Salt Marsh Digging

[detectingdude]

Hello everyone! Last year I was on vacation up in Maine staying at the beach. One day I decided to go exploring in one of the salt marshes at low tied close to where I was staying. Expecting to find seashells and sea glass I was very surprised to find a nice stoneware bear bottle and frenches mustard jar along with many pieces of broken glass and ceramics all within just a few yards of each other sitting right on top of the mud. The next day I went back and found a whiskey jar and more broken glass all in the same spot. Now this year I'm back and I'm almost positive that there are more and older bottles in the marsh as the town I'm staying in was established in the mid 17th century. but my question is how do I go about this? Do the tides move and scatter the dumps? How would one dig in the marsh? And how would one find a dump? Thanks so much for reading! And thanks for any help in advance!


Happy Hunting, James

 

[detectingdude]

Also out of the broken ceramic pieces I was able to glue and piece together most of an old oyster jar. Here is the beer bottle and jar.

 

[sunrunner]

hi, dumps in a salt marsh can be hard to dig depending on how many Oster shells and weeds there are. many times what you find in the estuaries are things that have washed up from the sea over the years . If in deed you have found a dump, find the perimeter and start digging in to were the trash is. most likely you well see grey ash and black ash , this will tell you that you are in a dump. use a probe to feel around for glass , bricks whatever . good luck.

 

[detectingdude]

Awesome! Thanks a ton! I'll head down today and start digging

 

[Harry Pristis]

Unlikely to be a submerged trash dump. For scattered throwaways and drift bottles, you may want stout waders and a four-pronged hay fork. Walk an organized search pattern, probing for glass buried in the muck. Carefully excavate targets with a garden fork. Avoid digging with your hands because of broken glass. Let us see what you find.

 

[MuckyBottles]

Salt marshes is my personal go to location for bottles, especially of there's old piers or bulkheads

 

[MuckyBottles]

^that's where I do 99% of my digging, if your going the wader route, if you have access to a clam rake with 8-9ft handle, use that.

 

[detectingdude]

^that's where I do 99% of my digging, if your going the wader route, if you have access to a clam rake with 8-9ft handle, use that.

Do you have any suggestions on how I should go about it?

 

[MuckyBottles]

Start with the basics, you most definitely need a pitchfork and a potato rake. Do test digs, once you hit a patch of grey matter such as ash, etc. Dig away and use the potato rake to clear the hole.