Today's survey saw the team re-visiting our permission JHF1 or as one person called it "Just Having Fun!" which I thought was quite amusing and fitting. The field is the one where lots of denarii have been retrieved including 15 from a hoard.
The plan for the day was to try and cover as much of this field as we could on this, the second visit since re-ploughing. The field is about 14.5 acres in size with just under 5 acres remaining which we could possibly cover in the day depending on the amount of stops we encounter.
We knew that this was going to be hard day as we'd already surveyed this field after the last plough session with not many finds per acre and a substantial amount of the dreaded green waste present! The upside is that the finds are pretty good when they do show, including the denarii hoard.
If it wasn't for the the quality of the finds I think that most people would avoid the field altogether unless it was on their doorstep.
Anyway, on to the survey itself, we started from where we left off after our two hour session last week that was stopped by the rain. Quite an expensive trip time-wise with over four hours travel time for a two hour stint.
It was one hour forty-five minutes before the first find was recovered and that was a Roman grot!
However, and after a lot of moaning about the green waste and doubt about any good finds appearing a sestertius came up with a discernible portrait showing. Within five feet of that a beautiful denarius of Plautilla (202 AD) appeared which was a lovely sight after all the doubt.
A change in direction along a different headland saw a hammered coin of Edward II, London Mint being recovered. Lunch beckoned so we headed for the support vehicle for a drink and something to eat.
During lunch a change in strategy was discussed but we decided to compromise and carried on where we were for two more passes. A nice Roman artefact was recovered but nothing else but green waste.
The second part of the compromise was Rob going with his gut instinct on another part of the field and me going with mine. Also there was a change in coils for Rob to the 9" standard unit whilst I stuck with the 13" x 11" coil.
The reason for the coil change was simply a power outage on Robs coil.
Robs first find on the "new" patch was a denarius of Antoninus Pius with two more dupondii and a tiny Edward Ist farthing coming up from an amazing four inches in depth!
Meanwhile, on my patch, a jetton and a hammered penny of Edward III came to light.
All in all, a good day despite the negative aspect of the dreaded green waste with consecutive coins Edwards of I, II & III making a show on the same day as well as six Roman coins. One Medieval coin in one day on this field would be a "bonus" for us but five Medieval coins is beyond belief.
Some lovely pieces of Roman pottery were also recovered with some nice base sherds including the base of a goblet and a couple of Medieval jug handles too.
Standard Déus GMP settings, one on manual the other on tracking.
As per usual, all finds were within the first five inches of the surface, many being shallower!
High definition images of the days recoveries can be seen here.
The plan for the day was to try and cover as much of this field as we could on this, the second visit since re-ploughing. The field is about 14.5 acres in size with just under 5 acres remaining which we could possibly cover in the day depending on the amount of stops we encounter.
We knew that this was going to be hard day as we'd already surveyed this field after the last plough session with not many finds per acre and a substantial amount of the dreaded green waste present! The upside is that the finds are pretty good when they do show, including the denarii hoard.
If it wasn't for the the quality of the finds I think that most people would avoid the field altogether unless it was on their doorstep.
Anyway, on to the survey itself, we started from where we left off after our two hour session last week that was stopped by the rain. Quite an expensive trip time-wise with over four hours travel time for a two hour stint.
It was one hour forty-five minutes before the first find was recovered and that was a Roman grot!
However, and after a lot of moaning about the green waste and doubt about any good finds appearing a sestertius came up with a discernible portrait showing. Within five feet of that a beautiful denarius of Plautilla (202 AD) appeared which was a lovely sight after all the doubt.
A change in direction along a different headland saw a hammered coin of Edward II, London Mint being recovered. Lunch beckoned so we headed for the support vehicle for a drink and something to eat.
During lunch a change in strategy was discussed but we decided to compromise and carried on where we were for two more passes. A nice Roman artefact was recovered but nothing else but green waste.
The second part of the compromise was Rob going with his gut instinct on another part of the field and me going with mine. Also there was a change in coils for Rob to the 9" standard unit whilst I stuck with the 13" x 11" coil.
The reason for the coil change was simply a power outage on Robs coil.
Robs first find on the "new" patch was a denarius of Antoninus Pius with two more dupondii and a tiny Edward Ist farthing coming up from an amazing four inches in depth!
Meanwhile, on my patch, a jetton and a hammered penny of Edward III came to light.
All in all, a good day despite the negative aspect of the dreaded green waste with consecutive coins Edwards of I, II & III making a show on the same day as well as six Roman coins. One Medieval coin in one day on this field would be a "bonus" for us but five Medieval coins is beyond belief.
Some lovely pieces of Roman pottery were also recovered with some nice base sherds including the base of a goblet and a couple of Medieval jug handles too.
Standard Déus GMP settings, one on manual the other on tracking.
As per usual, all finds were within the first five inches of the surface, many being shallower!
High definition images of the days recoveries can be seen here.
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