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Monday 23 June 03
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Bill Wyman
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Mick and Tony discuss archaeology and metal detectorists here. You will need RealPlayer to view this file.
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Wolverhampton
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Check out behind the scenes footage from Wolverhampton's dig here. You will need RealPlayer to view this file.
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The Background
Time Team fan Cherry Lawton applied to take part in Big Dig because she thought the scheme was such a good idea. Cherry has always been interested in the history of her father's home. 'It's on the edge of some really old meadows,' continues Cherry, 'and the edge of the site forms the boundary of an old track way.' Cherry is digging with her daughter Sian and their husbands, John and Brian.
The site chosen for the test pit is on a small area near the boundary which the Lawtons believe has remained undisturbed for nearly 900 years. 'The hedge has been dated to around 900 years old and there's only been superficial clearing done over the last 12 years.' says Cherry, 'I don't mind if we don't find any artefacts, it would just be nice to sort out what is actually going on at the bottom of the garden. Even if we find nothing it will settle a few questions.'
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The Pipe Story
One of the most common back garden finds is fragments of clay pipe. During mid-morning a piece of clay pipe stem was found in one of the upper contexts. It was stamped with 'W Sout…. Brose' and Mick thought it might have come from Broseley, Shropshire.
While the rest of the family continued to dig, Sian got online and found clay pipe expert Rex Key (www.broseleypipes.co.uk). She sent him through one of our web pictures to see if he could identify and date the pipe fragment. Half an hour after getting our picture Rex called back. He identified the makers stamp as belonging to a selection of pipes made from 1860. Rex believed that the Lawsons particular piece was once part of a church wardens' pipe which would have been about 25" (63cm) long.
'The church warden name basically refers to a style.' says Mick Aston, 'These pipes were very long. If you find a piece of clay pipe with the tobacco bowl on it you could try using the 'Aston' method of dating.' says Mick with a smile, 'You generally find that the older pipes have very small bowls which are pea shaped and at an angle. By the time you get to the 19 Century they grow and get bigger and more upright. This is because tobacco used to be very expensive so people only smoked small amounts and then later it became much cheaper. I've never really figured out why the church wardens pipe was so long. It was probably just a fashion thing or maybe it made the smoke a bit cooler by the time it got to your mouth.'
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John's Day
Near the end of the excavation as the finds were being finally sorted and the last sieving shaken through, John reviewed his day of Big Digging. 'I have to say that it's been really interesting. When we started out we didn't know anything about excavation. After following the guidelines and having Brigid to help us out we've learnt a huge amount. I can really appreciate why all the recording is needed and I can now actually see archaeology in the ground.'
Together with Brian, John has meticulously followed all of his recording to the letter and now feels confident that he can identify archaeology. 'If I was gardening this morning I would never have spotted the feature in our test pit. However, now I can appreciate what archaeology looks like and next time I'm digging I'll be able to spot it before any damage is done. It's been a great thing to do.'
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Barnet
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The Background
In a quiet residential street in the suburbs of Barnet, retired judo and self defence teacher Ann Fereday has been puzzled by the appearance of tiny worked flints in her flowerbeds and her strawberry patch. As an amateur geologist and paleontologist, Ann has travelled all over the world, including war-torn Yemen, Libya and Outer Mongolia to find her precious artifacts, which are now housed in an impressive private museum which fills a large part of her immaculate 1920's house. Archaeology, however, is one of her more recent hobbies and, although she has developed quite an eye for it, she cannot understand the nature of the worked flints she has been finding in her own garden. Old maps show that her house is on the site of a rivulet of an ancient lake which explains their presence but she has so many questions that she is desperate for Time Team to answer.
By 2pm today the Team had got down through a layer of rubbish and blue and white china to the flints. More info in the programme at 8! |
Oakamoor
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The Background
18 months ago, Historical illustrator Rob Chapman moved into his new home, a Victorian terraced cottage in the Staffordshire Dales. 'The Old Furnace' is a pretty little house with a hidden secret - while Rob was tending his picture postcard garden he started digging up huge quantities of iron slag, the residue from a smelting plant.
His interest stoked, Rob trawled the archives and historical records. To his amazement, he found out that he was living on the site of the first blast furnace to be built in North Staffordshire. The furnace only operated for 14 years, between 1593 and 1607. It was paid for by the redoubtable Duchess of Shrewsbury, the second richest woman in Elizabethan England after the Queen, who was better know as Bess of Hardwick and who built the sumptuous Hardwicke Hall nearby. It was one of the earliest industrial plants of its kind in the world, and despite its brief history (the people running it went bankrupt), it left an enduring mark on the landscape, except that the buildings themselves have long gone and no one knows exactly where they were. Rob Chapman's quest is to find them.
By 2pm this afternoon the Team had found much more of the smelting slag that they expected to find, but they had also found some Medieval pottery from a 13th or 14th Century kitchen jug and some mortar. This led them to think that they might have actually found the building itself! There were still 40cm to go at the last update. |
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