A Talk and a Nodule

I have just given a talk to a neighbouring Local History Group on the subject of Back Garden Archaeology. It went reasonably well considering it was touch and go whether I’d be able to do it due to a sore throat and loss of voice. My voice held out in the end. To give me strength on the day I told myself that I had volunteered to talk, it was on a topic that I enjoyed and that I wanted to do it.

There were questions and comments at the end that were encouraging. Someone asked if the stone of the pot-boilers was local and when I said it wasn’t they suggested that it had come from the coast because of its sea-tossed smoothness. Someone else suggested it could be more local than the coast and glacial in formation. All of which indicates a line of research if I can find an informative geologist somewhere.

There was some interest in the examples of slag that I had taken along. No one seemed to know if it should show signs of a metal reaction under a metal detector and anyway I had discovered that not all slag is the result of metal working anyway. So, what form of industry do the examples I have unearthed suggest? That is another line of inquiry.

I said during the talk that I had not found anything made of metal of any significance and that no worked flint had appeared. There is just one item that makes me reconsider this but I didn't mention it. It is a flint nodule of a very comfortable hand-shaped size (see the photos) that seems to be pock-marked with chips added to which it has a pointy side and a hemispherical side. I wonder whether it is natural or a tool of some kind. It is not that I am desperate to find a significant piece of flint but it would be nice considering how much has been tossed on the spoil heap.

Latest Finds by Level

This photo gives some idea of what has been found in the latest dig so far. I've kept more than I normally would in order to show others what to look out for. Sometimes what looks like a piece of rock turns out to be pottery and vice versa.

The oldest, most interesting pottery sherds are on the far left. Later medieval and modern pieces are further over to the right in the pottery column.

I have been keeping natural geological specimens other than white chalk and smaller pieces of flint. Some of these are distinctive and not like anything I've found before. Which is why I need a geologist as well as a pottery expert to consult! In layer 5 I have just started to find pieces of what look like broken pot-boilers (see a previous post).

In the bottom left corner I have encircled 5 pieces of the late Iron Age pottery which started to emerge at level 4.

Access to Experts

Access to experts in the identification and dating of pottery is essential for back garden archaeology. There are books which can be studied and used as a reference (like "Pottery in Britain" by Lloyd Laing which has been invaluable) but it is easy to jump to conclusions, especially if it helps to push a date back in time.



Another expert who would be handy is a geologist. You get used to the common forms of naturally occuring rock (mostly chalk and flint here) and just toss them to oneside. But sometimes a piece stands out as unusual and just has to be kept. An example from the current dig is shown in the photograph. It is heavy for its size and it has a cubic, crystalline composition. I thought that it might be metallic but it doesn't give any reading under a metal detector. I am glad I kept it and I'd like to know more about it.

In the course of excavating the ditch feature I have found many cracked, formerly smooth, stones. They stood out as uncommon from the start i.e. you don't find many uncracked, smooth stones. As they accumulated it became clear that they were "pot boilers", stones that were heated up in a fire in order to be dropped into a liquid for cooking purposes although some experts say the main use was to roast things. Either way, the heating and cooling process caused them to crack and they must have been discarded. I could easily have ignored these stones and regretted it.

If it is unusual in any way, keep it!