A grot saves the day

Amazing to see how well this site is looked after - a high gate with digital code to open and a permanent attendant on the site. Valentina picked me up as planned and after some scenic excursions and hair raising turns (it was only the second time she had driven to the site) we met up with Anna who explained the site to me. Also waiting there were the trench masters Sabrina and Federica!

Well as this is an archaeological dig it makes sense to have every signal dug as we all know iron objects can be of great historical value,s it's just that they are usually nails of recent age and it is generally best to leave any iron object in the ground unless you have the skill and intent to preserve them immediately before they become a pile of rust. So having spent the day collecting many dozens of nails and lumps of rust plus a few bits of lead it was a mighty relief to locate a Roman coin and though many would class it a grot it was of a good size (thick half a crown size for the oldies amongst us) and Anna thought she could make out two faces on it suggesting the god Janus and putting it nicely in the Republican era that we are interested in. Hopefully a picture will follow tomorrow.

Who cares about digging up endless bits of iron when you have such a lovely work force to do the digging !



The lower photo gives some idea of the number of holes dug and I am pleased to say that not a single target was lost, i.e. every target dug for was found.

I was warned there would be no shade and despite my factor 50 Helen took the precaution of sewing a white hanky to the back of my cricket hat and I think it saved me from burning to death plus it was just the touch needed to complete the well dressed Englishman abroad look that wowed my Italian colleagues.


Minor disaster - my coil went floppy! Luckily it was nearly 4.30pm when we knock off and I managed to nurse it for the last few targets. I just couldn't tighten the head bolt sufficiently and thought it might be broken. No spare for that bit of course as never had a problem with it on this model before. Valentina took me into Frascati but as I feared only metal screws were available so I bought two rawlplugs and managed a reasonable bodge but then I realised one of the washers was missing. Probably lost when cleaning it before packing and it was this that was causing the problem. By a stroke of luck when I checked the washers on the Garret Ace that Roy had lent me as a back up .... they fitted :).

7.30 start tomorrow and so I'm off to bed.