Author: Alberto Pearson

Ourpasthistory.com Image Gallery :: Cyprus – The Villa of Theseus, Paphos

The Villa of Theseus is a very large Roman peristyle complex, named for the subject of one of its notable mosaic floors,which the excavators interpret as the official residence of the Roman governor. Begun in the second half of the second century A.D., it gradually expanded to become the largest building so far discovered in Cyprus, with more than 100 rooms and measuring over 120 x 80 m, organized as four wings around a large peristyle court. Finds include important examples of marble sculpture, dating from Late Hellenistic to early third century A.D. Major renovations, including new mosaics and repairs to the Theseus mosaic, took place in the fourth century A.D. It was abandoned by the end of the sixth century and reoccupied by squatters.

Ourpasthistory.com Image Gallery :: St Andrews Cathedral

St Andrews Cathedral NO 516166 59 HS Augustinian cathedral priory Christian worship at this spot began around 800 AD when the Celtic “Culdees” (Companions of God) established a makeshift church at the harbour entrance. This was replaced with the church of St. Mary-on-the-Crag whose outline, outside the cathedral walls is still evident. It is probable that the relics of St. Andrew were kept at that site. The Bishopric was transferred from Abernethy in 908. Bishop Robert an Augustinian canon enlarged the reliquary church now known as St Rule’s as his new Cathedral church and established a priory of Augustinian canons to serve it. He also started the process of transferring power from the old Celtic religious house to the priory. The building was consecrated in 1318, but had to be rebuilt after a fire in 1380

The tower of this first Cathedral of St Andrew still dominates the St Andrews skyline. Beside it are the remains of the second Cathedral and the largest church in Scotland, the Augustinian Priory . The precinct walls are well preserved

Ourpasthistory.com Image Gallery :: Cawdor Castle

Cawdor Castle

In 1454 King James II permitted the 6th Thane of Cawdor to build this Castle. Clan Campbell obtained control of the castle in 1511 by forcing the 12 year-old daughter of the 8th Thane to marry John, the younger son of Archibald Campbell . To assure his position as the next Thane, the ruthless John Campbell summarily disposed of various of his wife’s relatives. This was iniitially a simple tower-house, the upper storey, parapets and massive iron yett were added later in the 15th century. The ranges were added in the late 17th C. however having declared support for the Jacobites, the family wisely left for their Welsh estates for the best part of the next century

Ourpasthistory.com Image Gallery :: Rosslyn Chapel

Rosslyn Chapel NT 275631 66 Rosslyn Chapel or the Collegiate Chapel of St Matthew as it was to have been known was founded in 1446 by Sir William St Clair. The building you see today is only part of what was intended to be a larger cruciform building with a tower at its centre. Though incomplete it still took 40 years to build. When Sir William died in 1484 the rest of the building was never realised although the foundation of the nave has been found to extend over 90 feet during excavations. What was built however is extraordinary………….. Rosslyn Chapel is unique for the beauty of its carvings and also for the air of mystery that surrounds it. It doesnt conform to contemporary architecture at all. There are also Pagan symbols and Rosslyn has the largest number of “Green men” found in any medieval building.

The carvings themselves including the famous “Apprentice Pillar” are full of symbolism. Many of the biblical stories are portrayed and there are frequent references to the Knights Templar and Freemasonary. The official Rosslyn Chapel website is at : http://www.rosslynchapel.org.uk/

Metal Detecting What is a Finds Liaison Officer?

What is a Finds Liaison Officer?

The Portable Antiquities scheme operates through a network of locally based ‘Finds Liaison Officers’, who can offer identification and recording services as well as advise on how to conserve archaeological finds and how to tell if what you have found may be classed as treasure . Since the scheme came into operation, over 100,000 objects, which may otherwise have gone unrecorded, have been examined by Finds Liaison Officers across England and Wales

Each county of England and Wales now has an F.L.O. whose role it is to identify the objects for the finder and then to record them, thus making the information available to both academics and the general public through means of a website. Contrary to popular belief, objects recorded under the Portable Antiquities Scheme are returned to the finder. It is this unawareness of museum practice in regard to personal finds that the Finds Liaison Officer is attempting to overcome..

The Finds Liaison Officers role is dependant upon building and maintaining relationships of trust with finders, so they are encouraged to record their finds – an important part of their role is to make contacts with local finders, meet detectorists, and explain the aims of PAS so that more about the history and archaeology of the area can be recorded and made available.

They do this by attending club meetings, seeing independant detectorists, and giving talks to local societies, colleges and other groups – definately not a 9-5 job!

It is essential for them to record as much information about the find as possible – when the object was made, what it is made of, how it is decorated, whether it is broken, what it was used for.

Your local FLO will be able to offer you a wide range of services:

  • indentifying your finds – either personally or after consulting a specialist
  • recording your finds on the Finds Database
  • giving you advice on conservation and storage
  • giving you advice on the Treasure Act
  • telling you about the importance of your find for the understanding of our history
  • if you would find it useful, they will pass you a copy of the information they have recorded

They deal with huge quantities of finds from the Palaeolithic period onwards – Many of the objects fall into particular categories and are easily identified through their similarity with published examples, but unusual or unique objects are also well represented.

They have regular meetings and training days on artefacts of different periods.

 

Metal Detecting – How to plot a National Grid Reference

How to plot a National Grid Reference

The very least you should do is reference finds to specific fields – But Recording findspots accurately (using a Ordnance Survey map or hand-held Global Positioning System (GPS) device) whilst in the field are really what counts when recording your archaeological finds.

Interactive Guide to the National Grid

This is a great link for understanding NGR ref’s, click on this then when you get to the OS site, click on the help link lower down the page.

http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/freefun/nationalgrid/nghelp1.html

http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/freefun/nationalgrid/nationalgrid.pdf

There’s a facility on the Streetmap.co.uk website that lets you convert OS and Landranger to Lats and Longs and vice versa. To get to it you have to go onto the site, type in say your postcode or OS co ords, it will come up with a map. The facility can then be accessed by pressing the click here to convert link lower down the page.

link to all you need to know from the PAS website

How to plot a National Grid Reference

 

MXT–Coil Comparison Depth Chart (Air Test)

 
MXT- Coil Comparison Depth Chart (Air Test)
by Roger

Although I wouldn’t recommend comparing different machines using “in air” depth tests, comparing different coils on the same machine would in my opinion give a very good comparison of the depth capabilities of each coil.Looking at the above figures its pretty obvious to me the MXT performs better “in ground” than “in air”, this is based on depths of finds out in the field, for instance the MXT fitted with the 14 incher found a hammered penny on rough plough at 11″ with a good strong signal, but would only get it at 10″ in air. The figures also show what a cracking little coil the 5.3 is, matching the 10″ X 5″ DD on three of the targets even though its only about half the size of that coil. In my write up about the 14 incher I reckoned it had a 2″ to 3″ gain in depth over the 9.5 stock coil, seems the bigger the target the bigger the gain. These tests were done after the machine was ground balanced and then the tracking “locked”, the gain was set to max (+3), discrim at 1.9, in fact it was set up exactly as I use it in the field, all measurements were taken while still getting a good two way signal using headphones.

Obviously this test is only a rough guide to compare the coils capabilities, and certainly not set in concrete,it obviously doesn’t take into account mineralised soil, or the presence of iron, if someone else tried this test they would probably come up with a different set of figures, there are so many variables when doing these tests, like the amount of interference, type of headphones used, where the cut off point for a good signal is etc etc, but it does give a reasonable idea of performance for each coil.

 

Crotel Bell

14″ X 8″
DD

13″

10″ X 5″
DD

10″

9.5″
Concentric

10″

5.3
Concentric

 

Designed by Corinne Mills 2005
email [email protected]

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