@ MajorB
The recent archaeological dig behind Barnet certainly found contemporary material. However the previous dig (not mentioned!) by Neil Oliver and the 'Two Men in A Trench' TV series several years before found material on the traditional site of Barnet including a chape, the metal protection from the end of a scabbard.
As I have mentioned elsewhere, there is a growing realisation that battlefield debris can be spread out over a much larger area than previously supposed, rather like the debris field of large shipwreck sunk in deep water. This battlefield spread will increase along the line of the 'rout' zone, the area where troops have fled and where looting has taken place.
The new material at Barnet includes some horse harness, some undamaged (and therefore unfired) lead shot and a badly damaged purse fragment. The metal purse bar suggests looting, the horse harness suggests that this is where horses and harness were being kept (behind the lines) while the unfired ammunition suggests that ammunition was simply tipped out and trampled underfoot during the looting phase.
The single large lead shot recovered at Northampton and the smaller shots found at the relocated Bosworth were all damaged by impacts and this suggests they all mark the actual battlefield position. They either hit the ground or some poor souls. The new dig at Barnet has – in my view – merely located evidence of the rout and looting zone.
I have an especial interest in Barnet at the moment as I am hoping to war-game it in 15mm in the next couple of months under my pet Bills, Bows and Bloodshed rules. I have Oxford's contingent half completed and Lord Hastings' still to do. Between us, Graham and I already have all the other lords and the levies. The plan is to have a max visibility range of 6 inches for most of the battle, due to the fog, and to set up the armies out of sight of each other at roughly 12 inches. When the first unit sights an enemy we will each dice to see how far each army moves to the right. Shift distances for each army will be scaled on a die roll between zero and 18-inches thus creating the historical off-set which is believed to have occurred. In effect both right wings appear to have overlapped the opposing left wings.
I am also pondering a rule for any friendly unit which moves out of visibility range of friends but then returns – will there be friendly fire? This, of course, happened when Oxford routed Hastings but then returned and collided with either Montague or Warwick's men. As Warwick and Montague had only joined the Lancastrian camp recently, as Yorkist turncoats, I am more than prepared to consider that mistrust or old grudges from previous battles played a part. Not so much "Who are they?" more like: "Oh, there they are… quick loose of a couple of arrows at them and pretend its all an accident, no harm done".
Barry