Quote by vegetius View Post
Paul,

I am waiting on approval from DRAC the French Gov't Archaeology Dept. Yes, I shall be taking volunteers backed up with experienced Conflict archaeologists teaching and guiding them as trench supervisors. I have a couple of Universities who would like to send people to participate and by the sounds of it one will do the finds management for me, (a big weight removed from my shoulders).

As well as a MkIV there is also a second class ammunition depot close by and as we have the only people able to, and with, government permission to deal with that sort of site I intend to put a few colleagues into that for a look as none so far have been dug in a proper archaeological manner to the standards that we require. A fighting trench and a couple of communications trenches also in the vicinity will also get a looking at as it is the whole landscape that is of interest not just one thing. The long term intension and that of the project design is to look at the village from 1914 to 1919 and the various phases of this front line Somme location as a 'Village at War'. This has already been warmly received and media interest is high. I do not want particularly to have this televised but the money they bring to it will pay for the costs of mounting the project.

I hope for permission for between Jul to Sept 2023 and will initially do a two week, (or so) dig looking to continue should the results be promising. Hopefully we can avoid difficult crop problems with that window and we will probably run a couple of minor weekend practice digs in UK between now and then to give some people a bit of experience.

Those attending will have to accommodate them selves as well as pay their own feeding, but I believe that we may be able to get this concessioned by the locals as they are very keen for us to conduct this in their village. Also if media is covering this some of that cost may be absorbed by them and even some money towards the participants is possible, but not guaranteed.

Hope that throws a bit more light on the subject. I was not going to announce this quite yet but as you posted this thread it seemed a good time to introduce it.

Yours Aye,
R
Thanks Aye for the update. Looks like an interresting dig. Good to have some universities and experts on board. My son likes to join in. He will start his study of archaeology in September 2023. This will be a good experience. Keep me posted so I can do some planning on the time frame. Of course the experience pays for itself.

Thx,

Paul