Total posts:
187
12/18/2007
Just this week I have recorded a Wirral brooch which was actually found on the Wirral. This is the exact place we want
to see them, keep them coming! This is a great example as most of the distinguishing features are still visible despite
some wear and corrosion and the enamel is still so bright. Look it up on the database at LVPL-64EDF0.
PAS record number: LVPL-64EDF0
Object type: Brooch
Broadperiod: Roman
County of discovery: Merseyside
Stable url: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/203502
12/13/2007
Last Friday I went to meet James Purnell who is the Secretary for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). I had arranged this meeting after Dr. Brian Iddon (MP for Bolton South East) visited an event in Bolton during National
Archaeology Week. This led him to ask Mr Purnell a question about the funding of PAS during questions in parliament.
As Mr. Purnell is the MP for Hyde and Staleybridge, which comes under my area, I decided to ask for a meeting with him to talk about the PAS and the work it does, particularly in the Greater Manchester Area.
On the day, one of the metal detectorists I work with, Glen Lister from the North West club came along and brought some of his best finds to show the minister. Roger Bland (head of the scheme) also accompanied us to help us drive home the message about our funding issues. We had about half an hour to discuss the PAS with Mr Purnell and show him the good work we have been doing. Glen brought along some Medieval and Roman coins and a Bronze Age axe for Mr Purnell to see. He was very interested in the finds and was amazed at the condition of them considering their age. I had brought with me the
Kraftig Profilierte brooch which is mentioned in my blog previously, as this is a great example of how recording the location of stray finds can be so important to our understanding of the past.
We then got around to the nitty gritty of the meeting and started explaining to Mr Purnell the effects of reducing funding for the scheme. He seemed sympathetic but gave a very typical Politician’s answer of not committing to anything!
However the meeting was a good opportunity to show someone who has a say in the future of the Scheme, exactly what we do.
My thanks to Glen for coming along and talking about dealing with the Scheme from the view of a detectorist.
12/03/2007
Last week I has the pleasure of recording a rather rare folding knife handle found recently in Kesteven. The knife shows Hercules and Antaeus wrestling with each other, and is depicted with amazing detail and action. Hercules is the chap standing behind with his arms wrapped around Antaeus’ waist throwing Antaeus to the ground.
This knife handle represents an ancient myth, and therefore indicates that some people living in the Lincolnshire countryside were well aquained with Classical Roman mythology.
Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin…
There was once a demi-god called Antaues, a giant of Libya, the son of the sea god Poseidon and the Earth goddess Gaea. He lived in a cave in the woods and he compelled all those who passed through the countryside to wrestle with him. He had such great strength that he defeated and killed everyone he challenged. One day, he met Hercules and challenged him to a wrestle. Hercules outplayed Antaeus, yet despite how many times he threw Antaeus to the ground he could not win, indeed the giant appeared rejuvenated from the encounter. Hercules eventually realized that the earth, Antaeus’ mother, was the source of his strength, so he held the giant aloft until all his power had drained away, finally crushing him in a bearhug.
According to Wikipedia, the myth of Antaeus has been used as a symbol of the spiritual strength which accrues when one rests one’s faith on the immediate fact of things. Alternatively the myth can be interpreted as the triumph of art and labour over the barren woodland solitudes that Antaues represents. Taking this latter interpretation you could almost see the handle as representing the percieved dominance of classical religion over the back-water native woodland spirits of Kesteven. Either that or the owner was a male who fancied himself as a sort of Hercules figure.
11/27/2007
Below are details of a couple of interesting Somerset finds which have been reported through the Scheme in recent weeks. The first is a near complete socketed axehead of late Bronze Age (c. 1000-800BC) date (SOM-C03882). This is a fairly plain bronze axe which fits into the the South-eastern A1 category of the Ewart Park phase. What makes it particularly interesting is that it is a garden found, discovered whilst digging new flowerbeds in a house in Langford Budville, near Wellington.
PAS record number: SOM-C03882
Object type: Socketed axehead
Broadperiod: Bronze Age
County of discovery: Somerset
Stable url: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/201169
An unusual early Roman brooch (SOM-304001) has come up in the Charlton Mackrell area. This is a variant of an aesica brooch, of which only two Somerset examples have previously been recorded on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database. The brooch has been cast in two pieces which are rivetted together and is undecorated. There is a good unprovenced parallel in Richard Hattatt’s ‘Visual Catalogue’ (2000). There are some fairly strong regional variations in the distribution of Roman brooches which Sally Worrell has been researching. The most common type recorded for Somerset is the T-shape as can be seen on the graph below.
PAS record number: SOM-304001
Object type: Brooch
Broadperiod: Roman
County of discovery: Somerset
Stable url: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/200538
A lovely flint chisel arrowhead (SOM-AFA743) has been recorded from Queen Camel. This is a type characteristic of the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. It is wedge-shaped and has been invasively retouched over most of the dorsal surface and part of the ventral surface (to sharpen the business end).
PAS record number: SOM-AFA743
Object type: Arrowhead
Broadperiod: Neolithic
County of discovery: Somerset
Stable url: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/201097
11/23/2007
In 1999 a new type of Roman bow brooch was identified by Dr Philpott and named the Wirral brooch. It is very distinctive in design and it is thought that they could perhaps have originated from the Wirral with only a couple of work-shops making them. Not many are known to have been found and most of these have come from metal detectorists. This is a plea for anyone who has a Wirral type brooch which hasn’t been reported to the PAS to do so as I am hoping to make more of an in depth study of them to try and find their origin. It would be nice to prove that the Wirral was a producer of such a nice brooch and show that the North is not always the poor relation of the south in terms of finds.
Most of the brooches have been found in the North West which is one of the reasons for thinking they may be local. They are very distinctive in their design and once you have seen one you will know exactly what to look for.
Characteristics to look out for are -
- Stepped head- often decorated or enamelled
- A rectangular panel with 3 strips infilled with enamel in alternate colours
- A loop on the head of the brooch
- A stud/boss at the waist of the brooch
- The foot consists of 3 or 4 disc-like mouldings, possibly decorated
Here is an example which is almost complete- only the loop and the pin area missing.
11/23/2007
Welcome to the blog for the FLO for Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire!
I seem to have done this the wrong way round as I posted articles before saying hello, ah well!
I am hoping to use this blog to show people what I am up to and why it often takes me 3months to return your finds! Any research I do on specific finds I will put up on here so people have a chance to learn more. I’ll also try to put up pictures and details of any special events/rallies I attend/run.
This blog is also a means for finders (or just people interested in archaeology) in my area to get involved. I’m not 100% sure how this works yet but I will find out if people want to join in.
Watch this space for news and information
