Has anyone tried excavating a test area to MD?

[relicmeister]

I’ve often wondered this. Consider a colonial site you’ve remote many good targets , years later you’ve tried other detectors and continued to pull good targets but much less frequent. There’s iron everywhere. Maybe no trace of a cellar hole. I’ve seen colonial homesites where an area is excavated to a habitation strata maybe a foot deep and artifacts are found- brick, iron, pottery and ceramic and glass shards,?and metal artifacts. Clearly, if you took your cleaned out site and then removed a foot of topsoil over an area and run your MD over that ground, there may be now a whole new layer of targets, right? I want to hear from anyone who has tried this, and what they found when they did. I realize it’s not a practical thing that could be done in many cases at all but in all cases can only be done in a limited test Area way. On a 250 year old site, on average how deep down would be the period top of the ground?

 

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[CW3]

I was actually thinking about doing this in a 10 foot by 10 foot area in a spot I have.

1890"s school house on state land now in the boonies. Nobody will care if I'm digging. The place is a sheet of iron because the building fell down on itself and the wood rotted away. The only thing left is the foundation.

I pulled 1 coin from the place an 1893 IHP. I know this spot has been detected 100 times in the last 20 years, its on a plat map everyone uses. I was thinking on marking off a 10 by 10 area hit it with all my detectors then remove 10" of soil then recheck it. I just got a 12v shaker motor, I can make a sifter that vibrates. My soil is sand based, so I should not have a problem sifting the soil.

I was going to do this last summer but due to family issues, I did not get to detect very much. I will probably do it in April this year.

 

[invent4hir]

In 2020 I did what you're describing at the only "virgin" site I've detected in over 20 years. The former home was built in about 1815. I didn't remove the top 12" of soil - more like 6-8". Still I was rewarded with several more flat buttons and other artifacts - so thought it was well worth the effort. The area was heavily shaded w/ virtually no undergrowth, which made the job easier.

 

[relicmeister]

No doubt that doing this will often bring some rewards. It’s going to be hit or miss but worth trying whenever possible. I have a number of spots I’m planning to test excavate.

 

[Diggitdaddy]

The thought of excavating a site has crossed my mind, our state historical society does it. They typically use large sifters on a stand...one person dumps in a 5 gallon bucket of dirt thru a wire mesh. This would catch all relics non metallic...small indian beads, clay pipe stems ect.

 

[invent4hir]

I forgot to mention one thing - regardless of age - manage expectations. At the start of the season (March-April) I never detect for more than 2 hours straight. After a month passes, half-days are realistic, but can still wear me out. Figuring out what you're able to handle varies from one detectorist to another.

 

[Rhapsody]

I’ve often wondered this. Consider a colonial site you’ve remote many good targets , years later you’ve tried other detectors and continued to pull good targets but much less frequent. There’s iron everywhere. Maybe no trace of a cellar hole. I’ve seen colonial homesites where an area is excavated to a habitation strata maybe a foot deep and artifacts are found- brick, iron, pottery and ceramic and glass shards,?and metal artifacts. Clearly, if you took your cleaned out site and then removed a foot of topsoil over an area and run your MD over that ground, there may be now a whole new layer of targets, right? I want to hear from anyone who has tried this, and what they found when they did. I realize it’s not a practical thing that could be done in many cases at all but in all cases can only be done in a limited test Area way. On a 250 year old site, on average how deep down would be the period top of the ground?

I

I’ve often wondered this. Consider a colonial site you’ve remote many good targets , years later you’ve tried other detectors and continued to pull good targets but much less frequent. There’s iron everywhere. Maybe no trace of a cellar hole. I’ve seen colonial homesites where an area is excavated to a habitation strata maybe a foot deep and artifacts are found- brick, iron, pottery and ceramic and glass shards,?and metal artifacts. Clearly, if you took your cleaned out site and then removed a foot of topsoil over an area and run your MD over that ground, there may be now a whole new layer of targets, right? I want to hear from anyone who has tried this, and what they found when they did. I realize it’s not a practical thing that could be done in many cases at all but in all cases can only be done in a limited test Area way. On a 250 year old site, on average how deep down would be the period top of the ground?

I have done this also. What I did was to bring a sheet to put the excavated dirt on and dug a 10 x 10 foot square about 6 inches down. I then raked the dirt evenly, pulled out all the visible iron in the freshly dug square with a rare earth magnet then scanned the newly revealed layer with my 5 inch magic snipe coil very slowly. Pulled a dozen indian head pennies from a small collapsed homesite I thought was hunted out. Then i rinsed and repeated a second time and found a nice watch winding key. Totally worth it if you have the time and energy. Good luck!

 

[villagenut]

Once you sift a site having great potential, you will always want to have your screen ready on the next site....really addicting. You realize real quick of all the artifact you would miss otherwise....

 

[Fredneck]

Try to get your hands on this book, 'Discovering Virginia Colonial Artifacts' by Bill Dancy. This book covers every aspect of what your thinking from A to Z. A wealth of information, from research and locating tools, to site approach on early settler to late colonial, and also the digging. Also, many many pages of every type of relic, glass, buttons, coins and so on, no better reference out there for ID'n what your digging. Though I've excavated a couple colonial sites that I've stumbled into, only because of my experience excavating Civil War camps did I have success. This book has certainly ensured me of future success on digging sites well after the detector goes quiet.
Also in American Digger Magazine(also available online) latest issue 'Vol 18 Issue 1', he submitted an article 'A Window into Va History' that covers the non-detector approach as well.

 

[Rhapsody]

Try to get your hands on this book, 'Discovering Virginia Colonial Artifacts' by Bill Dancy. This book covers every aspect of what your thinking from A to Z. A wealth of information, from research and locating tools, to site approach on early settler to late colonial, and also the digging. Also, many many pages of every type of relic, glass, buttons, coins and so on, no better reference out there for ID'n what your digging. Though I've excavated a couple colonial sites that I've stumbled into, only because of my experience excavating Civil War camps did I have success. This book has certainly ensured me of future success on digging sites well after the detector goes quiet.
Also in American Digger Magazine(also available online) latest issue 'Vol 18 Issue 1', he submitted an article 'A Window into Va History' that covers the non-detector approach as well.

Awesome info!

 

[CaptEsteban]

Awesome info!

I have done this many times during archaeological work. Everything is sifted , usually with 1/4” wire mesh.

 

[Rhapsody]

I have done this many times during archaeological work. Everything is sifted , usually with 1/4” wire mesh.

Thank you Captain, this is what I used to build my lil shaker box so nice to have confirmation. I've definitely noticed that instead of swinging a detector on huge fields and getting bigger and deeper coils if I just dig a small pit in the middle of the ironpile feel with my fingers I find great stuff too.

What I am realizing is to focus on the micro not the macro when expanding your treasure hunting horizons. Less aggravating to thoroughly work a site then constantly looking for bigger and better sites to hunt. Guess age is mellowing my approach. I no longer want to 'run down the hill and find a coin' but 'walk down the hill and find it all' (stealing Duvall's analogy in 'Colors')

Honestly ive been getting more and more into treasure hunting without a metal detector...more enjoyable to me, less pressure, & more culturally significant finds just takes more time (got a lot of that these days just wrong season..lol)

 

[CaptEsteban]

It may amaze you what you will find by sifting areas that have been worked over HARD by the best detectors & operators. I have found many " buckee balls," buttons , gun parts, shrapnel, horse tack, etc., that were 6" deep.

 

[Tommybuckets]

I've done this with one of the t-net members n posted the pics here. We found cooking ash and pipe stems and a massive iron signal that indicates a trash pit area and/ or cooking area. We also did a lot of probing with a steel rod to feel the stones of building foundations. We then excavated an area the size of a couch down about 10" onto tarps beside the hole, scanned the dirt and the hole and ran the trench deeper and toward the ash, oyster shells and signals and repeated. We had one of our best coin and artifact days ever (at least for me) finding numerous hammered and milled coins and artifacts but alas no intact bottles. The hole ended up being about 3' deep by 8' by 3'. It was a ton of work but I'll do it again soon. We've done this 3-4 times with varied success. The site was inhabited 1680s and largely abandoned by 1800. The oldest coins identified were 1500s! It was a muddy and exhausting mess but we're hoping to try again soon.