Christopher was out fieldwalking today, seeking out landowners to ask permission to use their fields for the new community fieldwalking project that he’s involved in. Fieldwalking is a nice way of screening large areas of land for potential new sites, and here in Orkney you often come across scatterings of flint and other archaeology in the spring when fields are ploughed. Farmers often end up with collections of artifacts in their home, in jars and drawers and on mantelpieces. And today was just so: The landowner produced something he had found, and kept safe. A beautiful, medieval Norse spindle whorl, made in gorgeous green steatite.
