Pottery identification

As previously confessed I've always been rather ignorant of all things non metal. I still don't know whether learning more about non metal stuff makes me a more responsible detectorist but if it means not walking over a PAS recordable piece of pottery or worked flint then I guess this is a good thing.

Hrm second thoughts in that I'm guessing its a good thing but now I'm worried that archaeologists might tell me I shouldn't pick up these bits as it might ruin a proper field walking survey which may theoretically be done at some point in the future.

Ah sod it I think learning more about non metal things is a good thing and as I'm finding it interesting I shall carry on. On which note I came across a really handy site with some great downloadable for personal use sheets on pottery identification. I think I will print them off.

It would be great to find a hammered coin and similar age pottery in the same location and perhaps selfishly finding old pottery might lead to old metal. Is that bad?

Soil and Soil Colour

An interesting piece on soil and soil colour

http://blogs.egu.eu/gsoil/2014/03/30/soil-color-never-lies/

Thanks to David Connolly for the link

Nazi War Diggers - Why I won't be watching

I've decided not to watch Nazi War Diggers. These are just three of my reasons.

1. The title Nazi War Diggers. This seems to be just a sensationalist title to that seems to merely promote interest in digging up War memorabilia.

2. The amended profile of Craig Gottlieb, one of the 'diggers'. I haven't been able to get my head around the change in profiles of Craig Gottlieb from

“I feel that by selling things that are Nazi related and for lots of money, I’m preserving a part of history that museums don’t want to bother with”

to now he says

"I'm an historian and a military officer. Where other people see fields and trees, I see a battlefield I see fighting positions. I see fields of fire."

 

I can't escape the conclusion that again this programme promotes the very looting that it gives as an excuse for its creating.

3. The Video. I appreciate its been removed and whilst the Nazi War digger site might say

Unfortunately, a video excerpt from our show posted on our website did not provide important context about our team’s methodology.

there is no excusing the fact Mr Goettlieb was allowed to wrench a femur out of the ground and then play with it thinking it was a humerus.  Where the bloody hell were the archaeologists or supervision that NatGeo speak of? It makes one think more respect would have been given if it had been a possibly valuably 'artifact' rather that 'just' a dead person...

There was nothing in the clip about 'this is not how to do it'. It was ironically a brilliant example of why detectorists without the proper qualifications and / or experience should not be allowed anywhere near a grave. It might also be why when there is what appears to be proper supervision then detectorists aren't allowed to excavate a grave.

From Donna Yates' twitter account


 

Sam Hardy at Conflict Antiquities has also written extensively and far more eloquently about the programme and I can't find fault with what he has written. In fact the only defence of it is from a chap called 'Hypocrites' who bemoans the fact Sam wasn't criticising the fact people had reposted the pulled video.

I had said to Kris Rodgers that I would wait for the full programme to come out before commenting any further. However for the reasons given above I think the damage has already been done and I don't want to add to any viewing figures.

Nazi war diggers - more change...

It's hard to keep up with the changes being made to the Nazi War Diggers site.

Gone is the picture of one of them looking down the barrel of a recovered rifle. I think it was a rifle.

Now there is new statement regarding the removed video clip.

Nothing about the rewritten profiles.

Would write more but must sleep now...

beginners archaeology,worms and rambling yes it's friday afternoon

I started my book 'Archaeology is Rubbish' yesterday. Very good so far. I've found it interesting just learning more about the history of what lies beneath our feet such as pottery, brick and glass. I think next time I'm out I'll try to take more notice of the non-metal stuff and bring back some of the bits I find to research some more.

In regards to detecting I'm pondering if it's wrong to think that if I can learn more about how to get a picture of the land I'm detecting then I might be able to find more 'metal' stuff. Maybe the benefits of learning more about non metal stuff and the importance of knowing when to stop digging might outweigh this 'wrongness' for want of a better phrase!

Anyway had a little 'Google' of 'Archaeology for beginners' and read this article from the Guardian. I found the below quote very interesting as always wondered why objects dropped got where they did.

Anything on the ground surface left alone for long enough will sink down 10–30cm beneath an accumulation of earthworm casts. Charles Darwin demonstrated this process in his best-selling book of his lifetime, Vegetable Mould & Earth-worms (1881).

If you're twiddling your fingers then the original Darwin text can be found here (look for pages 129 re the burying effect of a worm!)

I do appreciate that my attempts to learn more about archaeology are probably giving some proper archaeologists apoplexy.

For some reason I felt the need to insert a cat into my blog as such here's a picture of one of the aforementioned archaeologist's cats giving me a disapproving look.



Stop digging. NOW!

Nazi War Diggers - It's all change!

The Nazi War Diggers site has undergone a radical change!

Gone is the video of an arm, no wait, a leg being passed around.

Gone are all the comments stating how disgraceful the programme is.

Gone is the Mr Gottlieb's quote that

 “I feel that by selling things that are Nazi related and for lots of money, I’m preserving a part of history that museums don’t want to bother with”

now he says 

"I'm an historian and a military officer. Where other people see fields and trees, I see a battlefield I see fighting positions. I see fields of fire."

There is now a profile of a fourth digger, Adrian, who likes relics, apparently.

There is also a new section regarding responsible detecting.

Dear god, what a fuck up.

Nazi War Diggers Part 2

UPDATE 27/03 Please note that the Metal Detecting Forum threads linked to below have now been deleted.

Over on The Metal Detecting Forum discussion continues about the Nazi War Diggers programme in two threads here and here.

It would appear there is a going to be some sort of Q and A session which might address some of the obvious concerns.

I have to say I'm really struggling with Mr Gottliebs presence on the show. Having had a look at Mr Gottliebs website it's clear he sells Militaria. He will also let you know what your Militaria is worth. From his bio he's clearly done very well.

Now there is clearly a finite amount of such militaria that is not buried alongside the fallen and with interest in World War II militaria apparently on the increase I cant help but think that Mr Gottlieb has a vested interested in the looting of dead soldiers in that it fuels the increasing demand.

I would be interested to know what if any steps Mr Gottlieb and his History Hunters website go to to make sure that the items they appraise and buy haven't been looted from the bodies of the fallen, the same fallen that this programme seemingly goes out of its way to give a proper burial.

Oh just read the comments under a clip of the programme. Er not good, ie

'I also have an MA in Bioarchaeology, and I have a serious question. Why aren't these fellows in jail?'

 
Sadly looks like a case of no such thing as bad publicity (appreciate the irony in what I just wrote).

Without some bloody miracle this really doesn't look good for metal detectorists.

Still I did say I'd trust Addicted to Bleeps (one of the diggers) so here's hoping that short clip is not representative of the actual programme. I'm afraid I am pessimistic.