Mudlarking...Monkey See, Monkey Do!

[romeo-1]

Last night I was watching a show called Trashopolis. They were discussing how virtually all of London is built on centuries of garbage. They highlighted a group called "Mudlarkers" who scour the Thames for ancient and not so ancient treasure. I was amazed at what could be found along the shores of the river. I then Googled "Thames Mudlarking" and found an awesome site regarding the subject which is headed by the guy that was featured on Trashopolis. So, like any good treasure hunter I started thinking on my own potential mudlarking sites. I live near the oldest settlement in North America which has had a fort since the early 1600s so I figured that would be a good place to start. I checked the tide times and noted that low tide was at 7:45 this morning so I set the alarm and was on the shore outside the fort at 7:30. I wasn't as successful as those London Mudlarkers but I can definitely see the potential. There was a ton of glass and pottery which would date to the 1600 and 1700s.

The musketballs I found in an adjacent field with my detector after the tide came in but the Enfield I actually found with just my eyes on the shore below the fort. I also found a couple interesting rocks and am reasonably sure that one is a hafted scraper. It was found at the extreme low tide line. The round rock may have been worked (knapped) and is a nice chunk of local agate. I'm going to try to get an ID on the hafted scraper and will report back. Cheers all!

 

[romeo-1]

Interesting finds and a worthy hunt! Just be careful in that tidal area, I watched a Brit Extreme Archaeology show recently, they proved a Roman bridge over a tidal river. The Tide would come in within minutes. HH and good luck Mudlarking, I know of the Mudlarks as well and they make some great finds, Mike

Tell me about it...where I am doing this are the highest and fastest tides on the planet!!!

 

[Iron Patch]

Interesting finds and a worthy hunt! Just be careful in that tidal area, I watched a Brit Extreme Archaeology show recently, they proved a Roman bridge over a tidal river. The Tide would come in within minutes. HH and good luck Mudlarking, I know of the Mudlarks as well and they make some great finds, Mike

Tell me about it...where I am doing this are the highest and fastest tides on the planet!!!

Serious for sure there. I've been caught around a corner and that was just a river.... so I can only imagine what could happen there if you got on to something good and lost track of time. Wouldn't be bad to have a watch alarm or something else to warn you of the high tide.