Another Riverbank hunt with lots of lead and a copper dome shaped piece.

[PetesPockets55]

I found a couple of hours two days before Christmas (12/23/2023) and went back to the river bank again, fairly early on the rising tide. This area has produced musket balls, ceramics, old glass, military buttons, etc., ca. 1838-1842.

Lots of lead including thin worked sheets, lead globs, and a (cast?)net weight.
The odd piece this trip was a 2-7/8" round copper piece with a raised dome in the middle. There were three small holes equidistant around the perimeter and a 5/16" hole in the middle of the dome and what appears to be corrosion from a washer around the large hole.

The thin lead sheets seem to have been worked. One piece seems to have been crimped around a tapered object. You'll notice three parallel lines and a perpendicular shadow along the top. Another piece resembles a short, square, flat spoon but the lead would be too soft for a real spoon.



And the Globs. I'm guessing they were left over/spilled from making musket balls.

And the weight is the second I've found here. I believe this is older (but how old?) since the opening for the line is +-1/8"(3.5mm) in diameter. Modern cast net line is about 3/8" which is at least double the size of this hole. Any help or guidance on this weight is appreciated.

 

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[Blak bart]

Interesting cliff....perhaps a camp site...camp lead is the term, and idle time in camp would have been spent smelting lead for ammo in the fire. What date range that is is still not appearnt to me. Lead sheet was like the plastic of olden days, and was used for just about every purpose one could be clever enough to use it for. Maybe a fishing camp for salvage ops on the 1715 fleet, or even settlers later in the time frame....obviously it had indian activities.....but was that at the same time as those objects or many years before in the same area.....a good camp site might appeal to people throughout the time line if there is an advantageous topographical element to it....or a known great fishing spot !! Can't wait to see what else shows up there....congrats cliff .... great site !!

 

[PetesPockets55]

Thanks for the insight Bart.
I like your description: "... Lead sheet was like the plastic of olden days, ... ".
It was used for just about everything and shows up everywhere. I've pulled some really odd lead pipe out of the area. One piece had a piece of brass inserted into the lead pipe and then sealed with lead. Not the normal plumbing coupling. This sort of odd stuff does fuel my curiosity.

This part of the riverbank has everything from at least the early-mid 1800's till today.