can we know how long its been there?

[eboy1960]

hello,does anyone have a good idea how long most small items found like rings pendants or other unmarked items take to get 5-6 inches in the ground,can depth show an tell us the number of years or months,its been there? can a nice silver or gold ring be a few inches deep be 40-50yrs there? thanks for your input,

 

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[jeff of pa]

My last indian head Cent was just below the surface.
was uncoved with a brush of the Coil.

I Have also found Rotted Zinc cents at 6" Deep +

 

[Monty]

Yes. Monty

 

[mile-ender]

A lot of the stuff I find is surface, this includes pieces over a hundred years. I think it really depends on the area you're working, and what soil conditions are like. If you're working say mountainous terrain, well pieces won't have anywhere to move really, whereas a riverbank or beach might bury an item over a foot.

 

[Frankn]

It depends on the soil, vegetation and weather in your area. Keep track of the dates on coins found at certain depts. This will give you a good idea. Lost items are covered by decaying vegetation, blowing & flowing material. In some areas like deserts, They seem to lay on the ground forever covered only by a thin coating of desert varnish.----- In my area,Md., on my farm, it works out to3 1/2" to 4"= the '40s items 10"to 12"= 200years If you drew a graph, it would not be a true liner line, but a slight curve.-----Also there are exceptions like the legend of the lost mission that gets covered & uncovered by blowing sand. I once found an old 1860's plow exposed in a washed out gully, so apply a grain of salt to the theory!----- also see Do things sink in the ground? Under metal detectors. You might get some theory plus a laugh from it.

 

[fossis]

A friend recovered my class ring, (before I started detecting), it was only just under the dirt after 15 years.

Fossis...........

 

[luvsdux]

Don't think there's any reliable method to determine this. If you dig, say a 40 year old coin, at several inches you don't know whether it's been lost for 35 years or 5 years or??
luvdux

 

[Tom_in_CA]

eboy, you've gotten good answers so far. I would add that if you are in a given site, that has un-disturbed soil, then you might start to develope a strata verses years criteria, on a case-by-case basis. But it would change from site to site. And can even change from one side of a site to another. For example: coins at the base of the hardpan that surround large shade trees, can be shallow (as there's no lush turf surrounding them, and instead, hardpan). But walk 15 ft. further out into the moist turf *next* to that tree, and old coins will be deeper.

Within a given undisturbed site though, you can develope a time-line, by dating the items. For example: if you're in a turfed park, and ....... after 100 targets, have noticed a fairly reliable date strata placement: Clad is in the top 4", then '50s loss-wheaties tend to start at 5" or more. '20s loss green wheaties and earlier mercs (as can be discerned by the tell-tale circulation amount on the coins) tend to start at 7" or more, and so forth. You can see by that example, that if you found an item of jewelry at a certain depth, you *might* conclude that it would fit in the date-strata of whatever the coin-age loss-era stratas are.

I have found seated coins and reales, and even gold coins, that were so shallow, I could hear them on my pinpointer even before I started to dig (thus were only an inch or two deep). And then I have found zinc at a foot deep. Beaches will have absolutely no strata rules, because storms and erosion are constantly changing the face of the beach over the decades. Furroughed fields, of course, will have lost all context. And so forth.

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

***** Tom. I might add, just wind blown dirt and dust can quickly add up also.

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[njnydigger]

I previously owned a White's MXT 300 and now have a Minelab Safari. Both top-rated machines as ya'll know. Funny thing though...

Most of my great finds haven't been more than a few inches deep. Go figure.

That's why all of the crap about which machine is the deepest, best, prettiest, etc. is just that, CRAP.

Yes. One does want to have a quality, dependable unit. One that gets good depth, is fairly easy to use, has enough manual options & is fun to use. Anything other than that is hype. Pure and simple.

To find the goodies - jewelry, older coins and relics - it is MUCH MORE about researching and having quality producing sites to hunt and a masterful knowledge of one's detector. End of story.

Case in point...Take the "best", most expensive unit to a pounded park, or a site that is completely dry of finds and guess what? It'll find squat. However, take an average priced (even cheap) detector to a quality spot and you will be quite surprised at the things you can dig up (provided of course you know how to operate your machine to the best of it's ability).

Research, research, research. Sure, a deep seeking machine with an experienced user will always be able to pop an oldie out of the ground of a hunted out site. However, find a virgin site or even one that hasn't been hunted to death and couple that with a decent machine and magic can happen.

Want to find great treasure? Here's what's required...

1. A decent detector (It needn't be expensive - just able).

2. Research. To find the sites with the keepers.

3. Experience. To get the most out of your detector.

4. Patience. Just like in baseball, you can't hit a home-run every time up. However, a base hit or even a walk can win the ballgame as well.

 

[Roger Mn.]

I don't think that the depth of a coin can determine how long it has been in the ground.
I worked a big flat area in a woods were the old coins were 1 to 6 inches deep. Two coins at 6 inches deep, Indian Head cent and a quarter . Most other coins 1 inch to 4 inches. Most coins were dated before 1918.
I have found coins on a hillsides in the woods and scraped the leaves away with my shoe and there they were , 3 coins a hundred years or more old on top of the rocky soil.
Other old coins on hillsides at 8 inches sandy soil.
I have also found newer coins at 6 inches deep because someone thought it would fun to have someone dig that deep for a disappointment. This has only happened 4 times.
roger