Colonial trash is my treasure

[DownNDirty]

Yesterday I spent a full day at the site where I found the 1732 cut Pistarereen and 30th Regiment of Foot button last Saturday. On the advice of Outdooradv (Brad) I took a sifter with me-and boy was I glad that I did!
I metal detected for a couple of hours and sifted the rest of the day; in the first picture my detecting finds are to the far right & everything else was found sifting. Pretty much every load I sifted had something interested in it, mostly pottery shards, oyster shells and animal bone fragments. Also black glass and colonoware (slave pottery). Clay pipe pieces abounded-28 stem pieces & parts of 3 bowls.
When you are sifting you never know what might pop up. What I thought was a pair of scissors later turned out to be a complete spring from the flintlock mechanism of a musket. The blade of a table knife and a glass stopper for a perfume bottle also came from the sifter, as did a small clawed porcelin foot from a statue or dish.
All in all it was loads of fun and I can't wait to go back. Thanks Brad for turning me on to one of the most productive and unpredictable methods of recovering relics. I highly recommend it!

 

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[Reelsnrods]

Looks like time well spent! Cool stuff,!!

 

[pepperj]

Nice assortment, sifting can open up a whole new perspective on digging in the dirt.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

I've been telling all my detecting buddies for quite a while now that finding, digging out, and sifting colonial trash pits is way more fun than detecting, and so far I think everyone has agreed with me. Glad to see you joined the club with that productive dig, and I'm sure you're hooked now. Looks like you recovered some early ceramics including Westerwald stoneware (with the GR medallion) and some nice yellow combed slipware. Looks like you definitely have an 18th century site there, and you might be able to narrow the average date of occupancy by measuring all the pipe stems using drill bits, and then use the formula from Hume's book. To save you the time I'm posting a pic below from one of my magazine articles from a while back that shows you exactly how to do that if you're so inclined. This method is pretty good, but as you get close to the end of the 18th century it's not quite as accurate. I bet you have a lot more work to do at that site, and I'm looking forward to seeing what else you pull out of there. Good luck!

View attachment pipe stem analysis.bmp

 

[DownNDirty]

I've been telling all my detecting buddies for quite a while now that finding, digging out, and sifting colonial trash pits is way more fun than detecting, and so far I think everyone has agreed with me. Glad to see you joined the club with that productive dig, and I'm sure you're hooked now. Looks like you recovered some early ceramics including Westerwald stoneware (with the GR medallion) and some nice yellow combed slipware. Looks like you definitely have an 18th century site there, and you might be able to narrow the average date of occupancy by measuring all the pipe stems using drill bits, and then use the formula from Hume's book. To save you the time I'm posting a pic below from one of my magazine articles from a while back that shows you exactly how to do that if you're so inclined. This method is pretty good, but as you get close to the end of the 18th century it's not quite as accurate. I bet you have a lot more work to do at that site, and I'm looking forward to seeing what else you pull out of there. Good luck!

View attachment 1257362

Thanks Bill! I'm already planning on a full day of sifting on Sunday.

 

[Vino]

Fantastic Dirty,
It sure looks like you had a blast!! Bill and Brad have been telling me to get out the sifter for a year now.. Were you working by yourself?

 

[UnderMiner]

Sort enough trash and you will find treasure, glad to see you found alot of colonial artifacts! It's been such a long time now since those colonial days that it is almost the stuff of legend. To still be able to find pieces of this near-legendary time in the ground is just wonderful.

 

[DownNDirty]

Fantastic Dirty,
It sure looks like you had a blast!! Bill and Brad have been telling me to get out the sifter for a year now.. Were you working by yourself?

I was flying solo. With half inch mesh in the sifter it wasn't that bad.

 

[OutdoorAdv]

I've been waiting half a day to see these awesome pictures. WELL DONE That looks much older than my pit. The British GR stoneware piece is incredible. I hope you can find some more pieces to that. Also love all those pipe stems and bowles. Really looking forward to seeing what you find this weekend. It's only a matter of time before some masked coins and buttons come out of this pit.

Brad

 

[DownNDirty]

I've been waiting half a day to see these awesome pictures. WELL DONE That looks much older than my pit. The British GR stoneware piece is incredible. I hope you can find some more pieces to that. Also love all those pipe stems and bowles. Really looking forward to seeing what you find this weekend. It's only a matter of time before some masked coins and buttons come out of this pit.

Brad

Thanks Brad-I am just getting started at that site. No telling what might turn up there. The plantation was started in the 1680s.

 

[Carolina Tom]

Congrats on the nice finds. I like the flintlock spring. looks like you have quite a site to hunt.

Best of luck to you, and sift on brother!

 

[CoilyGirl]

We have a friend in Virginia that has found some incredible coins and buttons by sifting. I think it would be a blast. That flintlock mechanism is in such good shape.

 

[against the wind]

Excellent job
I have a sifter collecting dust.
Now I have to find a place to sift.
Congrats on your finds.

 

[CASPER-2]

 

[terpfan]

That sifting looks like fun. Its rained a lot here lately, can anyone tell me if sifting is possible in moist soil?

 

[46Wheat]

Nice colonial goodies

 

[OutdoorAdv]

That sifting looks like fun. Its rained a lot here lately, can anyone tell me if sifting is possible in moist soil?

I tried it a couple weeks ago after a lot of rain... key word "tried"! Ha. It was impossible to sift the wet dirt through the 1/2" screen and ended up just making balls of mud as I shook the sifter. I did find the 2 VA half pennies in the pit that day, but with my machine and not sifting. After a while I gave up and just filled the hole in. Personally I preferred sifting when it was dry because the dirt fell right away from everything... Made it easy to spot pipe pieces, buttons, bones, and flints.

 

[joeyfresh]

Love the westerwald medallion and slipware! It's awesome to see some colonial pit digging going on!