Jon’s Archaeographic Record Sunday, August 5th, 2007
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While NML were out in Belgium Michael Shanks was busy post processing the home territory of three of the team: the Hadrian’s Wall zone. So I have no problem in mis-appropriating his terminology by making this an ARCHAEOGRAPHY of Factory Farm 07 as seen from the T4,6,7 team. I have a bad memory for names, so not everyone is name-checked.
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T4 opening on day 1. Idyllic pool (moorhens, dragon flies, willows) masquerading as ecofact was actually artefact of major calorific and kinetic event in 1917. Diggers accompanied by in house film crew member._
Keith Maddison, third longest serving Trench Team member on site, demonstrates approved methodology by digging faster than can be captured digitally.
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But methodology follows intent and position. Metre grid excavation looking for fragmentary residue. Rare evidence of Conflict Arch/Anth theory-father Nick Saunders with trowel. Coops, Paula and Swantje adopt correct reverential stance.
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Belgian (Flemish) team member Berger talks to Flemish archaeology capo Mark De Wilde as they observe primitive Wallonian agricultural techniques at T7.
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Imperial archaeology in T7 as Keith (UK), Swantje (DR), Avril (UK), Coops (UK), and Paula (IT), impose their foreign technical interpretation on head of local history/archaeology org Gontrand (Wallon) who is forced into subordinate role of bucket carrier.
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The end….or is it…? Saturday, August 4th, 2007
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so its 2.20 am and we’re all doing our best to help the funds of the Peace Village by spending euros in the bar…again.
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What a day though. We got to the end, all finds off site, records written and drawn and one happy famer saying “anné prochaine”… which seems to mean we have to come back.
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Seriously, after work we attended the Last Post at the Ploegsteert memorial and Tori and Ralph laid a wreath for the team. Tori’s great uncle is on the memorial and Ralph, from the US is the historian of the German Army 1914 to 19. Very moving.
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Claude did us proud with dinner after and we presented him with a decorative shell case, trench art.
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Enough from me…
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Good night, we did it…we win…great team, great weather, great results.
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Break of Day in the Trenches… Friday, August 3rd, 2007
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Friday morning, 08:10 local time. I was disciplined enough to go to bed last night but then kept waking up worrying about the last day, particularly the thought that we might find a body without time in hand.
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Anyway. The last day for the digging season 2007. We are very pleased: not only have we uncovered a previously unknown concrete bunker and explored both German and Allied trenches we can also see Belgian life before the war and its utter dislocation; this from the remains of Factory Farm. Then we have the period of reconstruction seen in the demolition of the bunker. Finally we can contextualise everything through the geophysics and the map, air photo and phenomenological work that Peter, Peter and Birger are doing.
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Visitors yesterday included Captain Owen (not the poet) and 3 colleagues from the Royal Logisitics Corps who had a site tour and then pitched in to help for the afternoon: Rod you have a good captain coming, look after him!
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So, to work…
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Lebende Geschichte Thursday, August 2nd, 2007
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Aufgrund der Funde am Montag verblieb das Team auch am Dienstag nahe der Factory Farm. Weitere Vermessungen wurden vorgenommen, um das Suchgebiet zu spezifizieren. Nachdem nochmals wenige Funde gemacht wurden, konnte die Suche ausgeweitet werden. Mithilfe der Geophysik wurde das nächste Gebiet bestimmt: ein Granattrichter. Im Anschluss an den arbeitsreichen Dienstag bestand die Möglichkeit an einer Zeremonie in Ypern teilzunehmen, zum Gedenken an die gefallenen Soldaten. Eine sehr bewegende Zeremonie.
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Auch am Mittwoch konnten wieder vielversprechende Funde gemacht werden. Die Arbeit ging gut voran und die ersten Kleidungsstücke wurden gefunden (z.B. Beinbandagen). In der Mitte des Tages wurde die Ausgrabungsstelle von Soldaten in verschiedenen Uniformen (britische, australische und deutsche) besucht, um dem Team einen Eindruck über die damalige Kleidung zu vermitteln. Dabei konnte das Basiswissen erweitert werden, so dass in Zukunft weitere Fundstücke besser identifiziert und zugeordnet werden können. Durch die lokale Presse wird auch das Interesse der ansässigen Bevölkerung erweckt; so gibt es immer mal wieder Zaungäste, die auch ihr Wissen durch Überlieferungen mit ins Team einbringen. Dadurch entsteht ein kultureller Austausch, den man auch in den umliegenden Museen miterleben kann.
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Die Woche neigt sich leider bereits dem Ende. Die Zeit verfliegt bei den vielen verschiedenen Eindrücken, so dass es einem vorkommt als habe man gerade erst begonnen. Nur die Schwielen an den Händen erinnern an die arbeitsreichen Tage – doch diese sind aufgrund der interessanten Funde schnell wieder vergessen.
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Digging the civilian stuff Thursday, August 2nd, 2007
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What I have found most exciting in this excavation is stuff we have excavated that speaks of the civilian experience of the Great War in this area, before and after the war. In one of the trenches we have remains of a farm blown up by a mine during the war, part of the battlefield but with soil full of brick, tiles, china, curtain cloth, parts of a cattle byre, a horse harness and so on – very ordinary remains, that really speak of what the war did to very ordinary places and people.
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These are losses not often commemorate or remembered (I was struck by the comment of a local woman visiting the trench, who said that while in her household they collect military stuff they come across in fields, tiles, bricks etc… ‘mean nothing at all for us’). The other thing we have found is evidence of post-war recuperation, when local people and possibly some enterprises smashed up bunkers to retrieve metals that they could resell and perhaps hardcore for repairing local roads. I think it’s great to have documented civilian activities archaeologically – and tomorrow I am going to meet some elderly locals to see if I can add some stories to flesh out the civilian picture of the wartime (no of course they are not THAT old – but I hope they will have stories from their parents and grandparents). To be continued tomorrow…
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Paola (the dig’s social anthropologist)
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Ghosts of the past Wednesday, August 1st, 2007
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The final one today from the team. God; who invented European keyboards?
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As an amateur in the trench I’m still trying to get my head around what we can possibly learn from excavation that accounts of the time don’t already document. One other interesting element is the way that (as a geochemist by training) I have found the scientific method to be used. I thought that, in archaeology as elsewhere, the evidence would dictate the hypothesis; however so much of the evidence has to be liberally interpreted (such as vague colour change within a clay horizon) as to make the whole discipline appear to have more than a passing element of ‘black art.’ Certainly, the temptation to fit the evidence to the theory must be incredibly strong. As a result, I am in awe of those that can detect seemingly tiny changes in the profile of our trenches and can assess thier significance. I know I am still in bewilderment at it all… give me a stratigraphic sequence any time!
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Bring it on tomorrow… more rusty metal (great war archaeology in a nutshell)
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…By the way, I’d just like to say that was stumped after ball number 3 and didn’t show any vicious tendencies!
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Sue.
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Finds! Wednesday, August 1st, 2007
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Luke, I’m really missing your experience in this job! They keep bringing back bagfuls of rusty stuff and it’s getting out of hand. Never mind, though, we learn by doing…
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Some of the best stuff so far, at least in my book: a piece of domestic china from the Factory Farm crater lip with molten glass fused to it, the result of the incredible heat of the mine explosion; a bone-handled pocket knife in lovely condition; some black cloth almost certainly civilian and probably the farmer’s wife’s best Sunday dress!; a toothbrush; the bowl of a delicate liqueur glass, a large leather-covered horse collar (removal of which seemed to take away most of the section; bits of a gas mask; and finally, whatever they decide to bring me tomorrow!
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I’m receiving vital assistance from Androuma, who can decipher stuff that’s way beyond my eyesight and who brings me coffee on a regular basis. When I’m not glued to a comfortable table qnd chair in the sun, I’m acting as Adjutant, Commissary, Transport Corps and general dogsbody. The checkout girl at the local Carrefour is becoming a close personal friend.
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Forgot to mention, some of us were mad enough to get up at 3am yesterday 31st July to fire the flares that started the Wipers March. A moving, if cold, experience.
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Shirley
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Day Four, Trench Three! Wednesday, August 1st, 2007
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Hi all,
Another fantastic day of finds. Our trench on the edge of Ultimo has been really productive, we’ve found some celluloid which may be from the front of a gasmask as well as a number of bullets, both german and allied, some of which we can date, and lots of stuff which looks rather like a modern art installation at the moment.
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It was all put into perspective after our visit to the Menin gate yesterday evening and the WWI re-enactment guys came to site this afternoon!
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This is my first dig and an amazing experience which I hope I’ll be able to repeat!!!
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Jo
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Day four in the big brother trench Wednesday, August 1st, 2007
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Well, Tuesday is over, sun still out and we have nearly finished the bunker site; great archaeology and super-human digging; find today include lots of wriggly tin and bits of gasmask, lots of rounds, shrapnel and an intact beer bottle. Also visited by those that did the Passchendaele march – both German and British. Dan has opened the site that will reveal the Australian Lewis gun position at the edge of the crater.
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Hello to Rod if reading – only a stick grenade to entertain so far. Cranfield MSC have doubled the local demand for pink and yellow drinks.
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Rob Janaway has arrived and is assisting Shirley and Androulla with finds conservation.
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The Messines Test Match has taken place with Sue and Jo displaying hitherto unseen vicious streaks and Ant being shown up by the old-timer, his dad. Hello to Ruth and Katherine too.
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Jacky Plateuw from the Menin Gate last post committee came over too, which was good and we had a visit from local TV so we will be all over the local news. We are also in the local paper, heaven help us!
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We are both still on the anxiety dreams.
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Johnny, hi! Still no Anzora…
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Ein guter Start Monday, July 30th, 2007
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Nach einer früheren Anreise am Freitag hatten wir die Möglichkeit bereits die Umgebung zu sichten und die Gerätschaften bereitzustellen. So konnte am Samstag sofort mit der Arbeit begonnen werden. Bevor wir das Schlachtfeld von Ploegsteert jedoch genauer untersuchen konnten, wurde das Gespräch mit den Besitzern des Farmlandes gesucht; ein älteres Ehepaar, das in einem abgelegenen Bauernhaus zuhause ist und noch über viele Geschichten des Ersten Weltkrieges zu berichten weiß. Trotz der Geschichten erscheint das Land idyllisch und weißt auf den ersten Blick auf keinerlei Zeichen der damaligen Geschichte hin. Nur die zwei dazupassenden Weiher und Unebenheiten im Boden deuten schon eher daraufhin, dass dies kein normales Farmland ist, auch wenn über den Gräben der Alliierten Bohnen heute gepflanzt werden und damit die Ausgrabung eingeschränkt wird.
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Mithilfe der Geophysik konnte der Verlauf der Schützengräben rekonstruiert werden. Zudem wurde das Land mit einem Theodoliten vermessen und in entsprechende Planquadrate eingeteilt. Damit wird die Aufteilung der Arbeit vereinfacht, gibt eine Übersicht der Umgebung und dient zu einer besseren Orientierung. Nach Anreise aller Teilnehmer am Sonntag, wurde ein kurzer historischer Überblick über die Situation und die Beteiligten Parteien im Zusammenhang mit der Ausgrabungsstelle gegeben. Im Anschluss an die Vorträge erhielten wir eine Sicherheitsunterweisung und damit Verhaltensregeln für den Umgang mit den damals verwendeten Gefahrenstoffen.
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Mit dem Wind im Rücken und ohne Regen konnte nun, am heutigen Montag, die Grundlagenarbeit begonnen werden. Das vollzählige Team wurde dafür in Gruppen eingeteilt, die nun an vier verschiedenen Bereichen arbeiten. Die Arbeit geht gut voran und die ersten kleineren Funde wurden auch schon gemacht (z.B. Munitionshülsen, Schrapnelle, Gläser, Zahnbürste) und treiben die Motivation an, um tiefer zu graben. Eine erweiterte Berichterstattung findet auch über das Fernsehen statt, da ein australisches Fernsehteam die Arbeit an der Seite dokumentiert.
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