My Experience

When I was invited to partake in the Gabii Project, I did not know exactly what to expect.
Being involved with an Archaeological dig had never been offered to me before, so the whole experience would I hoped be a learning curve.
I knew that 'Gabbi' was an important Project and just knowing that metal detectors were to be used, was in it self a positive thing for the hobby. Imagine my surprise when I was asked if I would like to be one of the detectorists. At first I did not like the idea of leaving Bridget (my daughter) behind, after spending the last 2 years seeing her through her Leukaemia but she insisted that she has others to help her if necessary.
So after applying and getting my first passport, I was set to go.

Time flew by and the date was soon upon me.

I was instructed that all I would require was my detecting equipment and myself, any else that I needed, would be supplied.

In the meantime I printed off several pages concerning the site rules and regulations, noting that steel reinforced footwear was required. I was unsure about this because it would interfere with the signals from my equipment. However I had nothing to worry about because my work boots were adequate

I had read up about the Gabii Project and also done a bit of reading about archaeology, but I was still unsure of what I would do or what would be expected of me.

I cannot say a great deal about the actual excavation and what was found because it is an on going project and I do not wish to jeopardise this in any way.

The first thing that I did on site was to be given a short version of the history of the site along with how and why it was chosen.
Then I was shown around the site by The Managing Director Jeffrey Becker, who told me about the finds and features recovered to date. I was careful to walk only where shown and instructed, this was to minimise damage and disturbance of the the areas waiting to be done.

After being given the tour I was introduced to the staff in the finds area who were very busy with cleaning, recording and storing the artefacts as they were brought in from the 3 different areas. I found this area very interesting, because you could see good large examples of the various types of ceramics, alongside bones and other materials. Jeffrey kindly got me a list of the various types of pottery (ceramics), expected and being found at the site and how to identify them.
The ladies gave me some bags, a container and a marker pen and explained what they were for. I was then asked to see the field supervisor in Area A, Jamie Sewell who put me to work on some spoil.
If, while doing the spoil, I found anything I was curious about, I only had to ask and an answer was given. I tried not to ask too many times because excavations are very much controlled by time and as we know, time cost money.

I found my own method for dealing with the spoil and it seemed to work well, giving me time between barrow loads and spoil heaps, to look around me and watch the others at work. It was interesting to see the methods being used even though at the time I had little idea of what was being done and why. I was occasionally asked to use my equipment in situ. which was enjoyable because it meant being in the middle of the work and helping to find something, hopefully of interest. Something that had not been disturbed since it came to rest, when Gabii was last in use! Sometimes however, I was just asked to detect over the site and if I located a signal, to place a small flag marking the position. This was usually for a good reason and albeit a little frustrating not seeing what I had located, I got satisfaction in knowing that another piece of the 'jigsaw' had been found.

I do feel that the use of a detector is an important addition to an archaeological excavation and that it is still in it's infancy.
With metal detectors going deeper now than ever before, I would like to see them being used more from the start and continuously throughout the dig. I feel it would help with the location of certain features and help prevent theft from sites.
This may not be practical, for various reasons and in this case, proved not really necessary, because very little was missed.
I do not know the ratio of metallic items found with eyes only, against detector finds but it will be interesting to see such data.

I found the overall experience very interesting and informative and would recommend it to anyone, should they ever be invited to attend an excavation.

I am hoping to share this experience with fellow club members and have been asked to put together a small show and tell presentation.

Now I can honestly say that I have 'Been There and Got the T-shirt'

Thank you to both Sally Worrel and Laura Mclean for being given this chance and experience.

Tuesday

You would have thought I would have learnt my lesson with the clock but no. I set the clock last night at the correct time and got up this morning to find that the coach had gone by about 5 minutes. So no breakfast this morning. I am going to have to sort it out or lose weight.
Luckily a nice young lady noticed and offered me a lift and we arrived at the same time as the coach.

I continued from where I left off yesterday and finished that particular spoil heap. I got plagued for the first time by insects but that was probably due to the spoil heaps being in the longer vegetation.
After the break I moved to another fresh spoil heap which was still in use. This was an easier task, because once I had caught up with the small pile already there, I had a moment to wait for the next barrow load and I filled in the between time running the detector over other heaps. They were done just as well as the others because I hardly had any signals and those I did get were mineralised rock or the odd small piece of iron fragment.

With the heap being fresh and in use, I had control of it's location in so much as when the barrow loads arrived, the students very obligingly placed the fresh spoil where ever I asked. Perfect!

I would like to say that it was a pleasure to work in among the various teams and the manners I experienced, where a credit to the individuals, their families and their various academic establishments. Thank you all.


A pleasant lunch break with a similar selection of filled rolls and fruit. Throughout the day we were encouraged to maintain a good supply of water, which was always available from one of the cabins.
I must say that I have never forced myself to drink so much in a long while but it was important, because it was easy to get dehydrated.

After lunch I went to do some work on area B and Claudia asked me to detect a small spoil heap being created by a gent who introduced himself as Tony. I suggested that he might want to do it and Claudia said that if I did not mind then he was welcome to have a go. Tony recovered 2 fragments of iron and 2 fragments of copper alloy dross or slag, all small but never the less I believe he enjoyed the experience.

After work we were informed that there would be a lecture in the evening about Roman Funerary and tombs, also Bioarchaeology and human osteology which was to be given by Jeffrey Becker and Kristina Killgrove. I attended the lecture and found it very informative.

After a pleasant dinner I settled down to bed and checked the clock, this time making sure it was right! I set it for 5am so that if anything went wrong I would still have time to get breakfast.


Buona notte

My method

I did not take as many pictures as I would have liked, mainly because I was unsure of the wishes and restrictions (if any) of the people in charge of the project. More picture are available on the official blog site and elsewhere.
Click here

The method I used was one that I felt happy with and which I thought covered the most soil.
I would start with a spoil heap and remove as many of the stone and rocks that I could see. This was because some of them contain enough mineral content to give me a reading, albeit at the lowest end of the scale. Once the rocks had been cleared away I would chose one end of the heap away from the end being used if the heap was still in use, and create a new starting point.

The spoil heap to begin with.


I would begin by detecting the entire surface area of the existing heap and then moving the soil nearest, to my new start point and depositing it to the left of the heap.

In progress

As the new pile got larger I created a gap between the two and maintained that throughout. When the soil was shifted from one heap to the other I would proceed to detect the new area exposed by it's removal, but also the soil that I had removed because any small item missed on the first swing may now lie in a different position which allowed it to be detected. This happened a few times especially with the smallest pieces of iron which were only 10 to 15 mms in length.


This heap is approximately half done and shows the new surface area on one side of the heap which enabled me to spread more soil over a smaller ground area. I then proceeded to detecting the entire surface of the new heap far quicker.

A smaller spoil heap in a finished state.


Showing to the right is the area left flat. This is done to be sure of not picking up any thing that might lay on the surface before the heap was deposited.
This was also left to enable any on-going heaps to be added to without mixing the new material with the old.
My future idea would be to detect an area before the spoil heap is created

The method was very successful and went on to produce approximately 40 assorted sized pieces of lead, copper alloy, iron and one more coin.

My start on the journey.

While helping a friend one afternoon, I received, quite out of the blue, an unexpected phone call. A ladies voice asking to speak to Terrence Mallison.
After establishing that I was the said person, the lady went on to explain that she had been given, among others, my name as a possible person who might like to travel to Italy and assist with the Gabii project.

A project I had already heard of because a fellow club member and associate Stuart Elton had been probably the first person to be asked to detect on such an important on going archaeological dig.

Stuart's Blog

I could not believe that I was being asked! At first, I thought about not going because my daughter Bridget is currently undergoing treatment for Leukaemia. But after talking to her and other C.H.A.R.T. team members, I decided it was something I had wanted to do for a long while. So despite not having been out of the country for 36 years and having to apply for a passport, I gratefully accepted.

I hope to bring you my part of the jigsaw piece by piece.

My thanks to Laura McLean our local F.L.O. (Finds Liaison Officer) for Essex, who put my name forward, to Sally Worrel who contacted me to ask if I would be interested and to those resposible for including British detectorists in such an important project.