8/12/15

James Begley, Mike Waterworth, Lee Knight & John Boulton

2 hours

We met up to show Lee & John around the site and for them to gather a couple of samples of the biological mats that have been puzzling us. They were shown around the upper dig first, including down into the chamber first explored a couple of weeks earlier, and they collected a couple of samples to be sent off for analysis, but are almost certainly bacterial based. We then went to the lower dig site, where a bit of enthusiastic digging allowed first Mike then the rest of us to extend the lowest dig and get round the corner to a point where there is an aven going upwards for a couple of metres and a trench in the floor full of silt and clay. Digging it out will require making the floor deeper all the way along, but should only take a couple of sessions. Mike also pushed on to the right from the higher dig, to a  low chamber with another aven and what appears to be a connection back to the upper dig – yet to be confirmed.