"conducting an archaeological field exploration without the use of a excavation"

[hobbit]

"conducting an archaeological field exploration without the use of a excavation"

Can someone out there please tell me how I might do this?

 

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[Alexandre]

Re: "conducting an archaeological field exploration without the use of a excavation"

Can someone out there please tell me how I might do this?

It's called a non-intrusive survey.

We do it, for instance, by walking in the fields and looking for ceramics or other signs. An experienced archaeologist will detect easily several features that escape the untrained eye and that are tell tale signs of an archaeological site below our feet.

 

[hobbit]

Re: "conducting an archaeological field exploration without the use of a excavation"

Thanks, Alexandre.
Is there any way someone "untrained" might be able to do it?...in other words, is there any equipment that might help?

 

[Alexandre]

Re: "conducting an archaeological field exploration without the use of a excavation"

You can do whatever you like - use a MD, a divining rod, a side scan sonar if at sea - AS LONG AS YOU DONT EXCAVATE.

We have the same distinction in our law.

 

[Conch1]

Re: "conducting an archaeological field exploration without the use of a excavation"

Looking for discolored areas in the soil can indicate old habitation areas, such as old campfire areas, oxidizing iron remnants. Unusual signs of shell disposal and or bone fragments indicate old dumpsites that could contain potshards. Patches of hard, sharp rocks can indicate work areas where stone was worked to create weapons - if you look closely you might even find some preforms laying around in these areas, that is, stones that had been worked to some extent before being discarded. The deal is, look for anomalies of vegetation, soil coloration and land form.

It's amazing what kind of treasure can be found in the site of an old privy.

Just some advice from a life-long hunter who has spent a lot of time looking at the ground.

 

[hobbit]

Re: "conducting an archaeological field exploration without the use of a excavation"

Thanks, guys.

 

[Dell Winders]

Re: "conducting an archaeological field exploration without the use of a excavation"

Alexandre, a Divining Rod?

 

[Alexandre]

Re: "conducting an archaeological field exploration without the use of a excavation"

Alexandre, a Divining Rod?

ok, a dowsing rod...

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Re: "conducting an archaeological field exploration without the use of a excavation"

Hobbit, I know this was not the intent of your post, but it struck me when alexandre gave you the answer, that I had heard that line before. And as we all know, there are plenty of locations (like the surface of a wet-sand section of the beach after storms) that might be RIDDLED with good old coins, yet have absolutely no indications, from the surface, even if you stared all day at it.

One time I was talking to an archaeologist in our area. His work included surveys and such to full-fill EIR's, etc.... He mentioned to me that he was "very keen in eye-balling things, and not missing clues, targets, etc..." Then he said that in all his 20+ yrs. of work, his lone coin from "walking sites" was a mercury dime he'd seen one time on top of the ground. Imagine his shock when I told him I had thousands of mercs, barbers, buttons, coins, etc.... He simply could not imagine that there was that many items that were simply invisible (no matter how hard you look).

To the casual public (archies included), they sometimes have no concept of how much fumble-fingers stuff is out there.

 

[Dell Winders]

Re: "conducting an archaeological field exploration without the use of a excavation"

I'll probably be laughed, or jeered off here for bringing it up, but I use my mind to travel and plot land events and mentally research shipwreck locations and scatter pattern where other Treasure Hunters, fear to venture. Some may call it a vivid imagination, but it is more accurately referred to as "Psychic Archeology". I recommend every Archaeologist/Anthropologist, learn how, and employ it as an addition to their archival research. It opens up more information to aid in a non-invasive, remote sensing, field investigation.

As an example, you may have seen that I suggested information on the 1715 fleet can be found in the Vatican archives that will provide researchers a different perspective to the events that actually took place. Dell

 

[Alexandre]

Re: "conducting an archaeological field exploration without the use of a excavation"

I'll probably be laughed, or jeered off here for bringing it up, but I use my mind to travel and plot land events and mentally research shipwreck locations and scatter pattern where other Treasure Hunters, fear to venture. Some may call it a vivid imagination, but it is more accurately referred to as "Psychic Archeology". I recommend every Archaeologist/Anthropologist, learn how, and employ it as an addition to their archival research. It opens up more information to aid in a non-invasive, remote sensing, field investigation.

As an example, you may have seen that I suggested information on the 1715 fleet can be found in the Vatican archives that will provide researchers a different perspective to the events that actually took place. Dell

I need to fold my arms underwater and just gaze at a site, for the first or second dive. Before I do anything else, I have to fine tune myself with the wreckage, the ocean, the swell, the temperature, etc.

I know it sounds odd, but I think I developed that need from the countless hours I spent doing free diving for underwater spear fishing, where sometimes, I was the Ocean, and the Ocean was me.

It's a stupid thing to tell, but I cannot explain any better.

 

[Dell Winders]

Re: "conducting an archaeological field exploration without the use of a excavation"

I understand. I practically lived underwater. It's where I feel at home. Dell

 

[ivan salis]

Re: "conducting an archaeological field exploration without the use of a excavation"

I CAN "READ" both land and sea -- hunters who have been trained how to by their elders can "spot" a likely deer trail ( a game "traveling" path that the "adverage" non hunter trained personwould often not see even if they were standing right by it --its a both a learned skill and a art form )

i can "look" at a peice of land and in what I call "my minds eye" visually "see" how if I were a farmer 200 years ago where on that piece of land , i would place my house --taking in account the dominent wind direction , sunlight orientation and other factors -- i take in other clues like any fruit trees or "wild flowers" (of types not native to the area ) or straight rows of windbreak trees and of course any stone walls or celler holes or brink bits -- old pottery shards are another dead give away --one has to be "observant" and notice things that others walk right by with a "unseeing eye".

 

[ScubaFinder]

Re: "conducting an archaeological field exploration without the use of a excavation"

We are a little off-topic here, but I have also had things I cannot explain happen recently, like a hunch about an area. I travel all over the barrier island here in Hollywood Florida, by car, boat, and foot. There are hundreds of secluded little beaches on the inter-coastal waterway that rarely see human interaction. I've explored a few, and only found trash...for the most part they all look the same and one isn't more likely to yield interesting things than another.

For some reason, one particular area always intrigued me, every time I passed it my eyes were drawn there subconsciously. It would pop into my head at odd times during work or while watching TV at home. After a few months of this, I finally stopped and checked the place out. I had investigated areas within a few hundred yards of this spot, and found nothing. When I finally went there and looked around, I found several indian bone tools and 20 or so Indian pottery shards. There was also an old stone foundation just under the surface of the water, around it I found a nice dutch stoneware bottle from the late 1800's, several early 1900's coins, and a V Nickel.

For the record, and to try to stay somewhat on topic, I didn't excavate to get any of this, it was all laying on the surface, and the foundation is above the low tide mark according to my GPS, so it was a perfectly legal hunt...until SB 868. :-)

 

[ivan salis]

Re: "conducting an archaeological field exploration without the use of a excavation"

you yourself said that you were "drawn" to it -- didn't you ever ever wonder why or how your mind was "drawn' to the area ? what clues did your mind see that you were not mental "awake" enough at that moment to be aware of ? -- often many people see much more than they "think" they do with their eyes , but since they only 'half awake" mental speaking it doen't "kick in" fully , so a nagging bit in their brain keeps going --hint , hint - hey go look over there.

the human mind is one of the best treasure hunting tools ever made. -- all treasure hunting starts with a "thought"

using your eyes and mind to visually explore and to mentally process the information gained from "looking over" a bit of land --is indeed "exploring without excavating (digging)" so it is totally "on topic"

folks at times can not "see" the forest --because of all those "pesky" trees are in the way

 

[tarpon192]

Re: "conducting an archaeological field exploration without the use of a excavation"

I'll probably be laughed, or jeered off here for bringing it up, but I use my mind to travel and plot land events and mentally research shipwreck locations and scatter pattern where other Treasure Hunters, fear to venture. Some may call it a vivid imagination, but it is more accurately referred to as "Psychic Archeology". I recommend every Archaeologist/Anthropologist, learn how, and employ it as an addition to their archival research. It opens up more information to aid in a non-invasive, remote sensing, field investigation.

As an example, you may have seen that I suggested information on the 1715 fleet can be found in the Vatican archives that will provide researchers a different perspective to the events that actually took place. Dell

I need to fold my arms underwater and just gaze at a site, for the first or second dive. Before I do anything else, I have to fine tune myself with the wreckage, the ocean, the swell, the temperature, etc.

I know it sounds odd, but I think I developed that need from the countless hours I spent doing free diving for underwater spear fishing, where sometimes, I was the Ocean, and the Ocean was me.

It's a stupid thing to tell, but I cannot explain any better.

So you are saying Alex, that you spend countless hours freediving and spearfishing looking for historical arifacts? If you found something on your own - you would do the right thing, and follow the law, or keeeeeeeeeeep it to yourself? How many historical items do you have in your possesion that nobody knows about?