Well, this weekend was quite a unique exception.... the PAST team being reduced to one person! Thankfully it is only temporary!
After Rob's stag do in Madrid and the wedding last weekend, Rob and his new wife are on honeymoon covering the breadth of the US of A, it was down to business for me this weekend.
It was also a great excuse for my other half to experience the hospitality of the host village and meet the man in charge of the farm operation.
Saturday
The field was planted up in very neat rows of a root vegetable so this would make it very easy to stay on track. The problem was that the soil was quite "airy" and had mini furrows so created an unlevel playing field. The furrows averaged at a depth of four to five inches, so the next visit, when it's re-seeded with wheat in October, should see it a lot smoother.
Once again, there were lots of C14th pottery spread throughout the field with copious amounts of lead and ferrous targets supporting the evidence that this was a well used site indeed.
Using the 13" x 11" coil, governed by the standard GMP mode and a "hot" program, most recoveries were being recovered to a maximum depth of five inches. I switched to the "hot" program as the GMP kept sounding off and reading 97 as the coil passed over the furrows which was quite annoying.
Several C13th - C14th buckles, a voided long cross cut half, Medieval tokens and skillet legs were recovered.
A pint of real ale was calling so it was off to the hotel for refreshments and the England v Russia game. I don't normally watch football but the pub had the game on in all rooms!
Sunday
After a refreshing charge for the large coil it was back to the same field as I'd only covered a third of it at most yesterday.
The first signal was a voided long cross, the second a mount, the third was a cut quarter and the fourth was a penny of Edward I.
A lovely cast bears head mount was the next up with more nice buckles and what appears to be another lead seal matrix.
The heavens opened twice forcing a retreat to the car and the third downpour looked to be more serious.
Indeed it was and forced an early finish to the survey of this field.
Over the two sessions; four hammered coins, fifteen Medieval buckles and adornments, three copper alloy skillet legs, a seal matrix and lots of pottery were recovered.
We went to see the farmer and get some info on the survey field and a couple of others. He added that 28mm of rain had fallen up to 13:00hrs!
With a shake of the hand he said come down any time you like and help yourselves.
We'll certainly be back at harvest as there are a few fields that we didn't do justice to due to the incredibly wet weather since last October.
HD images of the weekends' recoveries can be seen here.
After Rob's stag do in Madrid and the wedding last weekend, Rob and his new wife are on honeymoon covering the breadth of the US of A, it was down to business for me this weekend.
It was also a great excuse for my other half to experience the hospitality of the host village and meet the man in charge of the farm operation.
Saturday
The field was planted up in very neat rows of a root vegetable so this would make it very easy to stay on track. The problem was that the soil was quite "airy" and had mini furrows so created an unlevel playing field. The furrows averaged at a depth of four to five inches, so the next visit, when it's re-seeded with wheat in October, should see it a lot smoother.
Once again, there were lots of C14th pottery spread throughout the field with copious amounts of lead and ferrous targets supporting the evidence that this was a well used site indeed.
Using the 13" x 11" coil, governed by the standard GMP mode and a "hot" program, most recoveries were being recovered to a maximum depth of five inches. I switched to the "hot" program as the GMP kept sounding off and reading 97 as the coil passed over the furrows which was quite annoying.
Several C13th - C14th buckles, a voided long cross cut half, Medieval tokens and skillet legs were recovered.
A pint of real ale was calling so it was off to the hotel for refreshments and the England v Russia game. I don't normally watch football but the pub had the game on in all rooms!
Sunday
After a refreshing charge for the large coil it was back to the same field as I'd only covered a third of it at most yesterday.
The first signal was a voided long cross, the second a mount, the third was a cut quarter and the fourth was a penny of Edward I.
A lovely cast bears head mount was the next up with more nice buckles and what appears to be another lead seal matrix.
The heavens opened twice forcing a retreat to the car and the third downpour looked to be more serious.
Indeed it was and forced an early finish to the survey of this field.
Over the two sessions; four hammered coins, fifteen Medieval buckles and adornments, three copper alloy skillet legs, a seal matrix and lots of pottery were recovered.
We went to see the farmer and get some info on the survey field and a couple of others. He added that 28mm of rain had fallen up to 13:00hrs!
With a shake of the hand he said come down any time you like and help yourselves.
We'll certainly be back at harvest as there are a few fields that we didn't do justice to due to the incredibly wet weather since last October.
HD images of the weekends' recoveries can be seen here.
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