Dear Wiltshire Conservation Services, I was very interested to hear that a blog was going to be created on the Bognor burial but I am surprised that there has been no apparent progress in the last month - surely there is some news to report by now?

Progress is slow but steady. The soil blocks are being excavated in layers or spits of 2cm at a time. This is so that any material that is revealed can be recorded at each stage. The soil is being bagged up to be returned for environmental analysis. It is important that every piece of information that we have is retained for further investigation so that as much can be discovered about the burial as possible and this obviously is a slow and meticulous process - but a vital one. An area of the shield boss has already been revealed. The metal has been encased in a block of damp soil since being excavated and these are not ideal conditions for metal, causing it to deteriorate over time. The conservator is therefore having to consolidate areas during the excavation so that the object can be excavated intact. We will be posting new photos as more of the objects are excavated. Thanks for your interest.