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On My Radio… Monday, August 20th, 2007
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Not the Selector’s Ska classic sadly, rather another media opportunity for the magnificent Plugstreet Project.
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For the insomniac readers who are up at 03:30 UK time tomorrow (Tuesday) morning you can listen to Martin being interviewed on Radio 5 Live about the Plugstreet Project. Thankfully the interview will be done slightly earlier in the evening so Martin might make some sense, but I wouldn’t count on it. Up all night is the umbrella show for the dead zone and there, at 03:30 is our mate Win Scutt and his Archaeology slot. Win is digging at Durrington Walls at the moment so listen out for an update on that exciting project too.
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If you really wanted to hear what he has to say you can probably download it via the “listen Again” feature that many BBC programmes have. To do this you’ll need to go to the BBC webpages at www.bbc.co.uk and follow the links to 5 Live.
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Overseas fans of the project can listen on the internet via the BBC homepage.
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Peter Chasseaud’s panorama drawing looking east from Ultimo Crater Wednesday, August 15th, 2007
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Photos of a 3-section panorama drawing I made from the north-east lip of Ultimo Crater, looking east. The coverage is approximately an arc from north-east to south-east. The photo below shows the whole panorama obliquely. The three above show the individual sections in the sequence: left – right – centre. All images Copyright Peter Chasseaud 2007.
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Such panoramas were drawn during the First World War to show the views from observation posts for artillery and intelligence purposes. The drawing was often overlaid with a degree grid, sometimes showing bearings right and left of a centre-line, e.g. Warneton Church. The bearings given on my drawing are very approximate, and the whole thing needs to be recalibrated to give correct bearings.
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Birger’s images Tuesday, August 14th, 2007
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Birger Stichelbaut, the project’s aerial photographic expert from the University of Ghent, has already produced some aerial images of the excavation trenches. This in addition to his terrestrial photographic skills that his website amply illustrates:
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/birgerstichelbaut
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Plugstreet images by Peter Chasseaud Sunday, August 12th, 2007
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Here are a couple of images I made while working at St Yvon, Ploegsteert, while on the dig. Does anyone have a photo of me at work drawing, which I can post on my blog? In addition to these two images, I produced, as part of my phenomenology/visibility/intervisibility project several panorama drawings, including one in three sections from the north-east rim of Ultimo Crater looking east towards Warneton, and some of the views from Hull’s Burnt Farm and St Yvon looking towards Factory Farm, Ultra Trench and Ultimo Trench.
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Another part of my work was locating the medieval moat of the old farm relative to the present crater and the pattern of roads, old property boundaries, drainage ditches, etc. Aerial photos from 1915 to 1918 were hugely useful here, and I found that the medieval and early modern boundaries and ditches are still significant features of the landscape today. These, of course, are fundamental for geo-referencing.
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I’m also doing some writing (including poems), which I will post on my blog (http://peterchasseaud.blogspot.com/). You can also see my blog by googling ‘peter chasseaud artist’.
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The image above is Pillars of Fire, and shows the Trench 122 mines being blown on 7 June 1917 under Ultimo Trench (left) and Ultra Trench (Factory Farm, right). The view is from the British front line at Trench 123, opposite Ultimo. [Willow charcoal and pastel on paper. Copyright Peter Chasseaud 2007].
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The image above is Ancient Willow, Factory Farm. [Willow charcoal on paper. Copyright Peter Chasseaud 2007].
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I’ll post some more images, and some writing, in a few days’ time. Images from my Ypres Willows project (2007) and my May 2007 exhibition (the book to accompany this include some of Ultimo and Factory Farm) can be seen on my blog.
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Jean-Michel’s Blog Thursday, August 9th, 2007
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Tori and Ralph laying the No-Man’s-Land wreath at Ploegsteert, Friday 3rd Aug
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Worth reminding everyone of the blog of Jean Michel Van Elslande. You may all have seen Jean-Michel on site as an important member of both the Comines-Warneton History Society and also the Ploegsteert Memorial Committee. His blog has pictures of the last post ceremony on Friday 3rd August, and also elements of the dig. I commend it to you:
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http://www.vanelslande.org/blog
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Concrete Evidence Thursday, August 9th, 2007
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For anyone interested in the bunker excavated in Trench 1 by Kirsty and her magnificent team there is on-going discussion at the Great War Forum. Regulus and Jack Sheldon (author of some excellent works on German war experience) have been very generous with information and images, including a machine gun post that looks suspiciously like our position.
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More at:
http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com
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Trench 3 exploits – on the edge! Wednesday, August 8th, 2007
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What a great week! Here are some pics and my experience of Trench 3.
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We made a good start with Dan and Sue hard at work but it’s all too much for Bex who needs a sit down.
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Felix and Joel do some filming for ABC while Steve encourages the boys digging with a song(?). Hang on – is that Mat actually working in the trench?! Surely not when he’s just had his nails done! Our Belgian diggers look on from behind our mounting and long barrow like spoil heap…
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Steve shows our trench finds to the WWI re-enactment guys when they visit the site. Very spooky!
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More filming by the ABC guys with Martin and Richard (check out the uniform!), the Auzzie boys (Mat and Mike), our geophys whizz Peter aka”the Colonel” and Gantrand, our Belgian EOD guy, at hand to deal with any volatile divas!
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Last but not least – the hard core of the team on Friday afternoon, still digging and still smiling! Steve is in the Auzzie recut of the German frontline trench. The Auzzie trench measurements matched the historic records exactly.
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And finally…
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Since the dig I have been enthused to find out more about my family in the Great War. My Grandad, born 1897, joined the Leicesters PBI (Poor Bloody Infantry as my dad calls it) in 1914 at the age of 17 and spent the entire war either in France or Belgium. He was one of the very lucky ones who came home, and went on to also “survive” WWII as part of the British Expeditionery Force. I now hope to do some more digging (of the research kind) to find out where the Leicesters went and therefore what he might have experienced. I may even have trodden in his footsteps last week!
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Page 8 Lovely Wednesday, August 8th, 2007
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As Featured in the Nord Eclair, Mr Litherland and the excavation team…
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The Team Wednesday, August 8th, 2007
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So here we are, the core of the team, including the field archaeologists, conservators, artist, geophysicist and anthropologist. Missing are Patrick and Nicolas, as well as a number of other locals, and Gontrand who was sorting out his Para-Commando veterans following their parade at the Last Post Ceremony. Also present with the group are our two Australian guests, Matt McLachlan (author) and Michael Molkentin (historian) who joined us on site with a film crew from ABC. We wait to see whether their recording of our work will make it to a final cut documentary.
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We are standing in front of the Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing, where we were honoured to take part and lay a wreath on behalf of the group. Our wreath party included Tori, who has a great uncle on the memorial and Ralph who is our expert on German military history. The Australian Defence Force also laid a wreath and were represented by Lt Col Paul Smith.
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It is an odd thing to excavate a site and then to attend ceremonial at a monument to the Fallen, some of whom may lie in the fields where we had been working. This is one of the odd dynamics of working in contemporary archaeology, as is the possibility of identifying any skeletons. As it was, we didn’t find any bodies.
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Conservation Wednesday, August 8th, 2007
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So the next stage of the work is to ensure that the delicate finds that require conservation work are looked at. To this end, Rob Janaway of Bradford University was on site at the end of the dig. ob was able to advise on suitable methodologies (a new ‘First Aid for Finds’ needs to be written when it comes to the archaeology of the Great War). Objects such as leather, copper alloy, and the gasmasks found in trench 3 will be conserved prior to their being photographed and recorded. Ultimately they will be returned to Belgium to join the rest of the finds.
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Objects below for Conservation – German gasmask filter (held rather lovingly by Jo it must be said..) and the Lyons bottle from the sap leading to the Lewis position (otherwise known as Dan’s trench)
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