OUT + ABOUT
Finders Keepers? We know this is a rich archaeological area with many historical sites dating back to Roman times and much, much earlier but, if you are lucky enough to find an artefact, who should be informed and who Flints found in the mud mortar
does it belong to?
T Rosey Burton
Rosey examines the “Delage Collection” at Nontron Mairie
44
hat was the question we put to Rosey Burton and Frank Martin, two archaeologists who are renovating a collection of farm ruins in north Dordogne.
Rosey tells us “We kept finding Neolithic and Middle Palaeolithic stone tools when digging in the garden. Then I found a Neolithic flint blade in the remains of a collapsed wall and realised that all the local stone buildings have plain mud as mortar - the French call it mortier d’hirondelle. We’ve also found a 17th-century coin and a musket ball in the mud mortar. “I came across an old catalogue online for a flint collection at Nontron Mairie and rang to see if they still had them. Someone had a look in the loft and, voila, there they were. The collection was made by schoolchildren in Champeaux in the 1920’s and each one had been marked in India ink with the name of the nearest hamlet and the finder. I am delighted to say that Nontron Mairie now plans to display the collection at reception.”
WHO DO YOU ADVISE? It’s very easy to obtain a GPS reading, or retrospectively look up the spot where you make your discovery on Google Earth, so no find should go unprovenanced. Then you can arrange to have it recorded. • First, advise the local Maire. • Someone should then contact the Ministry of Culture’s Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles (DRAC), which deals with discoveries. DRAC’s Services Régionaux de l’Archéologie (SRA) holds the records of all the known sites and find-spots, but they don’t publish them. (www.culture.gouv. fr/Regions/Drac-Nouvelle-Aquitaine/LaDRAC/Direction/Pole-Patrimoines-et-Architecture/Archeologie). The best way to make contact is to email the Conservateur-Adjoint at Bordeaux, sending photo and location information (gerald.migeon@ culture.gouv.fr).
IS IT A KNOWN SITE? The Carte Archéologique de la Gaule (CAG) is a great starting point for investi-
www.thelocalbuzzmag.com
