Well, here we are at the end of 2015 with our last survey of the year!

The site (JHF1) was the one we last visited on 20th Dec and recovered 46 Roman coins and several pieces of RB pottery. 

Today's survey couldn't have ended the year any better. A total of twelve denarii (eleven being part of a hoard, with at least three of those Republican), four Roman fibula's (two are stunners!), another treasure item in the form of a beautiful silver C17th buckle, seven Roman bronzes and three hammered coins to complete the day. Thirty fragments of Roman and Medieval pottery were also recovered.

The plan was to fieldwalk the first (arable) field to a 45 degree line across to a gate to gain access to the  adjacent field which is in pasture. This would then lead us to our target pasture field of which a Roman shrine may exist.

We entered the first field which was in winter wheat and the first two signals of the day were a Roman headstud fibula and a fabulous denarius of Septimius Severus dating to c. 193 - 211 AD.
We entered the first pasture field which has lots of ridge & furrow and earthworks. This field had also been excavated in the past by archaeologists. We recovered a fragment of a Roman headstud fibula and a few Roman bronze coins in super condition.
A hammered coin of Edward I was also recovered.
I recieved a text from the landowners daughter who was very keen to meet us. She said she'd be there in ten minutes! Wow! She was so interested in what we were doing and extremely knowledgable in ancient and Medieval archaeology due to her degree in Ancient and Medieval History. Our guest then suggested several areas that we should survey! Reluctantly, she left for a lunch appointment with a promise to return by the time we were ready to go home later that day.

A nice surprise was the fantastic sight of a barn owl gracefully floating over the field. A great spotted woodpecker was the next on the bill (no pun) as it started its territorial call from a prominent position.

We arrived at the Roman shrine field only to find no initial evidence of a shrine anywhere. We did however recover the lovely C17th silver buckle.
We then entered a field adjacent to the pasture which was rough ploughed and this had Roman and Medieval pottery on the surface. This may have potential when it's drilled in March. If a shrine does exist, it may be quite near to where we were as the the area is perfect location for one.

We decided to return to the first field where we'd earlier recovered the Roman headstud fibula and Septimius Severus denarius.
The first Roman item recovered was a tiny trumpet/knee type fibula with part of its pin still attached.
Shortly after the fibula, the first of eleven denarii was found. The same hole produced two more denarii one of which was a beautiful Republican example dating to 79 BC. In all, the eleven denarii were recovered from an area of about 300 sq ft.
For those with a head for figures, the Déus' ID meters read 89/91.
Shortly after, a superb Roman Trumpet fibula, complete with pin and suspension loop, was uncovered from a depth of four inches.
A cut-half voided long cross and another Edward I coin were also recovered in this field.

With the light fading we stopped the survey and stripped down for a visit to the farmhouse. 
We met with the landowners wife and two daughters. All three were enthralled with what we'd recovered and were absorbed in the information that was being transferred. 
We were so honoured and proud to be accepted with such grace, it was indeed a privilege to survey this permission!
​A map was produced revealing the original field names, one in particular looks too good to be true!
We were asked with fervour when we would return as the landowners have so much land that requires intense attention as soon as we can return.
We suggested the 2nd/3rd January dependent on weather.
We are now certain that we have the biggest challenge on our hands as this permission has several acres of history packed into it. 

As per usual, all three Déus machines were set up in GMP mode with "Tracking" GB selected. All signals were recovered from a maximum depth of three to four inches in both pasture and arable.
The machines had the 13" coils attached.

​Images of all the days recoveries can be seen here.

With yet another weekend missed through the inclement weather we were lucky enough to pay a return visit to our new site JHF1 today.
This is the 48 acre field drilled with winter wheat in which we recovered 38 Roman coins and 174 Romano-British pottery sherds on 5th December.

The three XP Déus machines were fitted with the 9" coils and set up as follows; standard GMP mode and Ground Balance in the "Tracking" mode. 
We started from where we left off last and it wasn't long before a few Roman coins and a couple of RB sherds appeared.
Again, the coins were being recovered at a very shallow depth indeed as most were actually on the surface. The deepest coins were only ONE to TWO inches deep! The green waste however was coming up from a variety of depths.

During our final run down the field we met up with the landowner and his wife, along with their two dogs. This was the very first time that we'd actually met the landowner himself. The meeting was very cordial and he very kindly suggested other areas of interest that we may like to survey. This included lots of pasture that we hadn't accounted for. Parts of the pasture covers a deserted medieval village (DMV) and land surrounding two old halls.
One of the suggested areas has evidence of a Roman shrine and this is next on the list when we visit over the Christmas period. With the amount of interesting areas on this permission the other permissions we had lined up for survey may have to wait until harvest 2016!

We finished the survey with 46 Roman coins, a medieval decorated strapend buckle and dress hook, 27 sherds of pottery, mainly Roman with 6 being possibly medieval.
We de-robed and had a quick look at an 8 acre field that has just been drilled with winter wheat. A sherd of Roman Grey Ware and three sherds of medieval pottery were recovered so this field may have potential too.

We called in at the farmhouse for a catchup on the day's finds. 
Once again we were warmly welcomed into the large rustic kitchen and chatted about other areas that may be of interest.
We were shown a Tudor brick that has canine paw prints embedded into it.
Whether this is a fox or pet dog, who knows.
Apparently, a close member of the family is an archaeologist and in the employ of The British Museum and would be very interesting in meeting us.
​This is planned for the 28th December, weather permitting.

We experimented with the new GoPro Hero 4 Black Edition so when I've time I'll be checking the footage and uploading the video.... watch this space!
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Images of the days recoveries can be seen here.


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After a hectic day yesterday on our brand new site (JHF1) recovering 174 pieces of Romano-British pottery and 38 Roman coins it was back to a site (WH) that we've been surveying over the last four years.
There were just two members of the PAST team available so we were down 33% on coverage to start with.

We carried on from where we left of on the 8th November with hardly any non-ferrous signals! In fact, we only recovered 12 signals. Amongst the 12 signals were two lovely examples of Roman coins. These were, as usual, very shallow with one only 2mm under the surface.

The machines were set up using Large coils and GMP in Tracking mode.

We moved to another field where we had recovered hammered coinage and several pieces of Iron Age loom weights. We found another four on the field surface. No non-ferrous signals were encountered!

Field number 3 was next up and again there was a very low number of non-ferrous signals! 2 Roman coins were recovered and a sherd of pottery.

We then moved on to field number 4 where we had our first visit last year and recovered Roman coins and a nice fibula. Again there was a lack of non-ferrous signals except for one cartwheel penny!

We came to the conclusion that the ground had been covered so precisely over the last four years that only a deep ploughing session would redeem the site. It was decided that we would sadly wave goodbye to WH for the foreseeable future and 'rest' it until 2018 at the earliest.
Thankfully we have new permissions coming on-stream that may be worthy successors to WH.

​Images of the days recoveries can be seen here.

Well, I can't remember when we've missed almost a month (27 days) of surveys due to the inclement weather!
All was not lost however, with a couple of visits to our favourite Michelin-Starred restaurant, and a visit to the number one pub in Britain for a superb lunch.
Culturally, we had a couple of days in London, taking in the British Museum (visiting the Celtic Exhibition) and attending the PASt Conference 2015, followed by a re-visit to The Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds.

Today we were blessed with another brand new permission (JHF1), with a difference.... it's our first one that actually comes with a published manual describing the finds that have been excavated by archaeologists in the past, and in substantial detail.

We were challenged with a 48 acre field, drilled with winter wheat and no agreed starting point. This was easily solved by starting the survey exactly next to where we parked!
It was only matter of minutes before the first of 38 Roman coins and a huge amount of pottery started to show. Even four pieces of C14th Medieval pottery were recovered.

We had researched this particular field about 18 months ago but were waylaid with other higher priority opportunities so it was put on the "back burner".
It was only when new evidence came to light that we decided to action a 'request to survey'. Luckily the request was granted, and we mean lucky! Apparently, the landowners have been plagued by the scum that we've all come to know as "nighthawkers". Yes, the low-lifes that will steal from you at any opportunity. I hope we come across these "nighthawkers" as we could have so much 'fun' together.

The landowners have said that they are so glad to be able to trust someone to come long and recover, and record the history upon their land. Of course, we will aim to oblige and in doing so create a long lasting bond that will spread to other large landowners nearby. The next door neighbour has over 4000 hectares (10,000 acres) and does not allow detectorists on her land.

We were about half-way through the survey when we could see someone on the field edge, with a dog, walking towards us. It was the landowners wife complete with camera. She kindly asked if she could take some photos of us "in action". With the action shots in-the-bag I said that we would call in when we'd finished for the day, with that she left us to carry on our latest survey.

Apart from the vast amount of Roman pottery sherds recovered (174 pieces weighing in at just over 3.8 Kg) we have a fragment of a Bronze Age axe or chisel, 36 Roman numus', a Republican denarius, a sestertius, a fibula catch plate all for ID and recording. Some of the pottery was quite nice with some great pieces of decorated Samian Ware and Black Burnished Ware. The trip was worth the journey just for the pottery alone!
By the way, the 1969 AD pigeon ring number is D3586 NU 69.
It's got to be noted that we came across the largest amount of "hot rocks" ever!!!!
Just to balance things up a little, and to show its not all a bed of roses when the PAST are out surveying, we managed to collect 1.670 Kg of metallic waste including lots of the dreaded green waste!

With the light fading and the prospect of another survey tomorrow at another permission, we decided to call it a wrap and de-robe.

As promised, we called in at the farmhouse and had a great chat with Mrs landowner. She was so warm and friendly, she even brought out an exhibit of a Tudor brick that had paw prints in it! Awesome! 
As a token of gratitude, we left a bottle of Lanson 1760 Black Label Champagne. Of course, we could return at any time we want to explore the 1250 acres they have that are currently under seed.
This is a fanatstic result as all their land has great potential, hence the "nighthawkers". We will aim, and succeed, to recover all finds so that the "nighthawkers" won't get a single signal.

For those of a technical disposition; we used the Déus' in standard GMP and Tracking. I tried one of those "Hot" programs but it was WILDLY noisy with HUGE amounts of ferrous signals!

All the photos of all ​recoveries can be seen here.