Today was the first day on a new permission in a new county!
As can be seen in the image below..... the field conditions were as flat as you could get, well almost.
The downside was that the soil was very dry and full of air.
Field One (17 acres) was the first to be surveyed using the harrow lines as a guide with a distance of 15ft spacing between us.
The machines were set up as usual (GMP, auto and manual GB, 18khz) using large coils for greater coverage.
Steve elected to use his brand new small SEF coil.
As can be seen in the image below..... the field conditions were as flat as you could get, well almost.
The downside was that the soil was very dry and full of air.
Field One (17 acres) was the first to be surveyed using the harrow lines as a guide with a distance of 15ft spacing between us.
The machines were set up as usual (GMP, auto and manual GB, 18khz) using large coils for greater coverage.
Steve elected to use his brand new small SEF coil.
Uphill view of the slope.
The soil, as mentioned, was very dry and powdery and most artefacts were in the 0 - 5" depth range.
There was a high level of Victorian night soil at the southern end of the field.
The initial survey indicated that there was no evidence of early habitation with just one Roman grot and no pre C17th pottery at all.
A quick call to the landowner at lunch-time confirmed that another field a short distance away was his and that we could have a look there "if we liked".
Sandwiches hastily eaten, .....we were off to field number Two.
The field (11 acres) was in exactly the same condition as field number One.
Even the Victorian night soil was evident at the southern edge of this field too.
However, there appeared to be more signals than field One and it also had a public footpath running through the middle of it!
We used the footpath as a marker and surveyed up to it and then turned 180 degrees and carried on in the opposite direction.
I'm not too sure that this was a good decision using the footpath as a marker as every time we got to the footpath there were very curious members of the general public asking all sorts of questions. As this was a very affluent area their questions were very articulate. All of the peolple we spoke to were astounded on three counts; a) the amount of finds we had recovered, b) how knowledgable we were about their local history and of history in general and c) the fact that we recorded for The British Museum! They were well impressed.
The exchange of their local knowledge, especially regarding other landowners in the area was invaluable. A key bit of info was a landowner who has a Roman villa on his land and isn't scheduled..... yet.
A good range of artefacts were recovered, from flint to Victorian coins and pottery. No Roman or medieval pottery came to light.
Next Saturday we are off to another brand new permission, but this could be the tip of the iceberg as it's part of a 8000+ acres Estate.
The images of the recovered artefacts can be seen here.
There was a high level of Victorian night soil at the southern end of the field.
The initial survey indicated that there was no evidence of early habitation with just one Roman grot and no pre C17th pottery at all.
A quick call to the landowner at lunch-time confirmed that another field a short distance away was his and that we could have a look there "if we liked".
Sandwiches hastily eaten, .....we were off to field number Two.
The field (11 acres) was in exactly the same condition as field number One.
Even the Victorian night soil was evident at the southern edge of this field too.
However, there appeared to be more signals than field One and it also had a public footpath running through the middle of it!
We used the footpath as a marker and surveyed up to it and then turned 180 degrees and carried on in the opposite direction.
I'm not too sure that this was a good decision using the footpath as a marker as every time we got to the footpath there were very curious members of the general public asking all sorts of questions. As this was a very affluent area their questions were very articulate. All of the peolple we spoke to were astounded on three counts; a) the amount of finds we had recovered, b) how knowledgable we were about their local history and of history in general and c) the fact that we recorded for The British Museum! They were well impressed.
The exchange of their local knowledge, especially regarding other landowners in the area was invaluable. A key bit of info was a landowner who has a Roman villa on his land and isn't scheduled..... yet.
A good range of artefacts were recovered, from flint to Victorian coins and pottery. No Roman or medieval pottery came to light.
Next Saturday we are off to another brand new permission, but this could be the tip of the iceberg as it's part of a 8000+ acres Estate.
The images of the recovered artefacts can be seen here.
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