Mudlarking 43

[squirmelia]

I went to a mudlarking exhibition in the Guildhall Amphitheatre last week and then to a mudlarking artists panel. I spoke to a few of the mudlarks at the exhibition, who told me to keep on looking and where to look for garnets. I was also inspired by the artists, both on the panel and in the audience.

After that, I was eager to get back on the foreshore, but due to being busy last weekend and then the tube strike, I hadn't been to the foreshore for a week. I felt certain I'd find something amazing after seeing all the finds on the tables at the Guildhall though.

I headed to Custom House and down to the foreshore, and the tide had started to come in. A person from New Zealand asked me what I’d found. She told me how she had been mudlarking previously and even took some pipes back to New Zealand, but then after that, she read a book on mudlarking and learnt you need a permit to mudlark.

I did not find a lot that day, but I did find a nice chunk of flint, some pretty pottery sherds, a shiny piece of glass, and a tessera.



(You need a permit to search or mudlark on the Thames foreshore.)

Comments

[spiralsheep]

Can't see the flint properly but might be worth showing to someone who knows the local styles. It's clearly broken in some areas but looks as if it *might* have been worked before it was broken. If you show them photos then they'll need to see both sides (and possibly close-ups of one or more edges).

[squirmelia]

I'm in a flint Facebook group so I will take some decent photos and videos and ask there. The shape of the pointy bit does look quite similar to some that people have posted there previously, so definitely seems worth asking!

It is a nice piece of flint and quite pleasing to hold.

[squirmelia]

They seem to say Thames chatter, which is the usual thing for anything I find. But I still like it. :)

[spiralsheep]

I'm glad you checked and, yes, those black flints are so beautiful.

[squirmelia]

It is quite pleasing to hold.

The mudlarking case at Southwark Cathedral currently has an exhibition of flints, which was nice to look at.

[spiralsheep]

That sounds worth seeing. I don't know how the river is moving now but most of the high quality worked flints used to be black, Neolithic, and from East London (iirc the speculation was that they were eroding out of a tributary).

Around here I mostly find cherty grey, Mesolithic tools.