On Friday after lunch we headed out to check on one of her insect traps and when that was done we went to a German camp on the other side of the forest for some searching. I searched for relics while she began filling a couple of bags with blueberries. I found a large spot between some trees where lots of rubbish had been dumped and set fire to sometime after the war, and began checking it in case a few nice relics had survived. I picked up a few food tins, a losantine box, a couple of gaming pieces, a rifle cleaning kit, some cutlery and a pair of icecleated horseshoes. I began digging out what looked like a large metal crate, but it was the bottom of a stove, which was both funny and annoying, but next to it I found a Luger magazine and a big enamelled pitcher. At this point we were half eaten by blackflies and biting midges so we escaped back home with our findings to make pancakes with fresh blueberry jam!
The rest of the weekend was dedicated to work and relaxation but this morning I got up quite early to continue last weekends dumping pit. I spent nearly six hours there today, constantly digging and cutting roots so now there is ca 50% left of the pit to dig. It is one of the largest dumping pits I have found, but definately not the one with most rubbish and relics in. Most of the stuff having come out of it so far is rusted food cans, bottles, lots of bottles, and a big amount of rotted steel buckets. In between all this I did find a few relics worth saving though. I found several bakelite items, a canteen drinking cup, toothbrushes, two large bowls, a few jar lids, a pen and the mouthpiece from a pipe. I dug out a few coins, a Finnish, a Norwegian and two German. A very nice glass oil lamp had managed to not break so I rescued that together with a metal shaving cup with some trench-art engraved on it. A pocket watch face and the partly melted box lid for it were found meters apart, and I found a small brass viking ship, prehaps a decorative ashtray. I found a large roundish item which I first thought was a bakelite bucket of some kind but when I got it out it was a red enamelled soup kettle in perfect condition, that`ll please the Girlfriend I bet :D Inside the kettle was pieces of a burnt book, a small mysterious brass capsule, and a bunch of white/black-green striped cloth laces which I really wonder what is. Around the kettle were lots of porcelain bits which looks like will build 2-3 coffee mugs when puzzled together and one intact large coffee mug. Now the backpack was filled to the brim and I was itching and bleeding from an unknown number of insect bites, the little bastards really had a feast on me today so I filled back what I had dug out and made a hasty retreat back to the car and went home.
Tomorrow I will arm myself with some insect repellent and go search for more rusted treasures:)