December 1999

Dear Jane,

I have spent the most interesting few weeks working with archaeologists in a cave called Pin Hole at Creswell Crags. Its nothing like I expected.The TV programmes make excavations seem so quick but there we were for weeks digging, making notes and drawing.

Much of the cave had already been explored, most of it by an archaeologist called Leslie Armstrong in the 1920's and 1930's. He had done a good job for his day but left many questions unanswered. We started where he left off, looking at a cut through the depth of the deposits nearly four metres high. This section looked quite daunting as you could see many changes in colour which could be significant but they did not extend in nice horizontal layers like you see in text books. They were horribly complicated, dipping, rising, thinning out and disappearing in ways it was tricky to follow. How would we sort all this out and understand it ?

Discovering clues about the Ice Age
Tiring work
Identifying when the cave was used
Post excavation work begins

With best wishes

Nick

PS I have enclosed some useful articles on various techniques, hope you find them useful. Stone tools, Animal bones, Evidence from plants, Cave sediments, Dating techniques.

This letter was composed in 2001. It is based on documents and publications from excavations carried out in the late 20th century.