AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF METAL DETECTING

 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF METAL DETECTING

For over a decade my family has been involved with and owned several horses. During this time I have witnessed injuries to horses’ legs from iron and other scrap metal  buried in horse-fields at least since the industrial revolution. 

 

A few years ago I volunteered to help  a charity that rescues racehorses and I got permission to clear a few acres of horse-fields from scrap metal. As my collection of photographs on the post “Spade Works” shows the scrap metal quantities were and continues to be  overwhelming. Many sharp irons and wires of all kinds capable of delivering serious injuries to horses, especially on clay fields with deep mud after a period of heavy rainfall.

 

So, this is how the metal detecting started. First a service to the beautiful horse and then to history.

 

As a keen reader of ancient and medieval history, a practitioner  of Historical European Marshal Arts (HEMA), horseback archery, demonstrator and maker of  medieval  yew warbows, participating in historical re-enactments at international traditional archery festivals, Azincourt 600, Battle of Hastings 950, Jorvik, Battle of Tewkesbury e.t.c., the metal detector became my time machine taking me back to many of the histories I read and practise.

I am not very interested in coins. For me it is one of the indications of  dating the fields. I am the happiest when I unearth an artefact that was belonged to someone, and feeling an energy, a connection with an ancestor. That feeling cannot be described, because if it is, it would  lose all it’s magic. If the reader is a  metal detectorist, then you know what I mean! 

Thank you very much for visiting my blog. 

INFRA TERRA - The Beauty of Insignificance

INFRA TERRA 

The Beauty of Insignificance

Infra Terra - The beauty of Insignificance is: A surprising unknown fact that has been disclosed. Gratification off the senses. A vestige. Reverberation after the original use stopped. Survived from an earlier time but now outmoded. An object made by a human being. A total absence of light existence. A relevant testimony. Changeable. Martial industrial. A combination of qualities that pleases the sight. Uncanny. Has been taken away. Attached to something larger. Link to value with a measure of something. Fascinating. Time travel. Wakening the dead, and finally, a quantity of energy proportional to its magnitude.

NOTE: Many images are inverted digital copies from a 5x4 b+w film plate, others made with a digital camera of 12MP and a smart phone . *Metal detecting with analog machines. **Film: Various and the least expensive.

All image © Vestiges - Please do not reproduce without permission. 

Plate 33. - 03/24

Plate 32 - 02/24

Plate 31 - 01/24

Plate 30 - 01/24

Plate 29 - 12/23

Plate 28 - 12/23

Plate 27

Plate 26

Plate 25

Plate 24

Plate 23

Plate 22

Plate 21

Plate 20

Plate 19

Plate 18

Plate 17

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Plate 15

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Plate 13

Plate 12

Plate 11

Plate 10

Plate 9

Plate 8

Plate 7

Plate 6

Plate 5

Plate 4

Plate 3

Plate 2

Plate 1

SPADE WORK

SPADE WORK 

Reference to finds from digs as they are coming out from the ground.

Ref 48. 06/24 (GH)

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