Aureus
Silver Member
I've seen early French sites dating to 1600s filled with nails. But the usual rule indicates that the pieces of roof top and other larger pieces of iron appear around the early 1800s.Site age really dictates iron in the ground. 1800 little iron compared to early Victorian.
East coastal States are 100-150 yrs older than my early sites.
So the concentration of iron will be less for sure, wide separation between targets.
Any mid range detector will be worthy in these sites, great soil, no trash.
Even your area is fare bit older than my area in Eastern Ontario.
I do believe on early sites iron concentration has more to do with the house building technique, the type of settlement (example: blacksmith or farmer), years of occupation and especially way in which the settlement ended (fire, abandonment or the house being dismantled and moved). By the way, that last one is often unknown or ignored by the detectorists but it was a common practice and still is in some cases to move an old house to a new site leaving the cellar very quiet with only sporadic relics around the house site.
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