Came across these structures in a midwest forest. Wondering how to date them to determine if it's worth a return trip.

[perdidogringo]

Hi All,

I was doing some hiking yesterday (sans detector) and came across some structures in the forest that have me wondering if it's worth it to return with my detector. It's quite a hike from where I live (like over an hour) so I'm not sure I want to return and would like some feedback. The first thing I came across was a concrete slab of some kind (see 1st 2 photos), then a hole of some kind (depicted in the next 3 photos), and finally some relics in the last 3 photos. It is in the vicinity of a modern farm, however, I noticed on a topo map there was a house near the spot in the late 1800s but disappears by the 1930s. Not sure if the structures are related to the more modern farm, located about 1/2 mile away or from way back when. Any thoughts?

 

[newnan man]

You will find something but it looks like a lot of it will be construction junk

 

[searcher]

Maybe since I'm not on site, I'm not seeing what you see-
I see in the pics-
1,2- Large natural stone. The cleavage/cracks and irregularity of the top appears to be natural stone.
Appears to have been moved to that location.
3...- Pile of old net wire fencing, barbed wire, rusted barrel parts, other misc metals, and broken glass bottles.

This appears to be a scrap metal pile from a farm/ranch.

 

[robertk]

Agree. I don't see any concrete, just stone. And the trash looks relatively modern. The fencing has been there a while, but some of that galvanized metal is fairly recent. Galvanized takes longer to rust away, but not that long.

But on the other hand, if you know there was a house there in the 1800s that was gone by the 1930's, it might be worth looking anyway.

 

[Sandog]

Lots of stuff to sort through there. You might be able to date the fairly intact bottle. Looks like an old milk can maybe, can't tell the size of it. Are there any locals who might be able to offer some info on the area? No matter what, you know for sure there has been some human traffic there.

 

[perdidogringo]

Thanks, guys. Yep, I mis-spoke on the "concrete"- definitely natural. I guess it might have been moved there by a farmer who wanted out of the way. Looks like a more modern trash site from the local farmer and/or a road that is nearby. Doesn't look too promising but maybe I'll give it a quick look with my detector down the road at some point (due to a house being nearby about a 100 years ago).

 

[rginn]

Maybe no banner finds there, but if you don't detect it you'll never know if it was worth detecting or not.