On this day...12th July

What an exceptional day for finds this date is! Let's begin with 2008 and the discovery of ‘Dobbin’.

An unstratified Chalkpit Field Trench 9 find, this 3D copper-alloy ‘model’ horse continues to delight visitors to the Information Centre year after year. As can be clearly seen from the images, the mane is represented by three deeply-scored lines on the back of the head and a number of pecked dots and lines recreate features such as eyes and some form of harness. The legs are very short and may have been filed down.Identification of the artefact is difficult as no parallel has yet been found but the loop made by the tail perhaps suggests that it was intended as a pendant. Dating with certainty is also problematic but a probable Roman date has now been agreed.

Just a year to the day later another stunning Chalkpit Field find was discovered.

This stunning silver coin is a denier of Pepin III and dates from 755-768. Pepin III, or Pepin the Short as he was also known, was the first King of the Frankish Carolingian dynasty and the father of Charlemagne.

Dan Secker found this pin beater (above) on this day in 2011. A pin beater is an implement, usually fashioned from bone, utilised in textile production. The pointed ends of the beater could be used to tease out tangles from the fibres and the main section was used to help compact the weave.