Sunday - Last day of first MD phase

Hello all,

Home at last and the first phase of survey completed. We have certainly achieved an adequate sample of the area towards the outer limits of what we would expect to be the battlefield, or at least the limits of the main fighting and rout, etc. As there was a crop in Area B we decided to cover the fringes of the field and along the field enclosure. Not much is left of the enclosure, except for remnants of the bank which you can see more clearly in the garden of Etterickhaugh House.

The weather wasn't great today, however the rain stayed off for most of the day which was better than expected. We had 6 metal detectorists and two local volunteers to do the recording, Sue and Jane. Martin, our student on the Centre's MLitt course, made the journey down from Glasgow to help out too.

We did have a very limited area to survey in the cropped area, although we did make use of the 'tram-lines' made by the tractor to at least get a small sample of this area. This gave a good cross-section of the field and seemed to work well without damaging the crop. Two c.17th century buckles were recorded, along with a couple of buttons and despite getting ever closer to the 'front line' as it were, still no lead projectiles! Only the five from the previous day. Not to worry. We did get more strips of lead however. Always an interesting find.

As our surveyor Fiona is not coming out with us next week I had to learn how to use the GPS SmartRover which gives us sub-centimeter accuracy for recording the finds. It's relatively simple to use, when no problems arise that is! Hopefully I will be well versed in its use for next week. The venerable Dr Chris Bowles, Scottish Borders Regional Archaeologist, also paid us a welcome visit today. Thanks Chris!

The metal detecting team!

Jane, Martin and Sue recording the finds. Hard slog towards the end.

Me pretending to know what to do with the SmartRover

Thanks to all who came out this week. Well worth it and plenty more to do for the next week. Hope to see all the regulars next Thursday. Thank you also to Justin Smith for coming down with us to help out. He has been a super star and couldn't have done it without him. Justin is off to Corsica next week so can't join us. We don't like Justin anymore! : )

Looking forward to another few days with Al and Judith Patullo who have been amazing hosts. Food and entertainment (including a showing of the film Seven Samurai with is 35mm projector!) a plenty. All the best and see you next Thursday Selkirk!

Tasha