Your Fieldwork Committee
The Fieldwork Committee's Terms of Reference are: To consider any matters relating to fieldwork, to receive applications for grants for fieldwork and to promote research, excavations, field-walking and training courses. To give advice to excavators (when they request it) and to provide practical support whenever suitable. The Committee is comprised of some fifteen members, ranging in experience from some that have been active for over 40 years to relative newcomers with seven years experience. We meet about five times per year to discuss fieldwork matters, but each member is active to a greater or lesser degree in their own field of interest.
Training Excavations
The Society's Training Excavation at the Roman villa at Minster-in-Thanet continued with a fourth season of two weeks at the end of August 1999 directed by David Perkins, assisted by supervisors Tim Allen, Emma Boast, and Keith Parfitt. Twenty-eight people attended, all but one were members of the K.A.S. The Society is grateful to the Trust for Thanet Archaeology, Canterbury Archaeological Trust, Thanet Archaeological Society and Dover Archaeological Group for their assistance. Work centred on the main villa boundary wall and ditch.
An adjacent building was investigated. Crop rotation precluded excavation during the summer of 2000, so the priority has been to ensure that the site archive and post-excavation work is completed. A number of trainees are taking an active part in processing and reporting on the fragments of mosaic, painted wall plaster, animal bones, roof and box flue tile, and pottery from the site. We are pleased to announce that a further two weeks training will take place during 2001. See below for details on how to participate.
The Society continues to endeavour to seek ways of amateurs being allowed to take part in PPG 16 archaeological excavations in conjunction with archaeological contractors. Such an opportunity arose at the site of a small Roman town at Westhawk Farm, Ashford where ahead of housing development by Wilcox Homes, the Oxford Archaeological Unit were carrying out extensive excavations. Dr John Williams, K.C.C. County Archaeologist, arranged for access by amateurs. The Society made a grant of £2,400 towards a training course over three weeks during July and August 1999. Nineteen people attended, eighteen of which were members of the Society. In addition, over fifty volunteer diggers, many of which were members, assisted on the excavation for varying periods throughout July to October. As a result of these two training excavations the Fieldwork Committee are compiling a list of volunteer diggers who are interested in being notified of opportunities to take part in archaeological excavations. If you would like to have your name added to the volunteers list please write to or e-mail me at the address below.
Resistivity Surveys
The Society's resistivity meter has been in great demand with amongst others, surveys being carried out by members at Minster Roman Villa, Cossington Manor, Aylesford, Stanham Farm, Dartford, Fawkham Junction, Longfield, Woodchurch, Isle of Thanet, The Green, Canterbury Cathedral, East Hill, Dartford and Mount Castle Farm, Lenham. One such survey and field walking work around the Roman site at Little Famingham. Sissinghurst lead to trail excavations reported on by Neil Aldridge. If you wish as an individual member or as part of a local group or society to use or to be shown how to use the resistivity meter please contact me at the address below.
Grants
The granting by the Society of relatively small amounts can often enable fieldwork projects to be undertaken by members that might otherwise not take place. The following grants were made in the past few years: £3,000 to the Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit for post excavation work on the work carried out at the Roman fort at Reculver. £470 to the Gravesend Historical Society for surveying equipment. £250 to the Upchurch Archaeological Group for storage containers for some of the vast amounts of pottery and other finds they have discovered on the Upchurch Marshes. £50 to the Dartford District Archaeological Group for processing materials used during work on the finds from the Sedgebrook, Plaxtol and Minster Roman villas.
The granting of £1,000 towards a project proposed by Tim Allen, has contributed towards the cost of sinking of boreholes in the Lower Halstow area to investigate the prehistoric land surfaces. Exciting new evidence of Mesolithic horizons have been discovered and work is continuing.
A grant of £250 to the Fawkham & Ash Archaeological Group has assisted in the continuing excavation of the Medieval Manor House adjacent to Fawkham Church.
Detectorists & Archaeologists
Fieldwalking by amateur archaeologists to discover new sites is at an all-time low, whereas the amount of fieldwalking activity by detectorists has increased dramatically. The essential difference in both activities is that detectorists are normally looking for items that people have lost, i.e. coins, brooches, buttons, strap ends etc, whilst archaeologists tend to be looking for signs of habitation in the form of struck flints, pottery shards, bones, oyster shell, tile etc. There is an enormous overlap in interest and members of the Fieldwork Committee such as Keith Parfitt and myself have been actively engaged in attending detectorists meetings giving talks on archaeological activities in an effort to build bridges in what is essentially a common objective. The appointment, with Lottery Funding, of a Finds Liaison Officer in Kent, over the last three years has brought about enormous changes in the reporting and recording of finds by detectorists. The current holder of that position, Michael Lewis is a member of the Fieldwork Committee.
Archiving Archaeological Activity
The Committee is very conscious of the changes that the introduction of PPG 16 into the Planning process has caused with the growth of activity in the County by 'contract archaeologists'. The gradual fading away of many former active local archaeological groups would seem to be one side effect. During the 1960s there was a tremendous increase of activity by amateurs in all fields of archaeology throughout the County. Due to any number of reasons this activity was not always adequately reported upon. The Society's Council has approved an initiative by the Fieldwork Committee to endeavour to 'archive' the results that survive of this important work. Where it is known that any archaeological activity has taken place, from fieldwalking, excavation, to building recording, efforts are being made to obtain permission from the participants to allow the digitisation of any notebooks, drawings, plans, photographs onto computer so that the information can be archived for future research. In addition, the purchase of a high quality digital camera will allow any pottery, bone and other finds to be photographed at little cost and to be added to the archive. The information gathered about previous archaeological activity will be held on a computer located in the Society's Library in Maidstone Museum. Copies of the archive will be made available to the National Monuments Record at Swindon and other interested organisations. It is felt that this archiving will go some way to making available the results of all the hard work carried out by many amateur archaeologists over the last 35 years.
I hope that you approve of the efforts being made by your Fieldwork Committee on your behalf to enable members to participate in and to benefit from archaeological activities throughout Kent. If you have any comments or suggestions please contact me.
Ted Connell