Our fifth visit this season to the 24-acre field resulted in more hammered coinage covering a wide date-range being recovered.
Patience is the word for this field as the artefacts are quite widespread with hammered coinage averaging about two coins per acre.
There have been 48 hammered coins recovered overall, dating from the C12th through to to Charles I.

We were going to video this visit but it was far too windy, so we'll perhaps try it next time out.

At least there is no green waste here, also the soil is great to dig as it is has a mix of sand in its makeup making it crumbly. It was a surprise to see the surface cracking due to the dry conditions!

The links to the images of the artefacts from the three visits are: 9th March, 16th March and 24th March.

This is our second visit this season to the 24-acre field drilled with first wheat.
The first visit was cut short but we still managed to recover a couple of hammered coins and medieval artefacts.
One of the coins was a continental penny of Gui de Dampierre AD 1280 - 1305 and the other was a sixpence of Elizabeth I dated 1594 and minted at the Tower of London.
Images of these finds can be seen here.

The second visit consisted of the the full team taking part and had a bit of a slow start yet there were quite a few silver coins recovered, three being hammered.
​After the lunch break we decided to persevere and we were glad we did as more medieval artefacts emerged and a total eleven hammered coins were found with four silver milled coins.
There were two large lead trade weights, one weighing a pound and the other weighing one quarter of a pound.
In fact, quite a few lead artefacts were recovered with four bag seals, a token and a lead pot mend with a piece of the pot still intact.
A nice pin that may be Saxon or Medieval came up too but is in the process of cleaning as this article is being written.

We look forward to returning to this field soon. At 24-acres we estimate that there is another two days worth of searching to complete it.
Meanwhile, there are some other interesting fields at the farm we want to survey after this one that may be interesting. We know that one of them has a possible Roman shrine in it, as well as a DMV. 

​High definition images can be seen here.

Well, this seems to be the 'norm' now, another very wet start to the season.
One of our landowners noted that the usual annual rainfall was 24" per year. Last year the annual total was 62" and most of that fell between July and December 2023.

Our last outing was 14th January 2024 and there is a possibility that we may venture out this coming weekend.
The target field has quite a sandy loam mixture and quite soft when damp.
Some of the fields at this farm are probably out-of-bounds according to the landowner until April where they may have dried out slightly.
One of these fields is where we think there could be a possible Roman shrine.

We have a few projects and activities in the pipeline this year, so we'll let you know the outcome of those as we encounter them.
Some of these include a farm in Lancashire where there are possible Roman buildings; a Roman fort, a possible Anglo-Saxon religious site in Scotland, our annual dig looking for two Roman shrines, a couple of visits to ongoing archaeological digs and more!

We may visit to the BM soon to look at their Roman exhibition; 'Legion, life in the Roman army' which runs to the 23rd June 2024.
Whilst there, we will be handing over a treasure case item that has been ongoing for over two years.

Hopefully there will be a report on our outing this weekend, if the weather behaves!

Todays dig was going to target an area that we think may hold a Roman shrine.
This assumption is due to fact that mainly Roman bronze coinage and pottery sherds from small urns have been recovered here.

We got to the field and it was underwater in parts and very, very soggy!
This is the first time at this farm since 2015 that we have not been able to carry out a survey due to wet conditions.
Thankfully, we had a sort of backup plan, and that was to survey the field next door to it.

This field is pasture and only about 3.5 acres in size so should be covered quite easily in the time we had for the day,
Details had come to light recently that this field had been excavated by an amateur team in the 1950's and they had found remains that may have been an altar and grave headstones with several Roman coins there.

Within the first few minutes the first Roman coin emerged, quickly followed by more. In all, 42 Roman coins were recovered, mainly dating to the C4th but covering the following Reece periods; 9, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 & 19.
​The date range is AD 180 to AD 364.
A majority of the coins are in excellent condition and some look like they were uncirculated. 
No other Roman artefacts were recovered which mirrors our other shrine site as only coinage (and nice sherds of small Roman vessels) were found there too.

You can view the images of the finds from this dig here.

As mentioned in a previous post, our new 2023/2024 season has started off pretty slowly with the inclement weather and team availability.
2023 on the whole was quite a good year for Anglo-Saxon finds especially coinage.

In December last year we visited a site that has a small Roman villa with lots of tesserae recovered (91 pieces @ 1.4kg) and a small amount of Roman coinage and fibula fragments. The images can be seen here.

January 7th saw us in a field that has produced mainly Medieval artefacts with 1.4kg of C13th - C14th pottery as well as buckle fragments and four hammered coins.
Over 50 musket balls were recovered of various sizes.
Also, several pieces of worked flint were taken from the surface showing that the area has been used for over three thousand years.
​The images for these finds can be seen here. 

​We are hoping to look at another field on the farm which is quite large but holds what we think is a Roman shrine.
Recent information shows that an area close to here has produced Roman alter stones and coinage during an archaeological dig.

Fingers crossed that we will have a decent report for our next post!

Well, our season may have got off to a slow start due to the extremely wet weather but the finds have far than made up for it!

8th October saw us visit a new permission that is predominantly Anglo-Saxon.
Other finds include Roman, Medieval and Post medieval items.
The Anglo-Saxon (AS) coinage included a sceat of Eadberht dating AD 738 with two styca's, both of Aethelred II dating to AD 810. Three AS pin heads were also recovered.
One intriguing find was the foot of a Roman brooch showing a modification to the catch plate.
Pictures of the finds can be seen here: flic.kr/s/aHBqjAY6MD 

Ironically, our next site visit was to another field that has produced quite a few AS finds too.
This included sceatta's dating from AD 588 to AD 810.
The Wodan sceat is in fantastic condition.
One find in particular is very interesting, it looks to be an AS girdle hanger dating anywhere between the C5th and C7th century.
A Roman brooch and a couple of Roman grots came up too.
For the Neolithic fans out there, a lovely flint blade was recovered that is still incredibly sharp!
Please check these finds out here: flic.kr/s/aHBqjAZG4t

Meanwhile, we managed to return to a favourite permission on Sunday 12th November where we've found all sorts of artefacts covering all the periods from Neolithic to Post Medieval.
The field was quite claggy in parts resulting in heavy boots and spades.

This particular field has part of a DMV in it with evidence that there may have been an impromptu market held there over the years supported by the fact that several Medieval coins ie; cut halves and quarters have been found here.
Several fragments of C13th - C14th pottery has also been recovered here.
On this occasion, at least 25 Medieval jug handles were found with several rim sherds and base sherds found.
In all, over 5kg of pottery was bagged.

Pictures of the finds will follow soon.

Next week we are hoping to visit a field that has a Roman farmstead in it that is posh enough to have a tegulae floor in it!
​

Once again, we were privileged to be invited by DigVentures to explore their excavation on The Holy Island of Lindisfarne this September 2023.

This time around, and for the first time, all three team members AND their partners stayed on the island!

DigVentures and their excavation team had unearthed 7 Anglo-Saxon coins as well as lots of burials and a huge/deep ditch which looks to be earlier than the Anglo-Saxon cemetery. 
We got to work on the spoil heaps and trench bases and recovered another 8 styca's and Sceattas so, in total, 15 coins have been found this year.
One of the coins represents the shrine of St Cuthbert after the first Viking attack and is extremely rare.
Some of the other coins are also very rare!

We also checked out the wildlife around the island and noticed quite a few dead sea birds, mainly Razorbills.
The Autumn migration is already underway with geese, waders and starlings, all doing their Autumn thing.

Lindisfarne is quite special, not just for the Dig, but the interactions, comradery and fun we had shared between the six of us.
We even had a short session listening to music through a set of headphones and a headphone amp featuring Anna Lapwood and Bonobo at the Royal Albert Hall. That session was memorable as emotions ran high, resulting in goose bumps and tears.

We are already looking forward to returning next year...

We are fortunate to be allowed continued access to our new permission where we thought that there may be an Anglo-Saxon settlement.

As per the last post we published where 4 Anglo-Saxon coins were recovered, we recovered another 5 coins, one of them being extremely rare.
The coin is a new variety of sceat, being that of King Alchred AD 765 - 774.

Another surprising fact is that we have only recovered a few pieces of pottery, and that is from any period!
No Saxon pottery as yet, but Medieval and a couple of Roman sherds have surfaced.
What is strange is that we've recovered 7 Roman brooches and fragments as well as other Roman metallic items, but very little pottery.

As can be seen from our Flickr site, there are several Medieval metallic artefacts but, again, proportionately less pottery.
Another oddity is the lack of C12th to C15th coinage with only 2 coins coming up, a Richard Ist penny and your good old favourite, a penny of Edward Ist.

We're going to venture back soon to carry on our survey and see if any more interesting artefacts come to light.

​Meanwhile, here's a link to our latest finds <here>

​We'll report back soon.....

We visited a brand new permission last week that we gained in May this year.
We suspected that the site is Anglo-Saxon due to the research we carried out.

Unfortunately, the site has been ransacked by nighthawkers over the last 5 years, so many rare Anglo-Saxon coins and artefacts will have been stolen.

The first coin to emerge was indeed a Saxon styca of Aethelred II dating to AD 840 - AD 858.
Another styca and two sceats were also recovered during the same visit.
As well as Saxon coinage, Roman coins and artefacts also surfaced.
Several pieces of lead and small ferrous items were encountered reflecting that the site had been a very site over the years.
Saxon pins, mounts and Medieval objects also saw the light of day.

For the images of this visit, please visit this link: flic.kr/s/aHBqjARRT8

The archaeological dig at our Yorkshire farm went really well with lots of Roman pottery coming up including some fantastic large pieces!
Interesting to see the sizes of some of the pits and ditches.

There will be another report soon!

Well, after a false start due to the JCB having a technical problem the dig got underway with a ditch appearing within the first few minutes.
It wasn't long before several more features started to show including pits, post holes and other yet-to-be-explored archaeology.

​Here are a few of the first images showing just some of the features:

​There will be more images and news over the next few days.....