We received an email from a landowner to say that the field which has produced some of the best Medieval artefacts we've ever found, had been cut. The 4-acre field had been ploughed for the first time in about 3 to 4 years and so it was with high expectations that we set off on today's journey.
Our expectations were quickly dulled on arrival as we found that the straw was still on the ground meaning that almost half the field was covered.
The field surface is very uneven resulting in the combines cutters varying in height by quite a margin. This meant that the stubble was knee-high in some of the parts of the field that didn't have straw on the ground making it impossible to swing the coils efficiently.
Talking of coils, we used the machines in the normal standard GMP settings with the 9" HF coils, hoping that they would cut through the stubble with relative ease. Unfortunately, this wasn't to be, making it extremely difficult in getting the coils to an acceptable ground clearance height.
We're not used to detecting on stubble for obvious reasons, not only because of the loss of low ground clearance, but just as importantly, field surface visibility is lost through the wheat chaff.
We did however manage to recover some nice Medieval artefacts and even the obligatory hammered coin (Henry III).
By lunchtime we threw in the towel and rang the landowner to ask if could have a look at a field that had OSR in it and had been disked.
Swinging the coils would be like pure luxury, with flat conditions, and not many stalks left standing.
Our joy was again dimmed as the field was covered in iron fragments and lots of tin foil, and similar, making it like a greenwaste field.
Apart from the Henry III coin, we recovered strapend plates, buckles, pottery, a beehive thimble, a decorated spindle whorl, Georgian buckles, a great George I halfpenny dated 1721 and a George V florin dated 1923.
HD images of the days finds can be seen here.
Our expectations were quickly dulled on arrival as we found that the straw was still on the ground meaning that almost half the field was covered.
The field surface is very uneven resulting in the combines cutters varying in height by quite a margin. This meant that the stubble was knee-high in some of the parts of the field that didn't have straw on the ground making it impossible to swing the coils efficiently.
Talking of coils, we used the machines in the normal standard GMP settings with the 9" HF coils, hoping that they would cut through the stubble with relative ease. Unfortunately, this wasn't to be, making it extremely difficult in getting the coils to an acceptable ground clearance height.
We're not used to detecting on stubble for obvious reasons, not only because of the loss of low ground clearance, but just as importantly, field surface visibility is lost through the wheat chaff.
We did however manage to recover some nice Medieval artefacts and even the obligatory hammered coin (Henry III).
By lunchtime we threw in the towel and rang the landowner to ask if could have a look at a field that had OSR in it and had been disked.
Swinging the coils would be like pure luxury, with flat conditions, and not many stalks left standing.
Our joy was again dimmed as the field was covered in iron fragments and lots of tin foil, and similar, making it like a greenwaste field.
Apart from the Henry III coin, we recovered strapend plates, buckles, pottery, a beehive thimble, a decorated spindle whorl, Georgian buckles, a great George I halfpenny dated 1721 and a George V florin dated 1923.
HD images of the days finds can be seen here.
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