Digging in the past: the arable farmer who's an archaeologist .... on the wireless now

It's not the zippiest of titles but it does the biz, because this is the story of one farmer in the Vale of Yorkshire who has uncovered some remarkable archaeological finds in his farm*.

Roman coin, Claudius, 43-54 AD

It comes from BBC Radio 4's On Your Farm which goes out every day at 6.30 am.  under the collective title of Farming Today and "gets to the heart of country life with a look at individual farming endeavours".

Its got the lot, covering heaps of different stories all related to farming,  So I have listened to "The Art of Asparagus", "A Cumbrian Farm", "Meet Syrian bee expert", "Marino Wool for Surfers", "Carbon Counting", and today's "Digging in the past".

 "Arable and archaeology are the two passions in Nick Wilson's life. 

He farms in the Vale of York but the discovery of a Roman burial site in one of his fields turbo-charged his interest in the past. 

That was nearly 10 years ago, since then he has studied for a PhD in archaeology and excavated acres of farmland. 

Reverse of the Claudian coin

As well as the Roman tomb, he's unearthed Bronze-age cooking pots, quern stones for grinding corn, jewellery and a hob-nail boot from Roman times"*.

Produced and presented by Rebecca Rooney".

Location; The Vale of York

Pictures; a Roman coin from the era of the Emperor Claudius, [I think], 1975,from the collection of Andrew Simpson 

*Digging in the past: the arable farmer who's an archaeologist,On Your Farm, BBC Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002xdbd

**On Your Farm, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006s571