A few interesting finds from yesterdays colonial hunt

Bill D. (VA)

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A few interesting finds from yesterday's colonial hunt

Got back out with Dan yesterday to the site where we both dug cobs last week. Had a slight rain delay when we arrived at the site, but within 30 minutes we were out swinging in the expansive and beautifully groomed peanut field. Although we've dug a tremendous quantity of amazing colonial relics and coins here over the last 3-4 years and seemingly hunted the place out, it always seems to produce a few more keepers. I did a tremendous amount of walking and swinging, with very little digging until the last hour or so of the hunt, and my forearm and lower back were paying the price. My Fitbit watch was up to over 31,000 steps before the battery died about 2 hours before we finished, so that was quite a nice little walk. This peanut field is really spoiling us as its just wonderful to not have to deal with crop stubble, plus the bare dirt allows you to see all the pottery, brick, black glass and other signs of occupancy plain as day. And there were quite a few domestic or work sites in this one field, and we estimate 8-10 of them minimum. Although neither of us could put a colonial coin in our pouch yesterday, we made a few interesting recoveries none-the-less along with the usual pile of shotgun shells, buckshot, can slaw, junk brass and lead, etc. What was probably my best individual find was not even colonial, but a 2-piece CW era marine button, and it followed up the earlier 1-piece my bud Dan dug on the last hunt here. I also recovered this ornate and strange looking item that appears to be silver. At first I thought it was a button, but based on the back it's probably some kind of decorative ornament. Also dug was half of a 1600s spectacle buckle, and a large heavy button with a shank indicative of 17th century construction. And although I'm not a Native American expert, it appears I was able to eyeball a nice example of a scraper. Anyway, it was a exhausting yet fun time in the fields on an cool, overcast and fall-like day. Ready to do it again soon.
 

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Upvote 16
Lots of cool old digs!!! Those IH's look nice! :thumbsup:
 

DANG BILL YOU LUCKY DOG . MAN NICE OLD RELICS .
 

What a great hunt you had. BTW Congrats on the excellent article on buckles in AD!

Best Wishes,

Buckles

He's getting pretty good at writing those articles, isn't he? You would almost think he has nothng to do all day :)
 

Nice assortment Bill. Some more nice coins are there for sure. Congrats on the marine button, not one you see dug all that often. Looking forward to the pics from this weekends hunt.
-Evan
 

Bill - Glad to see that you have some nice big fields to work. Good luck closing in on the big 200 mark! How often do you recover the other pieces from a fragmented find like your 1600's spectacle buckle in the course of several hunts or from one year to the next? I rarely find any remaining fragments. It's a sobering reality that a lot still remains just too deep - even beyond the reach of the plow zone.
 

Bill - Glad to see that you have some nice big fields to work. Good luck closing in on the big 200 mark! How often do you recover the other pieces from a fragmented find like your 1600's spectacle buckle in the course of several hunts or from one year to the next? I rarely find any remaining fragments. It's a sobering reality that a lot still remains just too deep - even beyond the reach of the plow zone.

Jim - it's extremely rare to recover matching pieces to artifacts like a buckle. I'm not sure if I ever recall doing that. And the same goes for trash pits. You can recover hundreds of shards that came from a large number of different pottery and ceramic forms, but it seems that you never find more than just a few pieces for any one vessel. I guess my biggest claim to fame in this department is when I recovered 2 matching cut pieces to a 1700s one reale a couple months apart at the same site. And if not for someone from the forum recognizing that, it would have gone unnoticed.
 

Jim - it's extremely rare to recover matching pieces to artifacts like a buckle. I'm not sure if I ever recall doing that. And the same goes for trash pits. You can recover hundreds of shards that came from a large number of different pottery and ceramic forms, but it seems that you never find more than just a few pieces for any one vessel. I guess my biggest claim to fame in this department is when I recovered 2 matching cut pieces to a 1700s one reale a couple months apart at the same site. And if not for someone from the forum recognizing that, it would have gone unnoticed.

It all adds up to a pretty good day out in the fields. Do they plow the peanut fields at all?
It's kind of a sobering thought of what are the chances of getting the broken piece of a find, slim to none in most cases. I do recall getting a piece of newer item on a field, and a 1/4 mile away getting they rest of the piece. In discussing it later it was agreed that one piece got hung up in the soils of the plough and dragged to the other side of the huge field, I can see it happening and the odds go way up at finding the matching bit.
 

Bill I'm so happy to see you back at it. I hope this season is as good as your last few have been. I also want to congratulate you for writing some fantastic articles that keep me going during these ridiculous stretches of work. Just got home and I'm headed out to hunt tomorrow
 

Well done as usual Bill. Congrats.
 

yeah like Tom says....well done...like usual....prime example that research pays off...i preach it like its my job! great digs man!
 

Bill, I have enjoyed your recent magazine articles. You have a sure fire method to lock onto those VA Colonial sites and are very proficient with that F75. Did you have your unit upgraded? WTG & HH, Q.
 

Bill, I have enjoyed your recent magazine articles. You have a sure fire method to lock onto those VA Colonial sites and are very proficient with that F75. Did you have your unit upgraded? WTG & HH, Q.

My original F75 was 5 years old so I decided to buy the new F75SE instead of upgrading. That also allowed me to keep a good backup machine. Glad you enjoyed the articles.
 

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