Time Team - How many people does it take to detect a spoil heap?

[Junkman]

This always makes me laugh.

Has anyone noticed there is ALWAYS a detectorist searching a spoil heap in Time Team whenever the camera is around. On last nights programme there were TWO of them

Now, I don't know about you but it doesn't take long to swing your machine over a fresh bucket of soil as it arrives so why are they always detecting the whole spoil heap all the time?. Camera Vanity methinks

On a serious note, Archaeologists are always going on about detecting takes an object out of it's archaeological context, which is a bit riseable in respect of random finds in a fields, but last night, the detectorist found a large Gold hammered in the spoil heap. How did the archaeologists not spot that as they took it out of context??. Surely the detectorists should be in the trench detecting things whilst they are still in context?

 

[Al.Thepastfinder, ( Alan )]

  ha ha,  yes i saw that,  nice coin,  james wasn't it.  he wanted to hang in front of the carmera half the time lol

[davtec (dave)]

yes no headphones bep bep just for the camera

[Al.Thepastfinder, ( Alan )]

ohh yes,  he he,  good Morning Dave,

[PHIL YNYSBOETH]

Hi Junkman

I think i seen that program a few years ago,
Was the coin found in a castle moat ?

If i remember correctly the Detectorist was shaking like a leaf with excitement.
They,d have to call an Ambulance if id found a Gold coin lol

[Junkman]

Hi Junkman

I think i seen that program a few years ago,
Was the coin found in a castle moat ?

If i remember correctly the Detectorist was shaking like a leaf with excitement.
They,d have to call an Ambulance if id found a Gold coin lol

No, this is another Gold hammered found in another spoil heap. That makes 2 now. The damned things are hard enough to find at the best of times but Archaeologists just chuck them out with the rubbish

[seeker]

i asked if i could be part of there team when the program first started . i wrote to them pointing out that they were missing a  whole part of the picture by not having a detector working the spoil heap , even said id fit right in with my dreads n beads  and id stay in a tent so no cost to them ,,
as you can guess they said no  but at least i got a reply 
it is funny how over and over they take a find out of the plough soil and say " its a lovely object but has no achy" value as its from the top soil and out of context then bang on else where how  are robbing "our" history for doing the same thing 
still enjoy the show  and good to see the attitude towards detecting on the show seems better 

[geordiefred]

I always used to laugh in the early programs when Mick Aston( hes the one that had all the bright stripy jumpers )used to bang on how people with metal detectors were robbing our history . And that we only wanted the metal items, how we damaged pottery etc digging through them to get to the coins  . Then it was OK  Phil  bring in the digger  we want a  trench through here. OK to dig  4ft trench's across the sites with a JCB though that wasn't doing any harm. .
 

[Pipster]

He he he he

[nfl]

this topic should be called how many people want to dig a spoil heap,,what with fabled hammered gold lying in it 

[waltonbasinman]

This always makes me laugh.

Has anyone noticed there is ALWAYS a detectorist searching a spoil heap in Time Team whenever the camera is around. On last nights programme there were TWO of them

Now, I don't know about you but it doesn't take long to swing your machine over a fresh bucket of soil as it arrives so why are they always detecting the whole spoil heap all the time?. Camera Vanity methinks

On a serious note, Archaeologists are always going on about detecting takes an object out of it's archaeological context, which is a bit riseable in respect of random finds in a fields, but last night, the detectorist found a large Gold hammered in the spoil heap. How did the archaeologists not spot that as they took it out of context??. Surely the detectorists should be in the trench detecting things whilst they are still in context?

 

Junkman the coin was found not in an archaeological context. It came from dumped soil that helped fill the moat. The moat was dug around the twelfth century some of the metal finds below the gold coin find were Georgian. Someone at sometime after the house and castle had gone out of use had placed the soil there to level the ground. I know this as I was one of the diggers on the site. This was the same with the Gold coin that was found the first time. Found out of context in dumped soil to level a site.
As for metal detecting for the Time Team. This would be done by a local detectorist known to the local archaeologist and FLO. He or she would be a recorder of there finds with the PAS and would have been doing this for years. If anybody rolls up who no body knows nothing about how do they know when they are gone you were,nt the local nighthawker casing the site.

[Junkman]

This always makes me laugh.

Has anyone noticed there is ALWAYS a detectorist searching a spoil heap in Time Team whenever the camera is around. On last nights programme there were TWO of them

Now, I don't know about you but it doesn't take long to swing your machine over a fresh bucket of soil as it arrives so why are they always detecting the whole spoil heap all the time?. Camera Vanity methinks

On a serious note, Archaeologists are always going on about detecting takes an object out of it's archaeological context, which is a bit riseable in respect of random finds in a fields, but last night, the detectorist found a large Gold hammered in the spoil heap. How did the archaeologists not spot that as they took it out of context??. Surely the detectorists should be in the trench detecting things whilst they are still in context?

 

Junkman the coin was found not in an archaeological context. It came from dumped soil that helped fill the moat. The moat was dug around the twelfth century some of the metal finds below the gold coin find were Georgian. Someone at sometime after the house and castle had gone out of use had placed the soil there to level the ground. I know this as I was one of the diggers on the site. This was the same with the Gold coin that was found the first time. Found out of context in dumped soil to level a site.
As for metal detecting for the Time Team. This would be done by a local detectorist known to the local archaeologist and FLO. He or she would be a recorder of there finds with the PAS and would have been doing this for years. If anybody rolls up who no body knows nothing about how do they know when they are gone you were,nt the local nighthawker casing the site.

True, in respect of the programme but the fact still remains, a rather large and rather gold looking coin was dug out and ended up on a spoil heap. How the coin came to be there (in the backfill) is irrelevent as even if it was not in the backfill then it would still have been missed.

[waltonbasinman]

Sorry Junkman the point I was trying to make which I did not make clear was that the coin was found for the second time of that day. The camera did not happen to be there when it was found. It was found in the spoil heap ( again ) just for the camera.