Things We Found in the Ground

This article is from Current Archaeology issue 436

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Cousins Ellie and Lucie were reunited – and introduced to metal-detecting – during the COVID-19 lockdown. The result is this absorbing account, tracing their adventures in the past, from their first back-garden discovery, via metal-detecting rallies and their elation at finally fulfilling their ambition of finding a Roman coin, to the trials and triumphs of later investigations

The text is full of infectious enthusiasm, woven with snippets of history from medieval seals, coinage reforms, and Viking trade routes, to Bronze Age metalworking and the evolution of buckles, thimbles, and toy soldiers. Longer, imaginative sections evoke events like the Spanish Armada, the Iceni attack on Colchester, and the Black Death, all providing useful context for the pair’s finds.

The authors encourage responsible practice, highlighting the Portable Antiquities Scheme and the importance of leaving the countryside as you find it – and, while the book contains only sparse black-and-white illustrations, their words paint a thousand pictures.

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Things We Found in the Ground
Eleanor Bruce and Lucilla Gray
HarperCollins, £20
ISBN 978-0008737603