Hutch in PA
Full Member
Well guys, I'm finally taking the plunge and expanding from 'field walking' to digging. I spent Sunday walking the hillside of a local river, and located what I think is a good location. After some research and door knocking, I located the owner and gained permission. But it has some challenges (more on that in a minute).
The spot is about one mile up river from one of my most productive farms, and about five miles below a well-documented woodland site. Based on its location, the size of the shelters, and their southern exposure, I am certain they had to be occupied over the years.
There are three rock ledges within 100 yards of each other, and each is located about 100 yards from the river. I decided to start with the 'most obvious' of the shelters (the biggest and deepest). It is about ten feet tall at the entrance and five feet tall at the back wall. The length is about twenty feet. The other two are about half that size.
I rigged my sifter to a tree at the top of the shelter and started raking out the leaves. It became immediately obvious that this has been a party spot for campers via canoe. I cleaned out hundreds of broken beer bottles (pigs). The style of the bottles shows that people have been in there for many years.
Once that was done, I started to dig. I focused on an area just inside the drip line. My first sift produced one piece of flint. Four hours later, I was 3.5' down...found no more flint...and was STILL pulling up recent garbage (including a 1967 penny). Ugh.
I have to assume that I'm digging through the refuse of the last person to sift the site....would you agree? Inside the shelter, there is a pit about four feet wide and a foot deep...I was 'hoping' that pit was just a place modern campers/partiers built their fires. Now I am starting to question whether investing the time to continue will only result in digging through what has already been dug.
On the bright side, I started in the MOST OBVIOUS place. Anybody who was going to dig the site would dig right where I dug. And, I could see no evidence of digging at the other shelters.
I've read a lot of comments on here about how productive the spots outside the shelter can be...but here, there is a deep drop/bank right outside.
Any thoughts or comments are welcome. Am I wasting my time? What would you do?
The spot is about one mile up river from one of my most productive farms, and about five miles below a well-documented woodland site. Based on its location, the size of the shelters, and their southern exposure, I am certain they had to be occupied over the years.
There are three rock ledges within 100 yards of each other, and each is located about 100 yards from the river. I decided to start with the 'most obvious' of the shelters (the biggest and deepest). It is about ten feet tall at the entrance and five feet tall at the back wall. The length is about twenty feet. The other two are about half that size.
I rigged my sifter to a tree at the top of the shelter and started raking out the leaves. It became immediately obvious that this has been a party spot for campers via canoe. I cleaned out hundreds of broken beer bottles (pigs). The style of the bottles shows that people have been in there for many years.
Once that was done, I started to dig. I focused on an area just inside the drip line. My first sift produced one piece of flint. Four hours later, I was 3.5' down...found no more flint...and was STILL pulling up recent garbage (including a 1967 penny). Ugh.
I have to assume that I'm digging through the refuse of the last person to sift the site....would you agree? Inside the shelter, there is a pit about four feet wide and a foot deep...I was 'hoping' that pit was just a place modern campers/partiers built their fires. Now I am starting to question whether investing the time to continue will only result in digging through what has already been dug.
On the bright side, I started in the MOST OBVIOUS place. Anybody who was going to dig the site would dig right where I dug. And, I could see no evidence of digging at the other shelters.
I've read a lot of comments on here about how productive the spots outside the shelter can be...but here, there is a deep drop/bank right outside.
Any thoughts or comments are welcome. Am I wasting my time? What would you do?
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I posted those links because they showed that there are people that feel shelters should be protected at least thats what I thought they contained. Anyway I was being friendly by just saying be careful. I also invited anyone to look up or call about this info as I don't have time nor do i really need to worry about it I don't dig shelters, I guess you don't have time either. You keep acting like you know the laws yourself firsthand but you dont at least I dont think you do. If you want to argue about this and take tones then you should find the correct info i dont have it nor did i ever claim to for sure. This is absurd. 
