Somewhere over the rainbow... Roman lead coffin

[stubble hunter]

Amazing find and exciting times ahead too.
Many of us following developments on this
Cheers !
John in Gloucester

[Scratcher]

Cheers for the update mate!

[housed]

Quite an interesting article on the coffin.

http://www.bajrfed.co.uk/bajrpress/the- ... ad-coffin/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

One wonders what the landowner thinks about the whole thing if the part about not having permission from the landowner is correct.

Also if the farmer did not own the land I presume that the club members have informed the actual landowner of all their finds.

Interested to know if the article was right or wrong on the landowner part.

[bangbustours]

I have been in no hurry to see the coffin opened, I've had one or two other life priorities!

I feel the commentary about the item being at risk from other detectorists is unfair. The coffin was found adjacent to a village and had the attention of the whole village over night. Sadly in today's society scumbags willing to mug old ladies or steal poppy charity boxes from hotels are just as likely to rip out a coffin to weigh in a few kilos of lead. Once the coffin had been uncovered it was considered to be at risk. period. Scrapers, Thieves and hawkers alike. Hence the club arranged for security whilst it was decided what should be done with this find.

We are al in danger of unknowingly being granted permission by a tenant farmer, it's something to be mindful of. This was a club dig so I just turned up and paid my money.

We were informed by a local resident that the land was actually owned by lord "x". I knew his managing agents who were immediately informed. Whilst this clearly wasn't an ideal situation it was quickly sorted. The decision to excavate was made by the archi's and the land owner.

Yes there is an argument to say we dug too deep, however the lid was only inches from the plough line. Also this item is now in safe hands, and will hopefully be a historically significant find.

[housed]

yeah it sounds like you did the best that could be done in a tricky situation.

I think that any well run club has a responsibility to at least ask the farmer if they own the land or if they rent it. It doesn't seem like a difficult question to answer although when cash is involved things can get murky I guess.

This isn't meant to be accusatory it's just that digging on land when you don't have permission from the landlord no matter how innocently it might have happened isn't good for any responsible detectorist.

[Mick]

Politics aside, fantastic find mate. Fascinating.

[saxman]

A bloody good read though and proof that you never can be too careful about permissions etc
Saxman

[Emrys]

Yes there is an argument to say we dug too deep, however the lid was only inches from the plough line. Also this item is now in safe hands, and will hopefully be a historically significant find.

a find is a find and it doesnt matter how far you dig as long as its still beeping when u get to the bottom

[shoveller]

Finds from the coffin, now believed to be of a girl

http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Brace ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[STIG]

Exciting.

[tigtog]

cracking find this is.

[bangbustours]

Hi All,

A bit more from the archaeologists!

http://heritage.warwickshire.gov.uk/arc ... oman-past/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[oldartefact]

Yes there is an argument to say we dug too deep, however the lid was only inches from the plough line. Also this item is now in safe hands, and will hopefully be a historically significant find.

a find is a find and it doesnt matter how far you dig as long as its still beeping when u get to the bottom

I am a complete novice ... but the arguments for digging too deep surely only apply to known cemetaries and ordnance sites... assuming that neither were prior indicated, then I assume its dig away!

[Nailman]

Thanks for all the updates
English Heritage say that modern farming is threatening archaeology
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/publ ... story.pdf/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
So if the finders hadn't dug down and found the coffin it could have been destroyed by the plough in 2-3 yrs.
This is a typical rescue archaeology case, the bread and butter of most archaeology units.
The coffin has been saved.

[JamieB]

Fascinating!! What a find .. Well done Chris (& Jo) for saving this for all of us