ozzie digging

[bottlesjhbottler]

aussie and uk digs

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[bottlesjhbottler]

[8D]

 

[bottlesjhbottler]

[8D]

 

[bottlesjhbottler]

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[bottlesjhbottler]

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[bottlesjhbottler]

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[bottlesjhbottler]

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[Plumbata]

Awesome bottles and digs! The colors and varieties are so awesome. The transfer pottery and Codds you guys get regularly are extremely appealing. Great chemists too. I wouldn't mind a month or 2 long vacation in digging territory like that!

So whats the story with the heavy machinery dump? []

 

[bottlesjhbottler]

Well I've been getting it in the ear to get this up for some time now and finally with the site now completely dug out This will be an ongoing thread for many weeks encompasing over thirty individual days digging on a local dump that I gained permission for early in 2010. On all the digs throughout the year I have taken literally hundreds of photos and recorded many notes of which section of the dump we were going through on specific dig days along with all the finds of each dig. Having gone to all these lengths recording it as a photographic diary I hope it provides an insight in to the methods we used and the decisions we had to make along the way. As you'd expect there's been hundreds of finds digging every square inch of this dump for the best part of a year, including one or two suprises, so I hope all on here enjoy the rollercoaster ride that this report will be. There will be a brief history of the site up first then the diary will follow shortly after[align=left] [/align]

 

[bottlesjhbottler]

THE MORE OPEN LEFTHAND SIDE WAS DUMPED TO A MUCH GREATER CAPACITY AND WE OFTEN HIT DEPTHS OF 12 FEET PLUS WHEN DIGGING IT THIS YEAR. BASICALLY FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE ENCLOSURE WHERE THE WOODS FINISHED IT WAS TIPPED IN FROM AROUND 1903 BUT THE FURTHER LEFT ACROSS THE SITE WE WENT THE LATER THE FINDS BECAME SPANNING UPTO THE EARLY THIRTIES IN THE VERY LATEST SECTION. IN SOME WAYS IT WAS ALMOST THE PERFECT DUMP AS IT CONTAINED THE RUBBISH OF AN AFLUENT PARISH SPANNING 45-50 YEARS WHICH IN MANY WAYS MADE IT MORE INTERESTING THAN MOST DUMPS OF LESSER LIFE SPANS. THE ORIGINAL DISCOVERY AND GETTING PERMISSION YEARS LATER ~ I HAD DISCOVERED THIS DUMP WITH AN OLD DIGGING FRIEND WAY BACK IN THE EARLY 90'S. AT THE TIME I ACTUALLY WORKED ON THE LARGE COUNTRY ESTATE WHERE IT LAY AND I CAN STILL REMEMBER AS CLEAR AS DAY THE FIRST TIME WE WENT TO INVESTIGATE THE AREA. WE WALKED INTO THE WOODED AREA AND WITHIN A MINUTE FOUND TWO LARGISH FALLEN TREES WHICH HAD CODDS AND HAMILTONS HANGING OUT OF THE UPTURNED ROOTS. I REMEMBER THE EXCITEMENT WE FELT AND WE QUICKLY REALISED FROM WALKING AROUND THAT WE WERE HAVING ONE OF THOSE MOMENTS EVERY BOTTLE DIGGER DREAMS OF AND SO INFREQUENTLY EXPERIENCES! WELL WE DUG AWAY IN THE WOODS FOR THE COURSE OF TWO TO THREE YEARS AND BAGGED MANY NICE EARLYISH BITS FROM THE 1885-1905 PERIOD. AS THE FINDS BECAME SPARSER WE TRIED DIGGING OUT OF THE WOODED SECTION BUT ONLY HAD LIMITED SUCCESS DUE MAINLY TO THE BRUTALLY HARD AND DEEP COMPACTED GRAVEL/CLAY CAPPING. IN 1996 I DECIDED A CAREER MOVE WAS IN ORDER AND DUE TO SOME BACK PROBLEMS DECIDED TO ALSO STOP DIGGING COMPLETELY AND NEVER RETURNED TO DIG THERE AGAIN. EVENTUALLY IN 2009 THE BOTTLE DIGGING BUG RETURNED WITHA VENGANCE AND IN NOVEMBER OF THAT YEAR I DECIDED TO GO BACK AND LOOK AT THIS DUMP AGAIN. I THINK, EVEN AFTER ALL THOSE YEARS, IN THE BACK OF MY MIND I BELIEVED THERE WAS SOME POTENTIAL THERE AND AFTER STUDYING THE LAYOUT OF THE LAND I RECKONED IT HAD TO BE WORTH A FEW TRIAL HAND DIGS IN AREAS I KNEW HADN'T BEEN INVESTIGATED MAINLY ON A BANKED SECTION AS YOU CAME OUT OF THE WOODS. THE CAPPING WAS BRUTAL BUT I DID FINALLY GET A HOLE DOWN THROUGH IT AND PULLED A COUPLE OF CODDS OUT ALONG WITH A FEW BITS OF PRINTED STONEWARE. BESIDES THE FINDS I COULD SEE THE SEAM WAS GOING DOWNWARDS WAY INTO THE BANK HEADING TOWARDS THE OPEN AREA. THAT WAS IT...MY MIND WAS MADE UP AND AN ATTEMPT AT GAINING PERMISSION WAS REQUIRED. OVER THE COURSE OF A FEW WEEKS I FINALLY THROUGH AN OLD FRIEND MANAGED TO GET A NAME FOR THE PERSON I NEEDED TO CONTACT AND HE KINDLY PUT IN A GOOD WORD FOR ME BEFORE I MET THEM. UPON MEETING THE PERSON I SOON REALISED I NEEDN'T HAVE WORRIED AS THEY WERE AS PLEASANT PEOPLE AS YOU COULD WISH FOR. WELL AFTER DISCUSSING THE PROJECT FOR AN HOUR AND DISCUSSING HOW WE COULD HELP THEM I GOT THE GO AHEAD AIDED BY OFFERING A BOND WHICH WOULD GIVE THEM SOME PEACE OF MIND WHILE THE AREA CONCERNED WOULD BE REINSTATED WHILE THE PROJECT WAS RUNNING. I WALKED OUT OF THEIR OFFICE A HAPPY MAN. ~ WHERE THE RUBBISH WAS FROM ~ AS THE THREAD RUNS I WILL GO IN TO MORE DEPTH ABOUT THE VARIOUS PROPERTIES WHOSE RUBBISH WE DISCOVERED HAD BEEN DUMPED IN THERE. THE MAIN BULK OF THE RUBBISH CAME FROM THE SMALL COLLECTION OF HOUSES IN A NEARBY VILLAGE ALONG WITH SEVERAL LARGE MANSIONS IN THE SURROUNDING AREA. ASIDE FROM THIS WE ALSO FOUND EVIDENCE OF DUMPING FROM AN INN WHICH WAS A PORT OF CALL FOR THE STAGE COACHES THAT RAN ALONG A MAJOR OLD ROAD NEARBY. WE ALSO HAD CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE OF RUBBISH FROM A VERY FAMOUS HOTEL WHICH WAS FREQUENTED BY NOTORIOUS SOCIALITES ALONG WITH THE FAMOUS IN THE TWENTIES AND EARLY THIRTIES...MORE ON THIS AS THE THREAD EVOLVES. THERE WAS ALSO ONE PARTICULAR FIND THAT SUGGESTED THE POSSIBILITY OF RUBBISH FROM A G.W.R STATION TOO. WELL THATS ENOUGH OF THE BACKGROUND TO THE DUMP. SORRY IF IT'S BEEN A BIT OF A LONG INTRO BUT I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT TO TRY AND UNDERSTAND THE BACKGROUND TO SUCH DUMPS AS IT JUST ADDS MORE TO THE THREAD AS A WHOLE. THE NEXT POST WILL BE DAY 1...I PROMISE! CHEERS[/align][align=left] [/align]