Uncovering the WWII Hanko, week II

Trenches had lots of fragments of books,
tobacco packages and official documents.

Yet another week in Hanko is coming to an end and another group of helpful volunteers has left the site for their homes. This time we opened two completely new trenches while the work at the German Red Cross site continued. If you're interested in seeing photos of the many finds made during the week, check out Jan Fast's blog starting from this post.

My duties were similar than on the week before and the trenches kept me busy, as the find were numerous and we had much more participants than on the first week. The finds were also quite different in style and it was a pleasant surprise to uncover multiple pieces of German writings as well as fairly well preserved textiles. At the same time, the tin cans that we had gathered hundreds during the first week were now almost non-existent.

Metal detector showed it prowess again during the week, as it gave as a clearer picture on the concentration of finds when we were about to open a new area and later extend it a few meters. While not all finds were metal of course, among paper and textile was often at least some metal signals too.

Fauna Rote Marke perfume bottle.
Photo: Jan Fast

While I was busy at the trenches myself, I did lend my detector to some participants and they opened a few test pits around the area. While most of the pits included only a few smaller objects, one of the pits was again more interesting than others. Near the latrines, we opened a small pit that revealed a tin bucket full of sand and nothing else. While we brought the bucket back with us, it didn't raise much interest, so I decided to check it out more closely myself.

As I have a curious mind and a healthy tendency to stick my hand anywhere it fits, I started to remove sand from within the bucket, which had been pressed closely together - perhaps purposely when being disposed. After a few handful of sand, I felt something inside. I dug around the object and revealed a small glass bottle with still some liquid in it. While the bucket was otherwise empty, the small find made it feel like a small victory, as suddenly the "latrine bucket" became much more peculiar in our minds!

Next week we'll continue the excavations at the Ukrainian prison camp. The first look at the second trench has been very positive, as the finds seem numerous starting from the topsoil, so the expectations are high for the days to come!