Ian if your chest isn't puffed out with pride, it should be, you were the focal point for the donations made and you are one of the main reasons this has gone ahead. Well done Sir.
You always think of Archeology as only dealing with truly ancient stuff yet here we are looking at what happened a mere 100+ years ago. Be proud Ian because no matter how you look at it this the end result of using your influence as a TH-camr for the betterment of mankind.
In Berlin they even dug out tunnels used during the cold war recently. Those tunnels were dug by normal folk that just didn't want to live in the East any more, they even had the diggers there to explain stuff. Archaeology is way broader than one thinks. Also great job from Ian, I have to agree with you on that.
Archaeology records traces of the human past found in the ground in the broadest sense of thje word. Of course, Ancient history (and Egypt in particular) gets the most attention, but it really can be anything. A Dutch shopping center in Rotterdam has some of the finds on display that came from excavating underground parking storage and there's clamshell phones and old nokia phones in their collection. Similarly there's a project underway in the US to document what people throw away nowadays so that future archaeologists can have a record of the nature and purpose of these items, rather than having to make educated guesses. The fact that people such as Ian are helping to bring attention to more episodes of mankind's shared history is a wonderful addition to the public record.
Here in France I find it a shame to see how the governements just doesn't care about villages and about History. In my home town in Normandy near Caen (we were about 350), the mayor was obliged to build new houses but the town has so little money they were obliged to build them with concrete made out of chinese sand (even if we lived near and old stone mine that has always used to build nearby towns, and next to a forest). Next to the church (that is slowly collapsing) there was the remains of a castle build during the reign of William (duc of Normandy and king of England) but it has been sold to someone we have never seen and doesn't care about it, so we didn't even had the right to prevent the builing from collapsing. Once my dad wanted to dig a hole in the garden but first it had to ask the mayor to do so because the area was a battlefield in summer 1944 and actually I did found myself lots of steel parts only by scratching the dirt near the trees (and I was 7 y.o). The only one I could identify (out of 6) was what looked a lot like a 70 to 90 mm exploded tank shell casing
France has a HUGE patrimony, and it's very well maintained. But this is expensive, not everything can be maintained, sadly. And to be completely honest, to claim something like this proves that you don't know your country enough, specially how it compares to your neighbours.
I'm not complaining about Normandy beeing a ww2 battlefield, I'm complaining about all the historical builindgs that are left collapsing because they are not close enough to a city
Ian your passion for previously forgotten places, people and weapons is inspiring to all of us. I'm also a big fan of all the work you and Karl do on InRangeTV. Please keep it up and thanks for all you do!
Ian you should be commended for rallying the troops for this one! This is a very worthwhile project and an important piece of history that was preserved just in the nick of time.
A very good friend of mine was able to attend and did a great amount of work everywhere he could. I was able to get first hand accounts from him as they happened. Lots of amazing artifacts and unfortunately, bodies were found.
I can watch Ian's channel all day. I go back years into the file and look for vids with the original intro music. This doesn't have the intro but it's a fantastic video nonetheless. Thank you Ian,for everything.
Wish my staff would leave a site that clean. It was a great dig, excellently run. Pity I could not make it out there either but work got in the way again. Great surport Ian thank you
Saving History before it's lost, Great Job! Something like this is so much better than the dry Nation oriented history taught in school, you see it as it really was, with the men who died defending their little part of the War. They could be of any side that fought, the story was the same on all sides, no glory, only death.
P-Talks, The evacuation at Dunkirk was a phenomenal feat and I suspect weapons and gear we're dropped because of the weight it would have added to the ships and boats.
It seems that with all of our modern diversions and even what should be the most amazing teaching tool, the internet, our wars are being forgotten at an accelerated pace. It seems as if once the living memories die out, then so does all interest. How can any people avoid the tragedies of a past it can't remember? Supporting these projects is absolutely essential.
I am glad that I was able to put a little money into this. Meanwhile, aerial photography and the drought has uncovered previously unknown fortifications (largely Roman) in Wales. There's not usually any trouble funding digs into Roman sites on British soil, but some of them have to wait for some years for manpower to be available for the work. The Romans made a couple of great pushes to pacify the whole of "Britannia" and then almost immediately withdrew back to England, and then to Gaul. In effect, they conquered Wales and Scotland and were then unable to work out why they'd done it.
So, no action-styled archelogic exploration with Ian in a high cut one-piece with booty shorts and pistols running around fighting off bad guys, solving massive puzzles and collecting artifacts ? We can call it _Trench Raider_
They should put a halt to any construction. Until they find everything. There has to be more soldiers there. The place needs to be preserved as is. But this was really cool
They covered the site quite thoroughly. I don't think any soldiers were left behind. Dug there for two weeks. Very interesting and not a little surreal. Total ban on any social media stuff on burials. But gigantic explosive devices? No problem. My facebook page now has a group photo of all of us grinning around an unexploded British 8 inch shell! Lots more sites like this around of course.
I always find it hard to imagine how 125 people can die somewhere and the bodies never get recovered. But in the chaos and scale of that war it must have been a common occurrence.
Breaks my heart to see a site rush excavated with heavy equipment but if all you have is a few months or weeks you do what you have to.I worked a few digs many years ago and it was spade trough and brush with every shovel full run through a shaker box.Human remains often are little more than discolored soil and need a soft brush and resin to remove.They saved what they could I am sure and for that we can be grateful
It was not 'rush' excavated. The diggers were used to remove the plough layer which had no material or items that could be attached to a detail. Otherwise, it was trowels, shovels, and finger-tips.
I have an anecdote of that place i'll never forget. I was there a few years back while an English school was visitingthe cemetary there with what I suppose whas the school's priest. the man gave off an inspired speech about how all these young men died for a purpose, they stopped the germans from conquering all of Belgium. as he finished I complemented the man on his words. I just asked one question. if he could explain to the kids where the French border was located. The man became very quiet and pale. I suspect he didn't speak another word of the entire day. (and for who ever doesn't get it. from the hill you can see France a few miles left of where the guy pointed to ypres)
Some kind of memorial should be placed next to whatever they're going to build on this site. A simple plaque would be the minimum. Maybe an idea for another kickstarter? :)
Great job from those people to preserve and honor those who lost their lives,, no matter what side they where on. Did they just fill those locations up with dirt after the war (with those 100 or so men in it) ? Thanks
Just a question about standard safety practices. Generally laws require modern "trench boxes" and other types of shoring to protect the workers in any excavation, have they already been removed? Work appears to be ongoing. Locally we are required to either provide "trench boxes" our term for a movable metal shoring, or cut a stepped set back approximately 1.3 meters back for every 1.3 meters deep.
SonsOfLorgar From what I could see the site appears to contain fairly stable clays and little sand or "pit run" which is sand and gravel mixed with loose soils. The topography would suggest that most silt would occur at the base of the local hills and along drainages. The area though slightly elevated appears to be fairly flat and quite stable. This really is a perfect location for a dig. Bravo to all involved!
This was filmed on the final day on site so much of the infrastructure of the dig had been removed to enable the filling-in to take place. Strict safety protocols were followed on site at all times during the dig.
thenomadrhodes I didn't see the ad, but intranet is the internal network of something. intra- is a prefix for within something, inter- is a prefix for between or connecting two things; e.g., an interstate road goes across or connects states, while an intrastate road is a road just within one state (though it might be intercity). So for example, if you work at a company or go to a school that has an internal network (web pages or file storage) that's only accessible to employees or students, that's an intranet.
What do you mean? An intranet is a localised network that lets members of it share files and information easily. Most schools/universities and many large businesses have them. Sort of like a little private mini internet.
I still want to state how I feel sorry for not being able to donate, due to the impossibility to donate any other way then by credit card... I made contact by mail with your organisation, and got the answer they would work out an other way to donate, but never heard anything after that...
Just as a more general comment. Looking at the buildings in the background,with no idea of what this development is for,and the open countryside shown in the video,a few things occur. Small villages generally have long memories. The bitterness of the German occupation must have been deep. Specifically mentioned was Flemish population. The families mostly would still be descendants of those affected by the war. Stories of both WW1 and WW2 would still be available, no ? The people who cleaned up the mess in 1919 and later would have also passed down details. Filling in the diggings was not a trivial task to shovels and horsecart,all those people would have available in badly damaged areas of France and Belgium. Are there efforts to retrieve oral histories ? What the local families know of the area ? Also too,why did not the members of the village not contribute time or money,or did they ? I know nothing of the complete picture,but so far,some bits just do not add up. The steam powered mill would have been utterly central to the survival and prosperity of the community. That was a significant financial expense for a small village. Doing without it would have left a long memory,just for that alone. Modern standards of finance and borrowing just did not exist. Credit was for the wealthy and the powerful. Diesel generators existed postwar,but were huge,the size of a VW bus at least. Glad the excavating was done,but there is more to the story. Hope the stuff I ask about gets added as well. Cheers.
There is a photo of the area somewhere and it shows that the whole area was flattened, nothing left but bomb craters When people returned to where their homes had been, life had to go on and I'm guessing putting food in your belly and a roof over your head would be your first priority, before rebuilding things like the mill . They probably returned to what was once there home with only a hand cart and very few belongings
John Patterson Why did you write that,as if I had not already stated that very thing ? Actual question. The thinking patterns you displayed are alien to me. I am trying to understand.
John Patterson Look. Mister. Edited ? That was insulting. I already touched on the subject. My central issue is that village likely has /had generations of stories, WW1 and WW2. What is the development ? Ian likely knows,I do not. I was addressing a larger issue of what all is being done. Do not bother to respond. Normally I work 3 strikes and you're out,but not this time. All you have done is irritate me twice. Go away.
cool project/undertaking. wish the video quality was better; its blurry/out of focus. I've seen VHS do better. Hopefully there is other footage that documents the site better.
Ian if your chest isn't puffed out with pride, it should be, you were the focal point for the donations made and you are one of the main reasons this has gone ahead. Well done Sir.
Worked at the site for two weeks, exhuming the soldiers was a very poignant task. Thanks again for drawing my attention to this project.
Ian, you're making history.
You always think of Archeology as only dealing with truly ancient stuff yet here we are looking at what happened a mere 100+ years ago. Be proud Ian because no matter how you look at it this the end result of using your influence as a TH-camr for the betterment of mankind.
In Berlin they even dug out tunnels used during the cold war recently. Those tunnels were dug by normal folk that just didn't want to live in the East any more, they even had the diggers there to explain stuff. Archaeology is way broader than one thinks. Also great job from Ian, I have to agree with you on that.
Archaeology records traces of the human past found in the ground in the broadest sense of thje word. Of course, Ancient history (and Egypt in particular) gets the most attention, but it really can be anything. A Dutch shopping center in Rotterdam has some of the finds on display that came from excavating underground parking storage and there's clamshell phones and old nokia phones in their collection. Similarly there's a project underway in the US to document what people throw away nowadays so that future archaeologists can have a record of the nature and purpose of these items, rather than having to make educated guesses. The fact that people such as Ian are helping to bring attention to more episodes of mankind's shared history is a wonderful addition to the public record.
If Ian ever got tired of doing Forgotten Weapons, he could do Forgotten Battlefields. Many such battlefields like Hill 80 deserve to not be forgotten.
Man, sucks that you couldn't make the trip...😥
But it was still cool to see this tour, though! Thank you!
Oops
Here in France I find it a shame to see how the governements just doesn't care about villages and about History. In my home town in Normandy near Caen (we were about 350), the mayor was obliged to build new houses but the town has so little money they were obliged to build them with concrete made out of chinese sand (even if we lived near and old stone mine that has always used to build nearby towns, and next to a forest).
Next to the church (that is slowly collapsing) there was the remains of a castle build during the reign of William (duc of Normandy and king of England) but it has been sold to someone we have never seen and doesn't care about it, so we didn't even had the right to prevent the builing from collapsing. Once my dad wanted to dig a hole in the garden but first it had to ask the mayor to do so because the area was a battlefield in summer 1944 and actually I did found myself lots of steel parts only by scratching the dirt near the trees (and I was 7 y.o). The only one I could identify (out of 6) was what looked a lot like a 70 to 90 mm exploded tank shell casing
France has a HUGE patrimony, and it's very well maintained. But this is expensive, not everything can be maintained, sadly. And to be completely honest, to claim something like this proves that you don't know your country enough, specially how it compares to your neighbours.
Follow Battlefield Archaeology Group, as we are coming to Normandy to excavate.
And you obiously know France better that someone who have akways lived in. Come and see by yourself
I'm not complaining about Normandy beeing a ww2 battlefield, I'm complaining about all the historical builindgs that are left collapsing because they are not close enough to a city
Fascinating!
Ian your passion for previously forgotten places, people and weapons is inspiring to all of us. I'm also a big fan of all the work you and Karl do on InRangeTV. Please keep it up and thanks for all you do!
dirt, the forgotten weapon
The destructive power of dirt and water is pretty incredible
I mean, it did claim many lives in ww1 due to drowning.
It claimed many lives on ww1 due to drowning
It claimed many lives in ww1 due to drowning.
I'm drowning in your comments
Just want to say thank you for your work Ian. I love the educational side of your work. Keep it up
Ian you should be commended for rallying the troops for this one! This is a very worthwhile project and an important piece of history that was preserved just in the nick of time.
A very good friend of mine was able to attend and did a great amount of work everywhere he could. I was able to get first hand accounts from him as they happened. Lots of amazing artifacts and unfortunately, bodies were found.
Amazing undertaking, I cannot imagine but can certainly appreciate the time, effort and labor your group must have invested in this project.
Very cool to get this look in the process. Thanks to all involved.
I can watch Ian's channel all day.
I go back years into the file and look for vids with the original intro music. This doesn't have the intro but it's a fantastic video nonetheless.
Thank you Ian,for everything.
Wish my staff would leave a site that clean. It was a great dig, excellently run. Pity I could not make it out there either but work got in the way again. Great surport Ian thank you
Cool stuff you found there! I'm glad it was able to be recorded before the site was built over.
Excellent tour. Major props to this guy (Simon, I think?).
Saving History before it's lost, Great Job! Something like this is so much better than the dry Nation oriented history taught in school, you see it as it really was, with the men who died defending their little part of the War. They could be of any side that fought, the story was the same on all sides, no glory, only death.
Fantastic job. Well done Simon Verdegem!
Thank you for this tour and thank you to the chaps working on the dig.
So many feels.... War is evil but regardless of which side they fought on its a great thing that they can be laid to rest. May they find their peace.
"Nice state of conservation" is a relative notion when comparing the archaeology domain with the auction houses domain :)
That was awesome.
Sorry you could not make the trip. Thank you for supporting their dig into history.
Looks like they are doing a great job excavating. Good to see my donation in action.
Ive been waiting for this video for quite a while!
Thanks for dedicating yourself to preserving history Ian.
I would take a rusted out Battlefield relic over the working examples in my collection in a heartbeat!!!
P-Talks,
The evacuation at Dunkirk was a phenomenal feat and I suspect weapons and gear we're dropped because of the weight it would have added to the ships and boats.
Proud to have helped with this. I hope everyone else is too!
For all that fought and gave their lives at Hill 80, Rest easy and rest in peace
A bit of Ballistol and some elbow grease and those rifles will be ready to shoot again!
Thank you for this video
Thanks Ian! I have supported the campaign, but its hard to get infos on the progress/results directly.
Hi Guido, if you've supported you should get access to our Virtual Dig Team: facebook.com/groups/DigHill80/
I loved the tour. it was so surreal. Please do hill 60 next if you can?
Crazy that what is really the first modern war is considered to be a subject of archaeology now.
I didn't expect this to be as interesting as it was. Thanks for sharing this.
It seems that with all of our modern diversions and even what should be the most amazing teaching tool, the internet, our wars are being forgotten at an accelerated pace. It seems as if once the living memories die out, then so does all interest. How can any people avoid the tragedies of a past it can't remember?
Supporting these projects is absolutely essential.
Such a shame that it couldn't be permanently maintained as a historical site... yet another piece of history about to be lost...
Life moves on.
At least it will be well documented
France, belgium etc have tons of historic WW1 sites, they just don´t need another one.
I am glad that I was able to put a little money into this. Meanwhile, aerial photography and the drought has uncovered previously unknown fortifications (largely Roman) in Wales. There's not usually any trouble funding digs into Roman sites on British soil, but some of them have to wait for some years for manpower to be available for the work. The Romans made a couple of great pushes to pacify the whole of "Britannia" and then almost immediately withdrew back to England, and then to Gaul. In effect, they conquered Wales and Scotland and were then unable to work out why they'd done it.
Thanks Ian your doing some great work outside of your own videos.
16:47, I wonder how many poor souls met their end in that field.
Wow, so in that small stretch of trench they found the remains of over 100 men?
130
Bravo on recovering the remains of all those brave souls!
Thanks for the tour! Very cool, very cool.
So, no action-styled archelogic exploration with Ian in a high cut one-piece with booty shorts and pistols running around fighting off bad guys, solving massive puzzles and collecting artifacts ?
We can call it _Trench Raider_
This is awesome
They should put a halt to any construction. Until they find everything. There has to be more soldiers there. The place needs to be preserved as is. But this was really cool
They covered the site quite thoroughly. I don't think any soldiers were left behind. Dug there for two weeks. Very interesting and not a little surreal. Total ban on any social media stuff on burials. But gigantic explosive devices? No problem. My facebook page now has a group photo of all of us grinning around an unexploded British 8 inch shell! Lots more sites like this around of course.
Dagmar Suarez
An 8" shell? Christ I would piss myself if I found that while digging.
I'm having motion sickness watching this video, but it's worth it.
Great to see this historical site, good work men
I always find it hard to imagine how 125 people can die somewhere and the bodies never get recovered. But in the chaos and scale of that war it must have been a common occurrence.
Breaks my heart to see a site rush excavated with heavy equipment but if all you have is a few months or weeks you do what you have to.I worked a few digs many years ago and it was spade trough and brush with every shovel full run through a shaker box.Human remains often are little more than discolored soil and need a soft brush and resin to remove.They saved what they could I am sure and for that we can be grateful
It was not 'rush' excavated. The diggers were used to remove the plough layer which had no material or items that could be attached to a detail. Otherwise, it was trowels, shovels, and finger-tips.
I have an anecdote of that place i'll never forget. I was there a few years back while an English school was visitingthe cemetary there with what I suppose whas the school's priest. the man gave off an inspired speech about how all these young men died for a purpose, they stopped the germans from conquering all of Belgium. as he finished I complemented the man on his words. I just asked one question. if he could explain to the kids where the French border was located. The man became very quiet and pale. I suspect he didn't speak another word of the entire day. (and for who ever doesn't get it. from the hill you can see France a few miles left of where the guy pointed to ypres)
Some kind of memorial should be placed next to whatever they're going to build on this site. A simple plaque would be the minimum. Maybe an idea for another kickstarter? :)
Great job from those people to preserve and honor those who lost their lives,, no matter what side they where on. Did they just fill those locations up with dirt after the war (with those 100 or so men in it) ? Thanks
Ironic how much excavations look like war zones. Looking forward to updates.
I think it's a shame all this could not be preserved.
Just so amazing, and such a shame it is going to be buried, lost history
Awesome!
Check "military aviation history" channel for an actual tour inside the site
Just a question about standard safety practices. Generally laws require modern "trench boxes" and other types of shoring to protect the workers in any excavation, have they already been removed? Work appears to be ongoing. Locally we are required to either provide "trench boxes" our term for a movable metal shoring, or cut a stepped set back approximately 1.3 meters back for every 1.3 meters deep.
SonsOfLorgar From what I could see the site appears to contain fairly stable clays and little sand or "pit run" which is sand and gravel mixed with loose soils. The topography would suggest that most silt would occur at the base of the local hills and along drainages. The area though slightly elevated appears to be fairly flat and quite stable. This really is a perfect location for a dig. Bravo to all involved!
steel trench boxes would have been cool, in 1914 to 1918.
I'm not knowledgeable about this stuff, but the ground looked like very firm packed clay for the most part, unlikely to collapse.
This was filmed on the final day on site so much of the infrastructure of the dig had been removed to enable the filling-in to take place. Strict safety protocols were followed on site at all times during the dig.
The Last few seconds of this video outwhight the Rest of it...
Well done thanks
Great job!
First, awesome vid.
Secondly.
Since when did they start calling it (intranet)
If anyone else saw that ad.
thenomadrhodes Saw the ad. Intranets have been used for quite a long time
thenomadrhodes I didn't see the ad, but intranet is the internal network of something. intra- is a prefix for within something, inter- is a prefix for between or connecting two things; e.g., an interstate road goes across or connects states, while an intrastate road is a road just within one state (though it might be intercity). So for example, if you work at a company or go to a school that has an internal network (web pages or file storage) that's only accessible to employees or students, that's an intranet.
What do you mean? An intranet is a localised network that lets members of it share files and information easily. Most schools/universities and many large businesses have them. Sort of like a little private mini internet.
Ashes to ashes .dust to dust...
I still want to state how I feel sorry for not being able to donate, due to the impossibility to donate any other way then by credit card...
I made contact by mail with your organisation, and got the answer they would work out an other way to donate, but never heard anything after that...
May no future generations have to do similar excavations. Peace ya'll.
haha they have the same thing in europe as they have here, one guy digging and four more watching
Cool
Praise be Gun Jesu... Wait a second.. this video contains no Guns or Jesus.
you didn't watch till the end.
I did watch till the end, but although these were guns, I wouldn't exactly say they qualify to be called weapons anymore.
jjohnston94 good point 😂
Actually there are at least 3 rifles, 3 bayonets and 1 flare gun.
Just as a more general comment. Looking at the buildings in the background,with no idea of what this development is for,and the open countryside shown in the video,a few things occur. Small villages generally have long memories. The bitterness of the German occupation must have been deep. Specifically mentioned was Flemish population. The families mostly would still be descendants of those affected by the war. Stories of both WW1 and WW2 would still be available, no ? The people who cleaned up the mess in 1919 and later would have also passed down details. Filling in the diggings was not a trivial task to shovels and horsecart,all those people would have available in badly damaged areas of France and Belgium. Are there efforts to retrieve oral histories ? What the local families know of the area ?
Also too,why did not the members of the village not contribute time or money,or did they ? I know nothing of the complete picture,but so far,some bits just do not add up. The steam powered mill would have been utterly central to the survival and prosperity of the community. That was a significant financial expense for a small village. Doing without it would have left a long memory,just for that alone. Modern standards of finance and borrowing just did not exist. Credit was for the wealthy and the powerful. Diesel generators existed postwar,but were huge,the size of a VW bus at least.
Glad the excavating was done,but there is more to the story. Hope the stuff I ask about gets added as well. Cheers.
yes; that.
There is a photo of the area somewhere and it shows that the whole area was flattened, nothing left but bomb craters
When people returned to where their homes had been, life had to go on and I'm guessing putting food in your belly and a roof over your head would be your first priority, before rebuilding things like the mill . They probably returned to what was once there home with only a hand cart and very few belongings
John Patterson Why did you write that,as if I had not already stated that very thing ? Actual question. The thinking patterns you displayed are alien to me. I am trying to understand.
sorry I'm half asleep. I have edited the post so hopefully it reads/translates better
John Patterson Look. Mister. Edited ? That was insulting. I already touched on the subject. My central issue is that village likely has /had generations of stories, WW1 and WW2. What is the development ? Ian likely knows,I do not. I was addressing a larger issue of what all is being done. Do not bother to respond. Normally I work 3 strikes and you're out,but not this time. All you have done is irritate me twice. Go away.
Hi!
probably a neet idea, effort, I hope it wasn't full of the politics that ruins everything now.
got tic-tacs?
cool project/undertaking. wish the video quality was better; its blurry/out of focus. I've seen VHS do better. Hopefully there is other footage that documents the site better.
These guys follow me on Twitter lmao