Day Three and all systems go… Monday, July 30th, 2007
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I cannot believe how much dirt our team has shifted. Yesterday went really well. Trench 1 has been excavating a concrete bunker foundation. after the war the locals demolished the shelter for scrap and concrete chippings for the road but the foundations survived and Kirsty and her team, including friends from the historicql society have uncovered the plan. It is heavy work as rubble fills the blockhouse. Meanwhile Steve R has found what may be a trench mortar pit , Steve L abnf teqm are looking for an Anzac trench cutting the upcast from the Ultimo mine and Jon has been exploring the Factory Farm crater. Here the mine destroyed q moated farm which the Germans had fortified. We have found not only military remains but also the evidence of life before the war, includig glassware, china and horse harness.
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Australian TV are happy that we can tell stories of the Anzac battle and Michael M is so excited to be here in the landscape – as he says you cannot write about a battlefield without seeing it and walking round it to experience the terrain.
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Last night James plqyed his pipes in the bar and the Irish/Ulster guests at the Peace Village got out a fiddle and there was music and even a little dancing. The music theme continued when John Tomlinson the uber bass of Wagnerian opera came to visit Peter C, the site artist!
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Also Franky Bostyn and Bert Heyvaert fron the Passchendale museum in Zonnebeke visited. Their work is excellent – visit the museum!
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More soon!
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And the sun is shining…
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Sunday – Day Two Sunday, July 29th, 2007
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Hello to Rod, Nigel the elder, Ruth and Katharine and Mark!
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Day Two_
So we couldn`t dig the British Front Line due to the crop in the field but we have got access to the woodland and the Factory Farm area. We began with the continuation of the geophysics near Ultimo Crater and a chat with the film crew from ABC and Matt and Michael from Oz.
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Cleaning of the Factory Farm area started under Jon’s capable leadership, and a contour survey of the crater lip was also started.
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Early finds include:
- parts of a sniper shield (German)
- Coolant system from a maxim gun
- incoming.303 rounds from Factory Farm and
- large calibre shell splinters.
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Dinner was “interesting”, especially for the veggies who got peas, and only peas. (hello Justin)
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After dinner we had a short briefing seminar for the team about the site and its history. Thanks especially to Ralph who got off a plane from Baltimore and a train from Brussels and almost immediately gave a paper on the Bavarian Army at Messines.
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Beer time!
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Day One on the Plugstreet Project Saturday, July 28th, 2007
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Saturday
So, here we are then.
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If the spzlling is q bit squint its becquse Iµn using a continentql keyboard. Anyway…
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After coffee at length with the farmer and a good breakfast at the Peace Village we hit the site. Peter (AKA the Colonel) did great service with his magnetometer and found us all manner of anomalies, many of which appear to be Great War features. Meanwhile Michael Molkentin appeared with mega jetlag and a plan of the Anzac defnces of the Ultimo crater. Strangely the two seemed to tie together.
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Richard and Martin also went off to see the Comines-Warneton Historical Society. After an informative meeting and a beer/coffee (you decide) they returned, having seen treasures by the score and having been given the heqds-up on the site and its context.
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Dinner in various establishments in Ieper – the eels were magnificent.
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Colonel’s quote:
“I’ll get you to put your tongue on that…” Ref the resistivity probes (allegedly)
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Over the Top Friday, July 27th, 2007
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The project is about to start and the blog will hot up. Look out for contributions from various team members, pictures, bomb of the day – especially for our usual EOD cover who can’t be with us because the Queen has invited him to a war – and so much more.
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And the Auberge has announced that the mussel season has started, so that’s tomorrow’s dinner sorted out.
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As my partner says “It’s like a job”. Well it would be but Richard and I are taking leave… it’s more fun than the beach!
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Keep watching and don’t forget to leave comments for us.
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Ready for the off Thursday, July 26th, 2007
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Tomorrow some of us leave as the advance party for the project. Saturday will see us meeting the landowner again, as well as our allies from the Historical Society. Meanwhile Peter, Swantje and one or two others will be starting the geophysical survey that will help us target the features we want to excavate. Then we can advance on all fronts with the digging.
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The rain has abated, let’s hope it hasn’t all gone south-east to Flanders.
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Another link Wednesday, July 25th, 2007
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Now That Swantje has added our first German posting, it might perhaps be the time to introduce a website for those that read Dutch/Flemish. Many contributors on this forum live in the locality of our excavation and thus may be able to visit site:
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http://forumeerstewereldoorlog.nl
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A German contribution – Ein deutscher Beitrag Tuesday, July 24th, 2007
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Mein Name ist Swantje Krause und ich absolviere zurzeit ein Masterstudium an der Bournemouth Universität in England in Forensischer und Biologischer Anthropology. Ich arbeite mit menschlichen Knochen, die ich untersuche, um ein sogenanntes biologisches Profil zu erstellen, welches mir Auskunft über die Abstammung, das Geschlecht, das Alter und die Größe eines Individuums geben kann.
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In der Woche vom 30. Juli bis 3. August werde ich an der Seite von Engländern, Belgiern, Franzosen, Deutschen und Australiern an einer archäologischen Ausgrabung in Ploegsteert (engl. Plugstreet), ein kleiner Ort in der Nähe von Ypern im Süd-Westen Belgiens, arbeiten. Dieses Team arbeitet gemeinsam an einem Projekt von „No Man’s Land“, einer europäischen Vereinigung, die sich mit historischen Kriegsschauplätzen aus dem Ersten Weltkrieg archäologisch beschäftigt und dadurch versucht Hintergründe und Zusammenhänge zu ermitteln. Die Leitung über dieses Projekt wird von Martin Brown und Richard Osgood, zwei Archäologen des Britischen Verteidigungsministeriums, übernommen. Der Schwerpunkt der Arbeit wird darin bestehen Informationen über die Dritte Division der Australier zu erlangen, die damals in Messines kämpften. Die Schlacht um Messines gilt als eine der blutigsten Schlachten des ersten Weltkrieges. Die Gegend ist durch gewaltige Krater gezeichnet, erzeugt durch massive Minenexplosionen. Am 7 Juni 1917 zündete die Britische Zweite Armee 19 Minen, mit einer Sprengkraft von ca. 600 Tonnen, unter Deutschen Linien. 10.000 Mann verloren damals während der Explosion ihr Leben. Die gewaltigen Explosionen waren angeblich bis Dublin zu hören.
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Mit Spannung erwarte ich das Projekt und hoffe, dass das Wetter angenehm sein wird, so dass wir in der kurzen Zeit vernünftig arbeiten können, und dass wir neben Artefakten auch Überreste finden, die wir gegebenenfalls identifizieren und zurück in die entsprechenden Länder überführen können. Zudem hoffe ich, dass ich in einem netten, internationalen Team einen Beitrag zur Geschichte leisten kann.
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Our partners from Comines-Warneton Tuesday, July 24th, 2007
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We have received emails from Jean-Michel, on behalf of the Comines-Warneton Historical Society. They are our key, local partners in the Plugstreet Project. Members of the group will be working with us on site and they have already helped with documentary research. Some members of the Society have plenty of experience in Great War archaeology and one member was associated with discovery and identification of Private Lancaster, about whom I wrote on 4th July. We are looking forwards to working with them.
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Like us they have a blog and it includes details of two Great War exhibitions, as well as photos of the Flanders Giants, which are quite a phenomenon.
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http://www.vanelslande.org/blog
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We intend that the excavation report will appear in the Society’s Journal.
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Rain, mud, more rain Monday, July 23rd, 2007
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Non-UK readers may not realise just how wet it has been over here this week. A quick google search on Upton-on-Severn or Tewkesbury should give you the general idea. Please god(s) let it stop raining before the project starts, otherwise it will look like the classic pictures of the Salient in 1917. Fingers crossed for a few days of no rain and a drying wind.
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Trench Detectives Monday, July 23rd, 2007
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Readers lucky enough to receive UK TV channel 5 might want to make a date in their diaries to be out tomorrow.
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At 19:15 tomorrow (Tuesday) 5 will be starting a re-run of the series “Trench Detectives” which was their edited version of “Finding the Fallen”. The series concentrates on our group No Man’s Land and our work on five archaeological projects from the Western Front, including Serre, Loos and Beaumont Hamel.
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Actually the series gives a fair idea of the process involved in excavating sites of this type and in the backstories one can uncover about individuals whose bodies and possessions are uncovered on the battlefields.
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A number of the team who will be out at Plug Street are featured in the programmes, including a bizarre moment of Jon and Martin singing a Baptist hymn.
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