Footage former Maas front trenches Holland

[Huib Versloot]

Last november, when we visited the trenches here my brother took his camera with him. Unfortunately he wrote the comments in Dutch, but they are only few anyway.

http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid=-...2720487449

Huib

[Copper]

LOL.... so in 19 minutes of film you recovered two shells and 2 pieces of shrapnel. Only kidding I like the idea of 'walking' a battlefield but having done some archaeological excavations myself would definitley not be using an entrenching tool to root about with.

[Huib Versloot]

[Copper]

Im sure you have indeed uncovered some interesting metal but IMO the entrenching tool is just a little harsh. Not all remains are going to be metal... I mean leather, cloth and other such materials will easily be destroyed using the 'bunny-holing' method of digging which your video illustrates perfectly.

I would use the entrenching tool to square of the area before removing the top turf... then work my way down with a trowel.

Of course we all have our own methods and the video is indeed interesting. My last excavation was on a 12th Century Church so perhaps after spending a considerable time on that dig Ive got a bit oversensitive to styles of excavation as it required very gentle work for fear of destroying artefacts.

[Huib Versloot]

Bootie,

The guy who made the movie (my brother) actually is an archeologist specialized in prehistoric times. He has all the fine tools you probably mean. But scanning a WWII battlefield goes a little different, and yes on very rare occasions you damage something a bit. The method you suggest only works though if you have weeks of time for every square meter.
This would work if you find the first signs of something more precious than old rust or signs of human remains (which I never have).
Also from the sounds of my detector I can hear what sort of artefact I'm dealing with most of the times. That also makes me adjust the way I dig. If you stumble upon an egg grenade or mortar shell, also makes one careful I can tell you.
Look at this movie that is centered around the discovery of a dead German soldier at Kapelsche Veer in 2000.

http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid=7...8399287200

[Copper]

Great movie and understand exactly where you are coming from. For me though the rare occassions where you may destroy or damage something from the earth is heartbreaking as everything should be treasured. It all has a story to tell and I would love to work on a a battlefield someday. The closest I have been to excavating or working on WW2 sites was when I was given the job of drawing and mapping out the shore defences (pill boxes & anti-tank defences) in my part of the country. Although I did work at a Napoleonic era shore battery which was used as an AA site during WW2.

Quite interesting because the archivists uncovered German documents relating to the battery and noted that because it was on a cliff if the bombers came in under 50ft the AA guns could not lower that far... meaning that the bombers always came in low then when they approached the battery pulling up hard at the last minute got them over it unscathed on most occassions.

[Weasel]

Were you guys not worried about sticking that shovel into something that goes BOOM? I always see on tv were the farmers are plowing up shells and stuff.

There is a very good documentary on THE HISTORY CHANNEL called "Digging up the trenches". They excavated the British and German trenches that faced each other in Flanders. Found A frames, dug outs, MG posts, and some skeleton parts. Oh yeah, a rubber boot too.

NO restrictions on digging up artifacts there I take it? They sure do get mad at you if you do that on a Civil War battlefield! Man, I would be out there every day with my metal detector.

Thanks for the post and movie. BTW - was your brother wearing a uniform?

[Huib Versloot]

Yes I'm worried when I dig up something explosive. Mostly I put it back quickly. On one occasion I informed the local police when I found an unexploded 105 mm shell.
A metal detector is not allowed everywhere: around Arnhem it isn't and around Nijmegen neither. The latter because it was an old Roman garrisson town and some people where searching a bit too much for Roman artefacts. Unfortunately WW2 battlefields don't have any sort of protected status in Holland. Local and central governments with their 2 dimensional mindsetting don't care at all and they seem to do everything to make Holland as ugly and crowded as possible.

About the uniform. Usually I wear something with camouflage print. Don't like if curious people or forresters see me too easily and start asking dumb questions. In this case I wanted to try my "Knochensack".