*Need your help* Of Long Tailed Beavers and Thirteen Typish Theo: the Pull Tab Archaeology Wanna-have List
I make a strong point in our project about the typology: we can not add pull tabs that are not in the reference collection physically. The reason being that 1) differences are small, so I do really need them in my hands for proper recording and 2) it challenges YOU to really contribute with more than just a mouse click.
But desktop research is real, also in archaeology. Strolling across the internet, I do get aware of types that must exist, but are not in the collection yet. This post is about those types, the pull tab archaeology wanna-haves. If you ever see a tab looking like the ones below, you know what to do: send it to me, right away. That’s an order, private! 😉
This one was reported on Facebook by Darril Collins, I guess over a year ago (2018). I don’t remember much, but I think he exclaimed something like ‘Yeah, my first Long Tailed Beaver!’. No clue here if this is the right way to call it among detectorists in the USA, but this T-type sure is an oldy (60s for sure) and I have never seen one in real life. If you find one, we would be highly interested for our typology.
EDIT 16 February 2020: Trina Marie sent this tab to us from Australia! This wannahave is NAILED!
This picture was posted on the amazing Metal Detecting Crappy Finds group last week (Jan 2020) by Trina Marie, a detectorist and visual storyteller from New Zealand. It looks like a S-V, but with a squarer ring. Pretty sure I saw a patent on Google somewhere, but holymoly, where did I put it?
Of course, I’ve been trying to contact Trina to ask if she can send it in, but no luck yet. So if you see a square headed S-type: HELP! And ship it to the Netherlands.
“Look what I found!” said Spanish archaeologist Jaime on Instagram this morning (Feb 2020). I almost fell from my chair. This is an amazing pull tab! The tear strip is either integral to the ring, or -not unlikely- it is a family frange type (for more on frange types see the work of William Schroeder). “Send it in!”, I yelled at my phone, but google made a mess trying to keep up with me yelling English. “Oh I left it on the site…” Jaime answered…”WHAT?? You tell me you found a virtually non-existing pull tab in Spain and..then threw it back on the topsoil?” :-0 (me dying emoticon)
I sort of immediately started to plan a road trip to Santiago in my mind (2000 km?), but then Jaime said “Don’t worry, I’ll pick it up next time I’m there!” Oh Jaime, please do! And for the others here: if you can beat Jaime to it, please send it!
This is a cute one, let’s call him Theo (upper right pull tab). Why, well because it sounds nice if you say ‘Thirteen Typish Theo‘ out loud. This is science, you know.
I am not completely sure, but this tab, found in Melbourne by Jason looks like an American ‘T-XIII-1 Shotgun’ but without the holes… I’d really love to see it up close. I don’t recall why Jason didn’t send it, he probably didn’t see my messages, including pictures tearing my hair…
If you see a tab like this: you know where to find me!
EDIT March 2020: Nailed it. This tab was send by Charlie Cribb. See Update 21.
Indeed quite similar to the one Jaime found in Spain, and genuinely old, I am guessing mid 60s. Again, the ring and strip are one piece. Send one A.S.A.P.
No not eleven, it’s ten I’m after here, the one on the right. Not to be confused with eleven, though, because indeed they are pretty similar. Number eleven is a S-VIII-1.
The left one, number ten, is slightly bulkier and has a slight dent in the ring. That’s the one I’m after. It might be one of the first STATABS from the 70s, and probably related to an S-XVII type, which we do have.
Well, to my great relieve I can now honestly say: we’ve beaten it together. The blue picture, is a legend. It popped up over and over again every time someone mentioned pull tabs on the internet. But we are beyond the blue image: these are all in our collection! They are. Really!
And there was much rejoicing…
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