The archaeological excavation operation that recovered 250 men buried at Pheasant Wood is now in its final stages. This week saw the removal of the marquee and the leveling and ploughing of the site. Restoration of the site is nearly finished except for re-seeding, which will be undertaken next week.

The excavation area is ploughed in order to flatten the land in preparation for rotivating and reseeding

Of the 250 sets of remains in the temporary mortuary, 210 have been fully analysed. Last Friday the full analysis of all remains from Graves Three and Four was completed, with the analysis of remains from Grave Five under-way.

The number of recorded artefacts from Pheasant Wood continues to grow with a total of 1328 artefact evidence numbers having been entered into the catalogue This equates to some 2872 individual finds.

Finds that were sorted and photographed this week provide yet more evidence for Australian soldiers. They include another ‘Australia’ shoulder badge, a rising sun badge, and a pair of leather straps, one stamped with an incomplete mark for a Brisbane manufacturer, the other stamped with a broad arrow over the initials ‘JT’. The latter are unfortunately not personal initials.

Fountain pen

Among personal items are decorated fittings from braces stamped with the French maker’s name ‘Ch.Guyot’, parts of an ‘Onoto’ patent self-filling fountain pen, and large pocket knife.

It is anticipated that all work will be completed on site by 16th October.