Only two chutes still contained organic material. The archaeologists recovered the contents as completely as possible and sifted them at three different mesh sizes. In all other cases, only the outflow - the organic fill that had flowed out into the moat via the chute - could be examined. At every chute, an area of approximately 6 m2 was marked out. The outflow was deepened manually in successive layers of 10 cm. This digging method was applied to determine whether the outflow had built up gradually or over a short period of time. Of each level, a sample of 150 litres was collected and entirely sifted on site, using screens of three different mesh sizes. The sieve residue contained organic material (seeds, fruits, charcoal, bones) and small finds such as coins, pins, aglets. The remainder of the outflow was inspected for the presence of archaeological material, again layer by layer and exclusively by hand. All finds were meticulously collected and recorded per level.
