DownNDirty
Bronze Member
Last Saturday I revisited my favorite colonial plantation site with the hopes of finding a few more goodies. I started the day detecting the main home site, which has been really hit hard over the years. The site is absolutely loaded with nails but good targets can be had if you go slowly and keep at it. After an hour or so the only find was an iron buckle so the plan wasn't going all that well. Shifting gears I opened up part of a trash pit that I had worked on over the winter; it had been very productive and I picked up where I left off. A good variety of 18th century pottery shards popped up in the sifter as well as a fair number of pipe stems and a lot of rose-headed square nails. I also sifted out a small iron buckle and dropped .69 caliber round ball.
Here are the two buckles; the smaller one turned up in the sifter.
One interesting shard was this partial mug handle that has a diamond shape stamped into it. No idea what the significance of this mark is-any ideas?
I also like this one-you can see the legs of a bird, probably a rooster or pheasant.
While I thoroughly enjoyed the consistent finds that the sifter produced, after about three hours in the heat I had enough and decided to relocate to the adjacent creek and cool off. On the previous trip to the site I was pretty sure I had figured out where the avenue to the main house had crossed the creek over a bridge, and I decided to test the theory while cooling off in the creek. After a few minutes I picked up a good 70's signal just below where the bridge would have been. The pinpointer led me right to the target, which was lying on the bottom. Much to my surprise I reached down and pulled up a complete 18th century stirrup! This is my first complete stirrup and a very old one at that.
Within a few feet of where I found the stirrup I recovered another .69 caliber round ball and a very large iron skeleton key. These finds confirmed the bridge location.
All in all it was a fun and productive day-a lot of work but well worth the effort. That site just keeps on producing-and I can't seem to stay away in spite of the 90 minute drive each way.
Here are the two buckles; the smaller one turned up in the sifter.
One interesting shard was this partial mug handle that has a diamond shape stamped into it. No idea what the significance of this mark is-any ideas?
I also like this one-you can see the legs of a bird, probably a rooster or pheasant.
While I thoroughly enjoyed the consistent finds that the sifter produced, after about three hours in the heat I had enough and decided to relocate to the adjacent creek and cool off. On the previous trip to the site I was pretty sure I had figured out where the avenue to the main house had crossed the creek over a bridge, and I decided to test the theory while cooling off in the creek. After a few minutes I picked up a good 70's signal just below where the bridge would have been. The pinpointer led me right to the target, which was lying on the bottom. Much to my surprise I reached down and pulled up a complete 18th century stirrup! This is my first complete stirrup and a very old one at that.
Within a few feet of where I found the stirrup I recovered another .69 caliber round ball and a very large iron skeleton key. These finds confirmed the bridge location.
All in all it was a fun and productive day-a lot of work but well worth the effort. That site just keeps on producing-and I can't seem to stay away in spite of the 90 minute drive each way.
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You pulled some amazing iron and did a great job preserving it. That stirrup is just awesome... Sure looks like an old one. I have many half-stirrups and only two complete ones. They're definitely some of the best iron you can dig. The 90 min drive each way sounds like something I'd do. Haha. I'd be excited the whole way there while pondering what will turn up, then excited to get home and clean everything.
