BioProfessor
Silver Member
Still plodding my way through a big bean field on the 12th Century farm south of Paris this week. The Viking area was not as active as it was and I thought I needed to try and scout out a new "hot spot."
I have the old maps of the farm and they show the location of the Roman Road that cuts through the property. I was talking with a local metal detectorist (as best I can since I speak no French and he speaks no English) so it is a lot of gesturing and drawing in the dirt. He told me that the area was loaded with Roman roads since the town of Melun was the horse Depot for the Roman Army in that neck of the woods. He told me that they never located their villas on the road but would always put them about 1 Km away. Don't know if it was for protection or what but that is the way they built them.
So I drag out the maps and start drawing some lines parallel to the Roman road about 1 Km away. I then look on Google Earth for any crop marks that might indicate an old building foundation. Nothing.
I talked with the wife of the farmer who owns the land now and said I was thinking there might be the possibility of a Villa somewhere on the property. She said that an old priest had told them some of the history of the farm since it was farmed by Monks for many centuries. The priest said that he thought there was an old villa in the field behind the main barn but didn't know exactly where. I figured that the best way to find it would be to look for pieces of pottery. My problem was, I didn't know how to tell Roman pottery from a good grade of clay and the roof tiles are always red and they still make pretty much the same thing today. Now if I had Internet it would be good but there is no Internet there so I go off in search of the local metal detecting guy. I meet up with him in a field a couple of Kilometers from the farm and he takes me through the field and shows me what is and what is not Roman Pottery. Once you see it, you can easily recognize it. It has a dark glaze and the clay is a pretty light shade of gray.
So armed with new information, I set out across the field looking for pottery shards. I get way into the corner of the field and notice there are lots of rocks. I start to look a bit closer and find one small piece of Roman pottery, then 2, then 6, then it is all over the place. Bottoms of bowls, handles, rims of things.
So out comes the e-Trac and I hadn't gone 10 feet and I get my ears blown off. 10-42 screaming DIG ME!!!! Well I did. Walked about 20 more feet, same thing. Walked a bit more. Same thing.
I only had about 3 hours in the field as I had already checked out of the B&B at the farm and I had to get the rental car back to Amsterdam. But I think I can say that I found the Villa!! If there would have been a cow in the field, I may have tried to kiss it.
Enjoy!!
Daryl
I have the old maps of the farm and they show the location of the Roman Road that cuts through the property. I was talking with a local metal detectorist (as best I can since I speak no French and he speaks no English) so it is a lot of gesturing and drawing in the dirt. He told me that the area was loaded with Roman roads since the town of Melun was the horse Depot for the Roman Army in that neck of the woods. He told me that they never located their villas on the road but would always put them about 1 Km away. Don't know if it was for protection or what but that is the way they built them.
So I drag out the maps and start drawing some lines parallel to the Roman road about 1 Km away. I then look on Google Earth for any crop marks that might indicate an old building foundation. Nothing.
I talked with the wife of the farmer who owns the land now and said I was thinking there might be the possibility of a Villa somewhere on the property. She said that an old priest had told them some of the history of the farm since it was farmed by Monks for many centuries. The priest said that he thought there was an old villa in the field behind the main barn but didn't know exactly where. I figured that the best way to find it would be to look for pieces of pottery. My problem was, I didn't know how to tell Roman pottery from a good grade of clay and the roof tiles are always red and they still make pretty much the same thing today. Now if I had Internet it would be good but there is no Internet there so I go off in search of the local metal detecting guy. I meet up with him in a field a couple of Kilometers from the farm and he takes me through the field and shows me what is and what is not Roman Pottery. Once you see it, you can easily recognize it. It has a dark glaze and the clay is a pretty light shade of gray.
So armed with new information, I set out across the field looking for pottery shards. I get way into the corner of the field and notice there are lots of rocks. I start to look a bit closer and find one small piece of Roman pottery, then 2, then 6, then it is all over the place. Bottoms of bowls, handles, rims of things.
So out comes the e-Trac and I hadn't gone 10 feet and I get my ears blown off. 10-42 screaming DIG ME!!!! Well I did. Walked about 20 more feet, same thing. Walked a bit more. Same thing.
I only had about 3 hours in the field as I had already checked out of the B&B at the farm and I had to get the rental car back to Amsterdam. But I think I can say that I found the Villa!! If there would have been a cow in the field, I may have tried to kiss it.
Enjoy!!
Daryl
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?? Geez.
Congrats! It is sweet your research is paying off. 
