The Adventures of Fireman Bob. P3
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Filed under: Detecting Diary, Fireman Bob — Norfolk Wolf
The Adventures of Fireman Bob.
Part three, Bob’s big day.
I seem to remember writing that there wouldn’t be such a long gap between the last episode and this one. Well I lied! (Didn’t mean to, but it happens, don’t it?) Anyway without further ado, I had better get on with it.
Well after the last episode old Bob was champin’ at the bit so to speak, “When are we going again, can we make it next Tuesday as I’m off then?” One Roman coin and he’s as keen as mustard, with that attitude how could I refuse? I had already suggested that we, I’ll rephrase that, he draw a map of the area and mark everything that was found. You know the sort of thing R = Roman, C = Celtic M = Medieval, then S = silver, B = bronze, G = gold; Artefacts would obviously be A. As I explained, the reason is that we would soon be able to see from the pattern if they were casual losses, or more hopefully, that we find a nucleus that suggests habitation. Already a scattering of Roman to the 2nd Century and to a lesser extent Celtic silver had come to light, so this alone represents around 150- 200 years of traffic through the area. What made things easier for us was the fact that the pine trees were planted in lines which then formed squares with tracks between them. This allowed fairly concise positioning on the map.
Tuesday morning came around and Bob is on the blower making certain that I’m up, (he’s a quick learner). The Dan Archers and their tractors must have had an off day, ’cos for some unknown reason the roads were free and I was first to arrive. Well I couldn’t let this go could I? When Bob turned up (on time), there’s me lookin’ at my imaginary watch and telling him that I was only going to give him another five minutes before I went back home! Ain’t it great when you can get ‘em to apologise even when they’re in the right? Same as always Bob’s got all his gear on and ready to rock and roll and there’s me still relaxed and drawing on me roll- up; I can be such an agravatin’ bugger at times!
Smoke over and I get saddled up for the 1 mile trek to the site. Knowing Bob would be using his Goldmaxx Power, I thought it might be interesting to use the lower frequency of the Adventis; I was interested to see how the 11 inch widescan would handle the conditions compared to his Goldie. Every time we’re walking on our way to the site, both of us are ogling and drooling over the adjacent cultivated fields, knowing full well that there’s a Roman villa situated in the next one over. “Yer got no chance Bob, they shot the last bloke.” “What, shooting at him for just detecting?” “No mate, nothing as bad as that, all he was doing was trying to ask for permission”!! Bob’s eyes were fully focussed on his boots ‘till we got to our site.
Dropped our gear down and decided on two tracks each, one up and one back, following on from where we left off last time. Bob was “in” within a few minutes. “Roman Bronze”, he shouted. “Bastard,” I said. “I was going to go on that Track”. Gets the old adrenalin pumpin’ knowing something is coming up so fast though. “Got another one and this is a bit better condition”. “I’ve just found a cut half of a hammered silver penny; I think it’s Edward 2nd” “I’ve just dug this lovely French jetton”. Christ, what’s he doin’, makin’ ‘em? I’ve found bugger all so far!
This went on all morning, “Another Roman, only it’s a silver Denarius”.
“I’ve just found my first ever Celtic silver”. Me? Naff all, apart from a bent bit of metal that I convinced myself just had to be medieval. I thought that I’m supposed to be the expert around here?
I knew I shouldn’t have shown him how to suss out cartridges last time!
We took time out for a bite to eat and show each other our finds. All right! All right! For me to admire Bob’s finds. They were nice to see (honestly!), even more so the big grin on Bob’s face. “This is the best days detecting I’ve ever had, I can’t hardly believe it”. “This is your red letter day Bob, soak it in for all your worth. Days like this help you through the days when finds are hard to come by and you will get a lot more of them than the good ones.”
A couple of the Roman Bronzes dated to early 4th century, so that increased the traffic in the area to over 350 years, but what bearing did the medieval items have? Could it be possible that this place had traffic through from Celtic to Medieval and if so what were the chances of any Saxon coming to light? This is one of the problems when you compare woodland to cultivated land. A settlement (or habitation) over a period of time will leave the tell-tale signs of lots of ferrous items, we’re talking nails here, but there was no way that we had found that amount of concentration of nails. The ground is definitely more mineralised, but I have put this down to the orange sand which can be as little as 4-6 inches beneath the surface. This and / or the trees (pine) creates quite an acidic soil, (some pieces of lead have been really eaten away when found about 6-8 inches down, likewise most of the nails found. I need to spend more time on trying to find out about the soil quality / mineralisation and concentrate working in all-metal and obtaining a large cross section of ferrous material to check the amount of degradation. It could be that we aren’t finding the concentration of nails because they’ve rusted away. There are definite areas where there is more ferrous, ( which I have put down to very light habitation and not for an excessive period of time) but because I’m so used to the amount found on ploughed fields, I might not have put enough significance to them. If it turns out to be correct, it will need finessing, but will eventually save a lot of wasted time in barren areas. You never stop thinking and learning in this game do you?
Anyway, enough of the brain-boxing; we got stuck in again after the break. Oh joy; oh deep joy, I started finding (and there was me thinking the low frequency wasn’t cutting the mustard). Isn’t it funny that when you are not finding and the other guy is pulling stuff out left right and centre, you start double checking your settings, the sweep speed and anything else you can think of? What are you doing wrong?
Bugger – all, your just not going over anything. Have confidence in yours and the machine’s ability, you know you can pull the gear if it’s there. It just ain’t your day, just be glad one of you is finding (he’s your mate after all). I ended up with half a dozen Roman bronzes and one silver, so the low frequency Adventis did the biz; but the day definitely belonged to Bob. It turned out to be one that he will be able to look back on in years to come and it will still have the magic to bring a smile to his face. Well done my mate, may you have many more. John Lynn.
What’s in store for you lucky lot next time in the adventures of Fireman Bob? Well hang on to yer hats, Bob finds gold and I find a hoard! (Bet yer can’t wait, can yer?)
Some of Bob’s finds.
Picture above.
Top left, is a royal copper farthing of Charles 1st. 1625-49
Bottom right short cross penny of Henry 2nd. 1216-72
Two other artefacts are medieval dress fittings
Picture Below.
(note iron staining on coins)
Top left Medieval dress fitting, similar to what the rockers stick in their leather jackets today.
Top right Celtic silver unit of the Iceni. Circa 10-50 A.D.
Bottom left Silver Denarius of Julia Domna 170 -217 A.D. empress and wife of Septimus Severus.
Bottom right medieval, possible purse frame.
