SouthJerseyJim

great finds jim, i know artie will be excited, congrats. too you and your mom.

Hey Jim, Maybe you could help id a button I posted,

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/todays-finds/322623-need-eagle-button-id-please.html

A friend thinks it may be a 1792 army button could you give me your thoughts? And maybe a some good button id information.

Thanks and hope all is well!

Don

Jim - if the house site is on top of the knoll I'd search for deep or heavy iron on the sides and back of where the house was facing (if you can determine that). Then dig small test holes (12" across and maybe 18-24" deep) and see if you start hitting on any glass, pottery, oyster shells, brick, etc. Or if you have a probe and the ground is not too hard you can check these spots out and feel for "crunchiness" or hitting solid targets at depth. If you feel/see anything other than virgin dirt you should expand the size of the hole and investigate further. If you get into a pit make sure you detect what's coming out, and sift it back into the hole as you never know what might turn up. I wrote an article for American Digger magazine about colonial trash pit digging, and if you send me your email address I'll forward a pdf copy. I also wrote an article about hunting for colonial silver, and one telling the story of the hammered silver cache recovery. Good luck at that site ..... Bill