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Back in July 2003, I was invited by
landowners Pete and Lynn to detect on their fields. One in
particular was of interest owing to the vast amount of Roman
pottery shards that were concentrated on a 10,000 square foot
mound (representing around one quarter of an acre).
In the 1970s some grey ware shards from the site had been sent to
Lincoln Museum for identification, but apart from this, no
detailed survey had been carried out. As Pete had retired from
farming, he decided to put the land under the new stewardship
scheme. Ponds were to be dug out, trees planted, and grass seed
sown. In addition, his brother was appointed landscape gardener.
As a knowledgeable local historian the opportunity to investigate
part of the mound was an exciting prospect. I visited the site on
several occasions prior to ploughing, but apart from a few iron
nails and farm machinery bits and pieces, nothing came to light. I
can't say I came away empty handed, however, as I couldn't stop
myself from picking up shards of Roman pottery! Two other
detectorists also visited the site; they, like me, came away
baffled by the lack of finds. Pete must have felt sorry for me as
he gave me a carrier bag full of Roman shards, just one of many he
and his family had filled over the years!
Soon the day arrived when the JCB scraped away a section of the
mound's surface; surprisingly, no pottery was in evidence. Slowly,
layer by layer was removed until at around 4ft down an oyster bed
was revealed lined up in a shaft like form (Fig.1).Shards of Roman
pottery now began to appear along with animal bones (Fig.2.). At
least we hoped they were animal!
At around this depth a fine subsoil was exposed. At a depth of 5ft
substantial pieces of Roman pottery came to light - the first time
in 2,000 years from when they were dumped here. The soil now was
redolent of bonfire residue - very gritty in consistency.
Once all the pottery had been removed a layer of charcoal was
exposed, along with what appeared to be knuckle sized lumps of
"clinker". This, too, was removed, along with some bones.
I was unfortunately not able to be present during the "Big Dig" so
Pete's brother kindly brought round the pieces of pottery, bone
and "clinker" lumps to show me. He was in a quandary as to what he
should do next, as the excavation was now below the water table
and beginning to flood. When the owners returned after a few days'
absence, not only were they confronted by a new large water feature, but also the problem of which
steps to take next. I knew of the Portable Antiquities
Scheme through the pages of Treasure Hunting, so sought
advice from Adrian Marsden (Norfolk Finds Liaison Officer),
as I knew his father.
Once he had explained the role of the
officers and the aims of the scheme, I relayed the
information to the landowners. I explained to them that I
believed the site to be important and needed checking out by
an archaeologist. While I awaited their decision, I
revisited the site and collected more Roman shards along the
way.
Checking out the spoil heaps, I finally got a "decent"
signal. It turned out to be a copper alloy stud missing its
enamel. Several more pieces of corroded iron emerged from
the excavated site, then all fell silent again. I took a
photograph of the site and another showing the different
soil layers in the excavation (Fig.3.). The landowners soon
contacted me with the news that I should do whatever was
needed and contact whoever I wanted regarding the site.
 What
an honour! Without further ado I got in touch with Adam Daubney the newly appointed Finds Liaison Officer for
Lincolnshire. I explained the situation to him, and a visit
was promptly arranged.
Within 24 hours everyone involved was back on site along
with the large pieces of Roman ware, bones and lumps of
"clinker". After quick introductions had been made, Adam
inspected the pottery and other items. It was agreed by all
present that the best course to take would be for several of
the pottery segments to be taken to Lincoln for expert
appraisal. The lumps of "clinker" caused Adam to get excited
when he spotted a wooden shaft in one of them, indicative of
a tool or axle. He stressed the importance of getting
unstable objects (as this was) into a properly controlled
environment. While Adam was taken the short distance across
the field to the site, Lynn and I took the opportunity to
photograph the pottery (Figs.4-18.). Then followed a quick
crash course in metal detecting for Lynn (Fig.19). I have
left a spare detector with her in the hope that she will use
it!!!.jpg)
We caught up with Adam who was now squelching about in the
excavation, which now resembled an assault course after the
recent torrential downpour. There was no way he was going to
see the bottom of the site, unless he had come equipped with
a wet suit and snorkel! Undaunted Adam carried on his work
scraping away at the sides of the excavation with his little
trowel, looking for signs as to what this site had once
been, and pondering the possibilities.
Lynn suggested a rubbish dump from the start (and was
correct as it happened!) I had originally thought it a kiln,
but the oyster bed was a mystery. Adam had extracted several
more pottery shards from the walls of the excavation. Two
were from a mortaria. Unfortunately I did not have time to
take a decent photograph of these pieces. The other fragment
which proved of importance was from an amphora.
About a week later I actually found another segment from the
same amphora. Time flew by and, like Cinderella, Lynn and I
had to leave and return to our daily roles of housewives and
mothers! Adam thanked us for reporting "this site of great
archaeological importance", and with these words ringing in
our ears, we departed very happy.
It was not long before I was in touch with Adam again. He
had been very busy trying to stress the importance of the
site to his bosses, and get the required sum of money
together to fund the X-raying of the metallic artefacts.
Once more he voiced his concerns regarding the encrusted
wooden shaft. It was arranged for him to return to the site,
and the unstable items - plus the Roman fragments he had
requested - would be brought along for him. I asked if he
would also like to see some of the Roman pottery shards
(many of which were different from those types already seen)
I had collected, along with several iron items from the
site.
Due to an unforeseen problem arising Adam was only allowed
to have the lumps of "clinker". We made another quick visit
to the "paddling pool" to survey the scene, and this
resulted in the recommendation to backfill the site to
protect any other artefacts that might still be there. Then
it was home to inspect the rest of the Roman ware and iron.
When we arrived Adam asked if I would check the lumps of
"clinker" which appeared to consist of iron, clay and rock
with my detector to see if any metal remained. From one lump
I picked up a very faint signal. As ever Adam put a cheerful
face on, he seemed quietly confident the X-rays would show
up something. After a quick introduction to hubby who was
hovering about in the kitchen, I whisked Adam off to the
library and lost him en-route! He seemed quite taken aback
when confronted by all the Roman pottery shards laid out on
the table. I don't think he was expecting so many. (Fig. 20)
There were enough types here to easily date the site.
Several of the shards had a sooty deposit on their outer
surfaces. It is a strange feeling seeing an "un-cleaned"
piece of Roman pottery; I conjured up the following
scenario.
There are slaves busily cooking up the householder's dinner.
They place the pot over the fire, fan the flames, get the
stew bubbling merrily away, and then crack! The pot splits
and the dinner spills out. Oaths are uttered and the useless
pot is thrown out to end up in the midden with the rest of
the broken household crockery. 
While I was caught in this flight of projection, Adam had
been carefully selecting a wide range of pottery shards, and
bagged up each piece separately to take back to Lincoln for
the pottery experts to examine. I then showed Adam the
copper alloy stud having already checked through back issues
of Treasure Hunting to identify it. I had spotted an almost
identical example in Gordon Bailey's article "Harness & Belt
Decorations", July 2001, so knew what it was.
On seeing the article Adam commented that a better
identification could not be made. My stud, too, was also
missing its enamel. With several pieces of iron to take away
from among a selection (Fig.21-26.) for X-raying at the
Conservation Labs in Lincoln, we said our goodbyes. Much to
my surprise, Adam rang me upon his arrival back in Lincoln.
He had taken the Roman ware to the Iron Age and Roman
Pottery Consultants (Barbara Precious and Maggie Darling)
who were very excited by the many different types. They
asked Adam if he could arrange a visit to the site for them,
hence his phone call. It appeared they had recently been
working on a similar site. The landowners were duly
contacted, and a visit was arranged for the following day.
You may be wondering what all the fuss was about. Well, up
until now there was no known archaeological evidence for
Roman occupation on this area of marshland!!!!!!
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