Possible New Site?

SCMDing · Apr 12, 2008

I actually did not get to do much detecting today, BUT, I ended up digging an area that always kind of looked interesting.

We have an area where 2 springs meet and there were these old looking boards sticking out. Me and my boys decided to dig them up and realized there were quite a few. Then we realized that there was a larger 4x4 sized beam underneath it.

The flat boards had some square head nails in them and the end of the 4x4 had wooden plugs in them like you would see in a post and beam type structure. See the pictures below.

What I am trying to do is get an idea of when this was built, whatever it was. I wiggled out one nail and detected for a little while.

So, i found this today, and would really like to hear some guesses on how old the nail/partial structure may be. And if you think it is worth detecting

So any guesses!!

Old River · Apr 12, 2008

The one on the right looks a garder belt hook, and the round one looks like a musket powder flask top. I don't know what the spike was used for.

TXDIRTFISHER · Apr 12, 2008

I'd at least spend a few quality hours gridding the immediate area out. Even if you find some junk in a hole you could get more clues like pottery, old medicine tins, etc.

extractor · Apr 12, 2008

AS a kid ,I grew up on a old farm that was built inthe 1860'sThe barn and house had the same type of pin and dowel throught the structers. The object in the lower right looks like whats left of a keyway to a door. I would detect that area for sure. :thumbsup:

incajoe · Apr 12, 2008

It's hard to tell by the pictures but try to determine if the beam is hand hewn or not. If it was cut by a saw it is probably from the mid 1800's or later but if it was hand cut with an axe which would show chop marks and be more uneven then it is probably prior to the mid 1800's. The nail doesn't appear to be too early and seems to be machine made which would also date it to the later half of the 1800's. Of course none of this is written in stone since there was no specific date when they changed their construction methods but it will help you make assumptions about the age of the structure.

SCMDing · Apr 12, 2008

Thanks for all the responses. I was figuring that it was from somewhere around 1900 +/- 20 years.

I should have thrown in a dime to show the size of the items, the two on the bottom are slightly smaller than a dime.

Also, if for some reason you are getting red x's for the pictures, just refresh and they should show up. My site acts weird for some reason.

Again, thank you for the responses, I absolutely love this site and visit it all the time. (I do not post much though)

Oh yea, this is pretty close to the area where I found my Civil War button, not that it matters that much.