the fourth century AD and was modified even later by the addition of crude drystone walls. Some of the pottery in the latest layers may prove to be post-Roman."
Despite the positive nature of the overall dig, with the finds listed, the dig team said that excavations were "frustrated by the very high level of ground water after the wet winter".
At only 1.2 metres below modern ground, the most concerned area was said to be at the Roman ground level where investigations of the earlier history of the site became impossible.
Future digs are proposed though, with Les Huguettes already identified as a possible future site for further excavation work.
Any future work will be coordinated by Dig Alderney, which has been established as a Charitable Association to “facilitate and conduct archaeological research on Alderney and support that led by other organisations, in keeping within Alderney’s best interests”.
The project is run by volunteers and has benefited from the assistance of The States of Alderney, Alderney Electricity, the Alderney Society, Alderney Wildlife Trust and the Rotary Club of Alderney amongst others.
Pictured top: By David Nash.
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