Sam Wilson

Conflict Archaeologist.

[Sam Wilson @ConflictArchaeo]

I do quite a bit of freelance battlefield archaeology stuff alongside my day job and (in the least up my own arse way possible) have created a website to help with this. I'd be very grateful if one or two people would take a look and/or retweet! Thank you! https://t.co/oWsGAUVBGT

[Sam Wilson @ConflictArchaeo]

@Matthew_Coman @DigWaterloo @MOLArchaeology @AWaP_Patrimoine It looks as though they did - we only found one horse shoe in situ so assume they were removed. Further post-ex analysis of the foot bones might reveal additional signs of removal

[Time Team @thetimeteam]

🙌 NEW EPISODE 🙌

Join us tomorrow to watch "'The Archaeology of Operation Cobra", a brand new episode from Time Team.

Watch on YouTube tomorrow from 7pm BST 👇️
https://t.co/3r3GJmZJ15

[Waterloo Uncovered @DigWaterloo]

The cannonball has officially been lifted! No musket ball was found near the skull of the horse, indicating that it was not euthanised in the trench like the others - it was likely killed by the cannonball nearby and then dragged into the trench to be buried.

[Tony Pollard @ProfTonyPollard]

Latest from the Mont St Jean site with @DigWaterloo. Six pound cannon ball lodged in rib cage of a horse. In three decades of conflict archaeology l’ve never seen the like. Here being excavated by @ConflictArchaeo, otherwise known as Sam! @UofGWarstudies

[Cotswold Archaeology @CotswoldArch]

A team of almost 150 people – community volunteers, active-duty US military, UK military veterans, and cohorts from #OperationNightingale – have been undertaking fundamental work for our B-17 pilot recovery with @DODPAA.

Together, we've found around 5,000 fragments of the plane (including this propeller assembly), with metal-detection covering over 2.5 acres of woodland, and tons of crater and surrounding soils now sieved by hand.

Each piece of wreckage is examined to determine which part of the plane it is (is it cockpit related?), any serial numbers, and any other material evidence it may hold. With everything assigned a GPS location, we're able to develop a more forensic understanding of the explosion and debris spread. With eyewitness accounts from the time, we can narrow down where we may find our pilot's remains.

#NoManLeftBehind #NeverForget #Research #Recover #Identify #Archaeology #WWII #B17 #CommunityArchaeology @richardhosgood

[Sam Wilson @ConflictArchaeo]

Great to see the new @battleftrust archaeological research on the Battle of Stow published in this. Some tremendous work by @PushofPike1642 and the rest of the team.

[Helion & Company Ltd @Helionbooks]

#NewRelease
Novelty and Change: New research, ideas, thoughts and interpretation on the British Civil Wars and the military history of the 17th century is now available!

✨ Save £5 off RRP until Tuesday 2nd July – no code needed ✨

Buy it here: https://t.co/F4wlqRbt8l

[Cotswold Archaeology @CotswoldArch]

This is 1st Lt. John Fisher Jr, a US B-17 bomber pilot during WWII, and the man our team are currently working to recover. John was the first pilot killed in the top-secret ‘Operation Aphrodite’ — an effort to counter German V1 and V2 rocket launches and destroy submarine pens, using aging bombers as flying bombs.

These ‘Aphrodite babies’ were stripped back, filled with highly-explosive Torpex, and flown toward their targets by just a pilot and co-pilot. Once on course, the crew planned to bail out, leaving a ‘mother’ plane to remotely guide the drone to its target.

Fisher was an experienced pilot at just 21, with a wife and baby boy back in Peekskill, New York. On this mission, a malfunction caused his plane to pitch, dive, and then stall. With little time, he pushed his co-pilot from the plane to safety, ultimately sacrificing himself.

#NoManLeftBehind #NeverForget #Research #Recover #Identify #Archaeology #WWII #B17 @dodpaa @richardhosgood

[Waterloo Uncovered @DigWaterloo]

This #VolunteersWeek we’re highlighting just a few of our many wonderful, long-time volunteers - today's spotlight is on archaeologist Sam!

[Richard Osgood @richardhosgood]

A really very moving week excavating the 1944 crash site of a USAAF B17 in Suffolk with US & British participants as part of Op Nightingale alongside @CotswoldArch on behalf of the @dodpaa . Important finds with more to come..

[Sam Wilson @ConflictArchaeo]

@irarchaeology @irishacw @neilojim1972 Not something I can specifically place unfortunately, but could be - looks like pewter maybe?

[Cotswold Archaeology @CotswoldArch]

“This is an almost impossible endeavour and the significant thing is that we try, despite that” said Lead Archaeologist, Sam Wilson, and he couldn’t be more right.

There are 30 of us on our B-17 site today, a third are US citizens including our downed pilot. We’ve needed to shovel out the debris and bucket most of the crater water by hand, to avoid losing or damaging any fragile remains, and (as you know) it seems to have done nothing but rain, at times entirely negating our efforts.

At 3pm today we’ll be switching off the pumps and generators, and downing tools, as we take a moment of silence on Memorial Day to reflect on lives lost. We invite you to join us 🇺🇸🤍🇬🇧

#MemorialDay #WWII #NoManLeftBehind #NeverForget #Research #Recover #Identify #RememberingBraveSouls @dodpaa

[Sam Wilson @ConflictArchaeo]

An absolute privilege to lead the fieldwork for this project.

[Cotswold Archaeology @CotswoldArch]

We’ll be working at an exceptionally special site for the next six weeks. This woodland is the final resting place of a WWII B-17 pilot whose plane came to earth when the controls failed in 1944.

The @dodpaa have tasked us with recovering remains of this young man, termed MIA after his load of 12,000lbs of Torpex exploded on impact. This excavation will not be easy — the crash crater is waterlogged and filled with 80 years’ worth of sediment, the trees and undergrowth are thick, and all soil must be meticulously sieved to hopefully recover plane ID numbers, personal effects, and any human remains.

We’ll take you with us over the coming weeks, as we do what we can to return him home.

#NoManLeftBehind #NeverForget #Research #Recover #Identify #Archaeology #CASiteTeam #WWII

[Sam Wilson @ConflictArchaeo]

A joy to be a small part of this representing the @battleftrust, and surveying a small part of the battlefield. Modbury is a recent entry to the Trust's 'Battlefield Hub' (info collated by @PushofPike1642) so you can find more info here: https://t.co/BYseS1YYRm

[Time Team @thetimeteam]

🌞 TONIGHT 🌞

Our BRAND NEW EPISODE in Modbury premiers tonight over on our Offical YouTube Channel!

Part 1 of our 3 Day Dig lands at 7pm BST and we are so excited to share it with you!

Are you watching tonight?!

https://t.co/jZehpJjbCe

[Sam Wilson @ConflictArchaeo]

@CotswoldArch @thehilligan @DavidPetts1 @CatLodge1 @PryorFrancis @guywalters @greenwoodgift @KirstenTElliott Not sure exactly what would have caused it but certainly doesn't look like musket ball impacts, they're a bit small and too deep - as mentioned the monument also looks more recent than C17th.

[Sam Wilson @ConflictArchaeo]

@smartereveryday Hi Destin - happy to, what would you like to know?

[Sam Wilson @ConflictArchaeo]

This might be of interest to some #diggingforbritain fans - a raw clip from the cutting room floor of Series 3 - the 'East' episode featured the @sotonarch dig at @BasingHouse but our @aarihud battlefield detector survey didn't make the cut! Here I talk a bit about the finds.

[Sam Wilson @ConflictArchaeo]

@40yearsateacher @HistBizAGuide @lucyjanesantos_ @LauraFitzach @QMCHistory Ah glad you enjoyed it Hilary! Absolutely, I really enjoyed studying history at QMC, it definitely gave me a great foundation. Haha yes you're right, you've got a good memory!

[Sam Wilson @ConflictArchaeo]

A bit of coverage of the @battleftrust project at Stow. It was a slight labour of love but we ended up with some really interesting results!

[Telegraph Breaking News @TelegraphNews]

Civil War mystery solved as archaeologists unearth ‘true’ site of Battle of Stow

https://t.co/bFV31RdkhQ

[Battlefields Trust @battleftrust]

A short article on some battlefield survey work we have recently conducted at Langport (1645) https://t.co/EGZ1gTpbAV

[Sam Wilson @ConflictArchaeo]

@BominicDarker @battleftrust @PushofPike1642 @hildevanderheul Couldn't have done it without you mate! I think I've mostly dried out from the Stow rain....

[Sam Wilson @ConflictArchaeo]

@battleftrust cc. @ALGAO_UK @HistoricEngland @NatTrustArch @HE_Archaeology @HistEnvScot @findsorguk @InstituteArch