Edition16 part 2 - Up Yer Kilt Magazine

Our Knowledge about what we find is
increasing year on year
by Jim Crombie
Metallic material or non-metallic material, it makes no difference, we are learning
more about the artefacts we recover here in Scotland year on year. Photographed
above on the left is a copper alloy artefact decorated with Limoges enamel. This
Limoges enamelled piece could eventually be attributed by our nations researchers
to a specific workshop located in or near Limoges in France. To its right is
photographed a terracotta Stamos jar. The archaeologist researchers can actually
attribute this jar to a
painter in the
Polygnotos group
ca 440BC. As we
get better and better
at analysing
recovered material,
our knowledge
increases. Take this
mundane looking
lead seal
photographed below for example. In the
second photograph we have the letters “W
G” which are the initials of the dyer or dye
inspector. Notice the three stars which are
located one above and one either side of the
letters “W G”. They may be a reference to
a plot, known then, as the “Three Star Messuage” This is where the dyers had their
Hall on the banks of the river THAMES. In the first dyers seal photograph the letter
“W” = (Woad) and the letter “M” = (Madder) i.e. blue & red = purple cloth. The
Sack depicted is a madder bag which is the general symbol of the London dyers. So
the information gathered from a piece of lead with lettering on each side, and little
else, is staggering. This 17th century seal was found near Burleigh Castle in
Kinross-shire almost a decade ago. Its recovery helps make us aware trading was
occurring more freely between Scotland and England during the 17 th century than it
was during proceeding centuries. Not only that, the seal helps demonstrate that
clothing dyes were not being made from local plants found up here in Scotland.
Instead, dyed cloth was being imported and brought up to Scotland from as far away
as London. So this seal is a “significant” find.
Photographed above are two very rare shoulder belt plates from Scottish Military
volunteer units raised during the Napoleonic wars, 1794-1816AD These particular
examples, one from Kinross-shire and the other from Stirlingshire, can be dated to
between 1800 & 1814AD. They have a very unique social history and are extremely
rare metal detecting finds, as are the
buttons from the uniforms worn by these
volunteers. Indeed any metal object
created for these volunteer units is of
interest to our treasure trove system. I
was lucky enough to view the Kinrossshire example being recovered on the
day. The inscription, although faint,
reads “Kinross-shire Local Militia”.
Take for example the find photographed
above from “Fort William” found by Mr
Jack Mackay. Although it has been
battered about a bit, resulting in buckling
and some wear as you can see, it was so
rare that it’s finder appeared on Scottish
Televisions’s (STV) Britains Greatest
Treasures program. STV broadcast
seven or so half hour long episodes highlighting the most important finds made in
Britain by metal detectorists. So perhaps, you can begin to understand how
important these two buckle plate finds are. Both examples, the one from Kinrossshire and the other from Stirlingshire, are probably like Jack’s example, unique. In
comparison, the Scottish treasure trove system is disclaiming gold hammered coins
and Robert the Bruce pennies, informing us that these coin finds do not add anything
new to our knowledge of Scottish history. These are subsequently required only to
be recorded, photographed and registered in the Scottish coin register. It is then that
you become aware of the big differences that exist between different types of finds.
Some finds, like these two buckle plate examples, do indeed add to our knowledge
of Scottish history. As a result of Jack recovering his buckle plate the authorities
were able to include a photograph of his find in a guidance poster for Scottish
Post-Medieval Conflict finds that are of interest to them. This has in turn provided
Scottish based metal detectorists with a photographic reference guide enabling them
to look at photographs of finds the treasure trove system is interested in that date
from the 1600-1800AD period. Many finds recovered each year, like Jack’s, are
unique. The authorities, recognising this fact, do their best to make metal detectorists
aware of finds and discoveries that are unique. They do this by displaying the finds
of “significance” on their government website.
Metal detecting forum Administrators and metal detecting club committee members
here in Scotland have a very important role to play. Especially with regard to any
new members who perhaps are inexperienced. As well as aiding these new metal
detectorists, by providing them with access to your experience and knowledge, why
not explain to any new member that finds they recover can be photographed and
attached to an e-mail addressed to Dr Natasha Ferguson based in our National
Museum? ([email protected] ) Doing this simple task enables the photograph
to be looked at and assessed by professionals. The find may turn out to be a piece of
modern rubbish. Or be important enough to require further action to be taken.
Although a very low percentage of all finds available are put on display by our
museums each year, what is not common knowledge is the amount of work done
behind the scenes by our researchers. They spend a significant amount of time
analysing metals, glass, wood and bone artefacts amongst others, trying to discover
new methods of more accurately dating different types of materials and indeed
trying to establish where certain types of finds discovered in Scotland originate
from. Through different types of analysis and establishing common links between
finds from given areas, they are slowly building up an accurate picture of our
ancestors activities. Many an experienced metal detectorists has been overjoyed to
learn of the importance of their newly found thingamabob after submitting it into
Natasha for assessment. The luxury of having such a facility available to us here in
Scotland should be appreciated. It may lead, in the future, to further knowledge
being acquired.
Jim Crombie
Amazing photos found with a detector
Captain Mark D. Anderson of the United States Navy and historian Jean Muller
were searching for artifacts from The Battle of the Bulge in the mountainsides of
Luxembourg when their metal detector beeped to something just under the ground.
Below Anderson and Muller was a foxhole that was dug during the crucial World
War II battle and in it they found the belongings of an American soldier, Technician
Fifth Grade Louis J. Archambeau of Company C, 1st Battalion, 317th Infantry
Regiment
Louis J. Archambeau’s camera
Among the things that Archambeau, who died in the
battle, left behind was a camera with an undeveloped
roll of film in it.
Anderson and Muller developed the film and, after
spending 70 years in a foxhole, a dead soldier’s
photographs were finally brought to life.
This is T/5 Louis J. Archambeau’s World War II
experience, told by his very own photos.
Louis J. Archambeau
Games and toys that are found detecting in the fields
of Scotland
Marbles
There were lots of different localised rules. But probably they
played the same basic games of marbles that we know today: one
version where you take turns tossing the marbles at a goal
(another marble, a hole, or a wall), and another version where you
take turns shooting the marbles within a circle drawn in the dirt,
trying to get them out of the circle. One version has a series of
arches for you to get the marbles through. The medieval
marbles were clay, but modern marbles can be substituted.
Draw your circle and have fun!
Horseshoes
A medieval pastime that is still popular in the 21st
century, this game involves throwing horseshoes at a
particular target, often a nail. The closer a player gets to the
target, the more points she scores, while extra points are
sometimes awarded if the player can get the horseshoe
wrapped around the target.
Teetotum (Put & Take)
Commonly used to play the game Put and Take the four sided
teetotum or spinning top displays a number when it stops
spinning. Each player places a coin in the pot and then takes
turns spinning the teetotum following the instructions when the
teetotum stops spinning. When the whole pot has been won,
the round is over and the players start again.
1 Take a coin from the pot. 2 Do nothing. 3 Put in a coin in the pot. 4
Win the whole pot.
Gluckhaus (Lucky Pig)
“Gluckshaus” is High German for ‘house of fortune’ and is a
simple gambling game. Money is lost and won on the roll of two dice.
Coins are placed on a grid of ten numbered squares. Rolling the
number of the square wins you the coin on the square but if the
square is empty, you lose a coin by placing one there. The game was normally played with Jettons.
The game makes life interesting, as does the mysterious number 4 (there isn’t
one!).
Knucklebones
Knucklebones are the vertebrae (the
backbone) of medium-sized animals like sheep or
goats, and the games you play with them are like
jacks (In fact you can still find jacks shaped like
knucklebones some places).
Knucklebones was played during medieval
long side --- convex, sinuous, flat and concave, respectively --- is given a different value, typically
1, 3, 4 and 6. Players roll the bones like dice, and add together their score for the round based on
which side of each bone lands facing upwards.
Here are a few items found in Scotland by Metal detectorists that were used for toys.
Rare Roman Medal Found
On April 16th this year I set out for a detecting session on one of my permissions, hoping to have one last
session on a large stubble field before it was ploughed. The field had turned up hammered silver, milled
silver and a gold half sovereign for me in the previous few months while it was in stubble, and I was eager
to have one last attempt before it was out of bounds until after the harvest.
When I arrived at the farm I was just in time to see the farmer finish ploughing the last few yards of the field
so my plans for a final session there were well and truly scuppered. I decided to head onto one of the
pasture fields directly in front of the farmhouse and try my luck there. To get to the field I had to cross
another pasture field which I had barely detected in the past , but as it was a sheep field the grass was nice
and short and ideal for detecting as I made my way to my target field .
I was using a Minelab CTX which I had recently got and although I had other Minelab machines in the past,
moving from an E-trac to the CTX, I was still on a learning curve with the new machine. I took my time
crossing the field, trying different settings and switching between different programmes. Signals in the
sheep field were very few and far between and all of the targets were very deep. A few pieces of lead and a
couple of the usual mystery pieces of copper scrap that seem to be present in every field. I was
disappointed in the lack of signals but at the same time I suppose I was glad that I wasn’t digging up tons
of scrap either. Half way across the field and with my target field in sight the weather took a real turn for the
worst and it started pouring down. My heart wasn’t really in it and I decided to cut the session short and
head back to the car, detecting as I went. I turned around, about half way across the sheep field, and
headed towards a gate at the top of the field. I only had a couple of signals on my way back , one was
lead , but the other was a nice wee silver badge or brooch , depicting a horse head within a horseshoe with
crossed polo mallets behind.
I was quite chuffed with it and thought at least the morning hadn’t been a complete loss and continued
detecting my way towards the gate. About 50 yards nearer to the gate I got a faint signal, one which, in
truth, I would probably have ignored on my E-trac. It just didn’t sound too convincing and by this time I was
cold and starting to get a bit wet. However as I was new to the CTX I decided to dig the signal just to check.
When the first spadeful of earth was removed I scanned the hole again. The object was still in the hole but
this time the signal sounded much clearer, I ran my Garrett pro pointer around the hole, but got no signal
from it. I dug out some more earth and tried the probe again. By this time the hole was just deeper than the
length of the probe and I was getting a faint signal. Another spadeful and this time the probe rang out loud
and clear. I dug away some more of the earth with my fingers and felt the edge of something. When I had
dug it out and looked at it I felt a wee tingle of excitement. It looked like it might be a Roman coin, but it
couldn’t be, could it ?
I had never found any Roman coins or artefacts and wasn’t too familiar with Roman coinage. I did know
that some of the Roman bronze coins could be quite large, but how large ? This “coin” was about the same
diameter as a Cartwheel penny, but I could clearly see a bust on one side and what appeared to be a
helmeted standing figure on the other side. The lettering I could see looked “Roman” , and the item itself
was fairly crudely made, very thick and heavy, and looked to be of real age. I ended the session there and
then and hurried home to post some pics on the detecting forums to see if anyone could give me a positive
ID on my find. I was excited to think that I might have found my first Roman coin, but ready for disappointment should someone more knowledgeable burst my
bubble!
Responses on the various forums were at first encouraging with the general concensus being that it WAS a
Roman coin. I was over the moon! But then doubts
started creeping in and more and more people were
convinced it wasn’t a Roman coin, it was simply too big to
be a coin, and although it had a “Roman” appearance
opinion drifted towards it being a commemorative
medallion, probably no earlier than Queen Anne, and the
identity of the person in whose honour it had been struck
might never be known. I was gutted to say the least, but
decided that it had been too good to be true anyway and
just put it down to experience.
However, I received a message from a member of the
Minelab Owners forum who suggested that, rather than
being a coin, it was possibly a Roman medallion, and that
they were extremely rare. He suggested that I contact Dr.
Sam Moorhead, National Finds Adviser for Iron Age and
Roman Coins, at Dept of Portable Antiquities and
Treasure, British Museum, London, with a few pics of the item and see what his thoughts were on the
matter. I thought that I had nothing to lose and e-mailed Dr Moorhead on the slim chance that this find
could turn out to be something worthwhile after all.
I didn’t hear anything for a couple of weeks and had kind of forgotten about it when I received an e-mail
from Dr Moorhead. He explained that he had not replied to me earlier as he had been away from the
museum for a few weeks ( he had been in Rome strangely enough !) and had only just had a chance to
catch up on his E-mails. I almost fell off my chair when I read his message.
" Dear Bob,
Thank you so much for contacting me about this piece
– sorry about the delay; I have been in Rome. It is a
medallion of Clodius Albinus (AD 193-7) and appears
to be unpublished. I have had a brief exchange with
my colleagues north of the border and they are very
excited. Please could you liaise with Natasha Ferguson, who I have copied in.
Richard Abdy and I eagerly await to see what the piece
looks like after professional conservation.
With best wishes,
Sam"
The following day he E-mailed me again with some
further info. He had shown my pictures to his colleague
Richard Abdy and he concurred that it was a
medallion of Clodius Albinus and had been struck in
Rome. His message read.
“ In my haste last night, I forgot to add what Richard
Abdy and I think it is: A copper-alloy medallion of
Clodius Albinus (AD 193-7) ,Struck at Rome, AD 1945.
Obv. [D CLODIVS SEPTIMIVS] ALBINVS CAES; Bareheaded, draped and cuirassed left, possibly holding
something
Rev. [MINER PACIF] COS II; Minerva standing
left, holding branch in right and spear and shield in
left
Skilled conservation is needed
Best wishes,
Sam "
As requested by Dr Moorhead I E-Mailed Natasha
Ferguson at the National Museum in Edinburgh
and following a conversation we decided that I
should bring the medallion along to a TT finds day
at the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow on the 28th
of June as she did not want the medallion sent to
them by post in case it was damaged in transit.
I went along to the Kelvingrove on the finds day
and met Natasha and handed over the medallion
and waited to hear from then.
A couple of weeks later I received an E-Mail fro Natasha with the following information.
" Thank you for your email. We have had a brief look at this and discussed it with our colleagues in the
National Museum, including Dr Fraser Hunter who is the curator of Roman and Iron Age collections at
NMS. He is very interested in the medallion and has said it is a significant find for Scotland. Its context
close to Dumbarton and the ( name deleted for obvious reasons !) Hill Fort north of the findspot is
interesting and it may be the result of diplomatic gifts to the local populace by the Romans. These
medallions were minted directly by the Emperor, in this
case Clodius Albinus, to give out to his Generals and
other close associates as personal gifts. Although the
Iron Age communities favoured trunks of silver denarii,
the special nature of an object that had a direct link to
an Emperor would not have been lost on them and it
would likely have been considered highly."
She also indicated that the medallion would be claimed
by TT , probably at a meeting scheduled for November.
So at present I am waiting until the TT meeting in November to find out the final fate of the medallion, but
the lesson learned from all of this for me is never to just
assume that something is for the junk box unless you
are certain that you know what it is, if in any doubt then
seek expert opinion, if it hadn’t been for that member
on the MLO forum the medallion would have been in
one of my ( many !) junk tins as yet another detecting
disappointment instead of being a potentially significant find and an important piece of local history.
Footnote : Clodius Albinus was,born in North Africa to a Roman noble family around 150. He received the
name of Albinus because of the extraordinary whiteness of his complexion.
He entered military service and quickly rose through the ranks until The Emperor Commodus gave Albinus
a command in Gallia Belgica and afterwards in Britain
He was proclaimed emperor by the legions in Britain and Hispania after the murder of Pertinax in 193, and
proclaimed himself emperor again in 196, before his final defeat by Septimius Severus at the battle of
Lugdunum , near the modern day city of Lyon in
France, on 19th February 197 .
Albinus' exact fate is unclear. He fled into Lugdunum
where he either comitted suicide or he was finished off
by an assassin's blade. Severus had Albinus' body
stripped and beheaded. He rode over the headless
corpse with his horse in front of his victorious troops.
The head he sent back to Rome as a warning along
with the heads of Albinus' family.
As a result of this battle, Roman forces in Britannia
were severely weakened, which would lead to
incursions, uprisings and a withdrawal of Rome from
the Antonine Wall south to Hadrian's Wall.
Detecting Scotland Dig Number 77
By Stan
Detecting Scotland held dig number 77 in the fife village of Kingsbarns. Nearly 50 eager
detectorists took to the fields that we had picked for
the day (and what a day) Mark gave out the instructions and a brief history of the area and away they
went.
It wasn’t long before the digging started with copper
coins and other items appearing.
About 10 am we heard the infamous call a hammy
had been found by David (Maxwel8tre) it was an
Eddy penny, his first this season I believe. Next up
was Barrie 43 who produced a cracking Henry V
groat his first ever hammered and what a beauty to
get! To say he was in a state of shock is an
understatement! Well done again mate. A lot of
turners were coming up in cracking condition with lots of
detail still visible . Hammy shouts followed again with
Eddy pennys coming from Stevie 67, Crepitis and Paisleymuddy. Scotty popped out a lizzie half groat and a guest
(sorry I didnt get their name ) popped out an Eddy cut half.
Away from the coin finds for a bit and Eddy (Swed49 )
found a very interesting lead crucifix from a very early age
I reckon. Wayoutwest had a nice clothes fastener and Lee
(Fraxis85) had a couple of spindle whorls. Gregor meanwhile managed a crotal bell and a couple of beautiful
buckles.
As lunch time arrived we were gathered looking at the
finds and amazed with the amount that had come up, the
farmer also popped in to see us and likewise was amazed
at what we had uncovered .
With lunch over we opened the second field and it wasn’t
long before more coins appeared. Bill Gourlay was first
with a cracking Bullhead shilling before Bruno popped out
a Lizzy hammered Irish copper dated 1601, a stunning find.
More turners, bawbees and georgian coppers were appearing, whilst Alan (george81) joined in with a nice William 3rd
shilling . I looked up and spotted Howard (Chilgrove)
studying something in his hand I walked over and sure
enough a wee Eddy was smiling back at us. Up the cry
went up and he was soon surrounded in the “Hammy Huddle “ after going 36 years without finding one he now has 3
in the past 3 months . I was just plodding away picking up
vicky coppers and georgian coins . Wee Davie called me to
say he had found a silver he was not sure of ,when I told
him it was a William 3rd shilling I cleaned a bit which revealed the date 1697 he was ecstatic. This was his earliest
coin find and the look on his face was priceless, well done
mate . I left the field and popped back into the now christened hammy field when I got a good signal 3 inches
down. I opened the clod to see a thin edge of metal… Is it?
Isn’t it ? I broke it apart to reveal a Henry VI groat. Well, I
nearly reached the skies jumping and shouting Hammyyyy!! To say the very least I was
pleased and what a perfect way to end a fantastic day. Great finds, great location and a
great bunch of detectorists . If I have missed anyone my sincere apologies there was just
too much to remember.
Away from the detecting I would like to thank everyone who participated in the raffle, £170
was raised on the day and around £700 has been raised so far from the digs in this area
which all goes to the local Kingsbarns Memorial Hall . So a big THANK YOU to all our
participants.
Have you found anything you like recently?
We are looking for photos of things found
to go into our new recent finds pages.
Send a photo of it to [email protected] with
your name and we will put the photo in the
magazine for everyone to see.
Do you have anything you want
published in this magazine email it to
[email protected]
Editor’s Ramblings..............................................2
A few adventures..............................................3-5
Under the spotlight...........................................7-9
Detecting Scotland Forum Dig 69...............10-11
Scottish Charity Dig – Crieff ............................12
How coins were made .................................13-15
Detecting Scotland forum dig 71................16-18
Scottish Charity Digs - Montrose ...............19-20
Our Knowledge about what we find is
increasing year on year................................21-23
Amazing photos ...........................................24-26
Games and toys ...........................................28-29
Rare Roman Medal Found ..........................30-32
Detecting Scotland Dig Number 77.............35-36
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effort to put this magazine together so if you want to use any
of the articles in this magazine please ask permission first by
emailing: [email protected] thank you
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