Bill D. (VA)
Silver Member
I recently secured permission to hunt a yard where an extensive archaeological dig took place almost 25 years ago, and they were there for almost 10 years. I've seen aerial views of the dig area, and was told by the owner there was a small backhoe on site for 9 years. So they apparently dug the heck out of the place. The location was the site of a late 1600s to early 1700s home, and a tremendous number of artifacts were recovered, some of which are in the local museum. The owner had been given many boxes of artifacts that included bag upon bag of broken, rusty nails, small pottery shards, etc. I figured the area of the dig would be nothing but clean, sifted dirt so I initially opted to hunt the surrounding areas. But I didn't find much until I actually started approaching the dig area. But that area had a tremendous amount of iron and a number of targets started showing up which didn't make any sense. Maybe these were items that somehow slipped through the sifter although some were obviously too big. I didn't make any outstanding finds, but the potential was certainly there. I dug mostly a few small buttons, buckle parts, melted lead and pewter, and a couple of thimbles, but the best find was an 1857 flying eagle cent. I've dug a few of these over the years, and they're usually almost always unrecognizable. But this one had pretty nice detail and a clear date - 1857. I still have a little more area to cover, and I'm not too excited about my prospects, but you just never know what might pop out next.
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