This entry was first published over the cell-phone network on my old site, without pix, on Tuesday 10 April.

Our Kaga site was very good to us today as well. 26 person-hours of metal detecting, six 1st Millennium brooches: four small equal-armed of the later 6th century, one disc-shaped with inlay socket of the 6/7th century, and part of a 5th century large equal-armed relief brooch. The latter has non-animal-art decoration in the Nydam style, a rare and exclusive piece of jewellery, fits nicely with the foil figure model. Also a High Medieval annular brooch. I’m crap at metal detecting: found only a piece of typically ugly late-1st Millennium pottery by eye and a 17th century coin. But I’m happy anyway. Lovely site!

After finishing in Kaga we went to Varv in a beautiful sunny evening, metal-detected for eight person-hours around a classic find-spot and found jack shit. Took a look at the village churchyard, abandoned in the 1850s when the Medieval church was torn down (bastards!). Cool to see a churchyard untouched since then, all tussocks and leaning headstones, none of the boring 20th century ones that dominate active rural churchyards.

Close-up pix below the fold.

[More blog entries about archaeology, Sweden, jewellery, darkages; arkeologi, Linköping, Östergötland, järnåldern, smycken.]