Pumped groundwater out of a Roman well site and lost a key artifact

Last Tuesday I was helping on a dig near Bath, England, where we were clearing a 1st century well. The pump we rented from a local rental yard kept sucking up mud and gravel, nothing crazy until the hose kicked sideways and sent a jet of water straight into the screening table. I saw a little bronze fibula brooch fly off into the overflow bucket and before I could yell, it went down the drain into the river. The site director gave me the cold stare for a solid minute, then just said 'well, that's one way to lose 40 pounds of artifact.' We spent the next three hours digging through the silt pile downstream with sieves, found half a Roman nail but no brooch. Has anyone else had a piece of history just vanish because of bad equipment or a dumb move like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

eva_lewis9d ago

well, that's one way to lose 40 pounds of artifact' is gonna be the tagline for my worst archaeological nightmares now. RIP little brooch, you're out there living your best river life.

the_tara9d ago

Actually that brooch might do more good in the river than in a museum. Those things get locked away in storage rooms for decades, never seen by anyone. Now some fish is wearing it, or a kid finds it 50 years from now and actually cares about it. Plus rivers move stuff around, could end up in a completely different country and teach us about trade routes. Sounds like the brooch is doing better fieldwork than most grad students.