Metal Detectorists in Kalkriese

Varus Society Sponsors Prospection Project

When it comes to initializing important projects that cannot be realized with a normal budget, the significance of sponsoring, which Kalkriese’s Varus Society has been practicing for years, becomes clear. The prospection that was carried out at Kalkriese from October 7 to October 11, 2010, was one of the projects sponsored by them. A total of 26 volunteer metal detectorists participated in the prospection, systematically surveying a 16 ha large area west of the »Oberesch« find spot, the site of today’s museum park, in the course of a long weekend.

In the past few years, only one person had been available to conduct the geophysical prospection of the Kalkriese site, namely Kalkriese’s geophysical technician Klaus Fehrs. Therefore the options of reevaluating known find spots and surveying new areas had been severely limited. The time windows for surveys were further reduced to a few weeks by weather conditions and agricultural use. Big blanks in the survey map and the distribution chart of finds of the prospection area, which covers about 30 square kilometers, made it difficult to interpret the events preceding and following the battle, e.g. the reconstruction of troop movements or finding out where the spoils of war had been taken. In this case, surveys conducted by numerous well-trained volunteer workers under the supervision of a professional technician allow for a much faster coverage of the area. Thanks to the financing by the Varus Society and voluntary support from many committed metal detectorists, it was possible to conduct such an event in order to examine the distribution of finds further to the West.

The surveyed area, the »Luhresch«,  lies on the sandy slope’s North side of the Kalkriese Hill. A test drill with a meter-long drill bit prior to the prospection yielded an up to 80 cm thick esch layer . A flat ridge runs through the area from East to West, where the esch layer is only up to 45 cm thick. After plowing, layers of light-colored sand could be seen. The old surface seems to have been at least partially submerged in the plowed layer.

The field we chose to survey was freshly sown. Yet we were kindly permitted to conduct the prospection by the von Bar family (Kalkriese), whom we wish to thank here for their generosity.

Before the survey, the area was broken down into 183 sections with a size of about 50 x 20 m each (1,000 qm), marked by wooden stakes with numbers for each quadrant. The topographical survey and later depth measurements of finds was conducted by geodesist Wolfgang Remme. He was supported by Kalkriese’s excavation technician Axel Thiele, to whom we are also grateful for the perfect organization of the entire event. The three detectorist groups were assigned in such a manner that two groups of about equal size (max. 14 searchers) were dispatched on Thursday/Friday and Sunday/Monday. Saturday was reserved for lectures and roundtable discussions.

To exclude the influence of personal factors (e.g. experience in using the metal detector, quality of technical equipment etc.), a draw was held to assign a quadrant to be surveyed to each metal detectorist. The field’s seed rows as well as the searchers’ own footprints served as their orientation points. The detection depth of the detectors is about 20 cm, so that each metal object could be secured relatively easily with a small scoop. In particular Roman, prehistoric and medieval artifacts, but also objects of unknown origin, were placed in plastic bags directly at the find spot. The find spot was then referenced using a small plastic signpost. Following a closer examination of the finds, their exact find location in the area was determined using a tachymeter, enabling the creation of precise survey maps with the exact coordinates of the finds’ distribution. The vast amount of unearthed modern artifacts was put in a big bag for each quadrant. As soon as a quadrant had completely been searched, the next one with the according number was tackled.

The prospection yielded significant results, both methodically and in terms of concrete finds. Moreover, many new contacts were established. Now three Roman coins supplement the distribution of finds to the West in an area that was formerly terra incognita on scientific maps. These three coins are a denarius (a silver coin) of the Gaius/Lucius type showing emperor Augustus – the final coinage found at Kalkriese – and two as coins (copper coins) that were cut in half, of which at least one features a countermark and can be identified as being of the Lugdunum type. In addition, a late Neolithic to early Bronze Age copper axe of a rare type has been found. The latter highlights the significance of this area in regard to the region’s settlement history from the Neolithic Age onward. Dating to the Thirty Years’ War is probably an Arendschelling coin that was struck in the Dutch municipality of Zwolle during the reign of Emperor Rudolf II (1576-1612). As was to be expected in a field, many modern non-ferrous metal finds were made, among them thimbles, lead seals, cloth buttons, coffin nails and coins. A large percentage of these finds was probably either brought here together with manure to fertilize the field or got lost during fieldwork.
 

Besides the evaluation of finds, the survey methods used in Kalkriese were examined. Due to centuries of intensive agricultural use, the fields’ surface lost most of its modern iron artifacts. Searching and securing them would have cost much more time. Therefore the detectors were set to indicate non-ferrous metals. In selected areas, the researchers tested if this approach would result in missing out on relevant objects. To this end, quadrant 11, where the denarius coin had been found on the first day, was additionally searched for iron artifacts. The result was disillusioning: 95 iron objects were found, among them nails, bullet shell remains, washers, bolts, wire remains and other things that are all of recent origin. Fitness and stamina of the metal detectorists were mandatory here, because they discovered »scrap iron« in a range of every couple of centimeters. It must be pragmatically stated that for a prospection of the Kalkriese area, the detectors must be set to search for non-ferrous metals, because otherwise the process becomes so time-consuming that no progress will be made on such vast surfaces. Of course, regular excavation areas will still be detector-searched for iron artifacts because they lie underneath the modern plowing horizon contaminated with recent metals. It should also not go unmentioned that limitations of detector technology prevent detectorists from reliably filtering out all iron parts when the detector is set to search for non-ferrous metals, in particular not massive and round items. This means that a certain number of iron artifacts will be unearthed anyway and can serve as a reference. In our case, this was a ten-liter bucket full of modern iron artifacts for the entire area.