
Today we are heading for our permission codenamed "MC". The codes derive from the name of the field that the archaeology was first discovered.
All the recent outings can be seen here displaying the date and code for each event.
On arrival at "MC" we were met with several "March" hares boxing and frolicking in the fields. There were at least four pairs boxing in the 80 acre field that we'd decided to start our survey in.
We were in this particular field in November last year and again earlier this year which produced some lovely finds which can be seen here.
Today was slightly different to previous outings as there was a new addition to the teams' machine lineup...... a brand new XP Déus V3.2 and 9 inch coil.
The three machines were set up as follows;
Déus #1: (13" x 11" coil), Fast Mode, Tracking, Full Tones, Discrimination at 1, Déus #2 (13" x 11" coil") & #3 (9" coil): GMP standard, 18khz, Tracking.
Another difference today was that we began trials of tweeting our progress live! We had two Twitter feeds on the go with live updates and photos of the finds in situ.
Our second phase of live feeds will continue on our next outing on Tuesday 10th March. You can follow the finds as they appear by following and using these two links: @Britains_PAST and @Find_the_PAST.
The first signal, and tweet of the day, was a superb example of a denarius of Septimius Severus that was sitting on the field surface. This was photographed as it was found and was the first of many surface finds to be recovered on the day.
After the lunch break we returned to the machines that were standing there on guard duty at the start point of the next transect. One of the team members at this point let his disappoinment be known of the fact that he'd not found a Roman coin yet! Two seconds later his voice of discontent turned to a voice of utter amazement..... a barbed and tanged Early Bronze Age arrowhead was sat there on the field surface in front of the standing detector! This is the second BA arrowhead to be recovered from this field.

After the recovery of more Roman artefacts and coins and the surprise of three hammered coins we decided to have a look at a newly seeded field nearby.
We were taken aback to see that it had been re-ploughed! The surface was ridged but fairly level. A Roman 'grot' and the foot of a medieval skillet leg were recovered but we elected to return when it had been rolled and seeded so the team left after half an hour and headed for our final section of the day.
The last hour was spent on a newly seeded winter wheat field that we visited on the 15th Feb (Images) and recovered a mix of Roman and medieval items, one being a sceat dating to c.710 AD.
A Roman fibula attachment and more medieval artefacts were uncovered including a tiny superb farthing of Henry VI.
We could see that the landowner was busy rolling and seeding the field across from us. We called at the farmhouse but everyone must have been busy so we left and I promised the team I would ring asap to let them know we were returning on Tuesday.
Whilst on the 'phone I asked what was being seeded? "Spring barley" was the answer. The next question was could we survey that area? "No problem whatsoever" was the reply. This gives us some great options as the area with the newly seeded spring barley has produced Celtic artefacts, a Scottish hammered coin and a Saxon zoomorphic buckle last March (images)
The images of all the recovered finds will be linked in the next few days as there may be more images to add as we are revisiting tomorrow. These will be uploaded to Flickr as normal, probably on Wednesday or Thursday this week.