THE DEEP

[BestAntiquities]

Several years ago I went lake trout fishing in Lake Superior. The guide told me we had to go deep if we wanted fish. I asked how deep and he said 265 feet.

This same thing applies for a small percentage of lost goodies. There are times when side scan ground coverage isn't the most important thing. It's depth or no treasure.

Talk to anyone who hunts the beaches of Florida after a storm hits land. You can get lucky but usually the cobs are 2-5 feet deep under the sand. This means sand removable before there can be much hope of finding that shipwreck stuff.

Divers for Spanish Galleons know all about Prop Washers. Many times 20 feet of bottom must be moved to have a chance at the possible treasure.

All this holds true for the weekend treasure hunter. The super deep finds are a lot rarer for us but they do happen. Many parks were filled and leveled for grass back in the 30's-50's. Backfill from basements and backyard trash pits mean really deep finds.

My last great piece of jewelry was found about 20 inches deep. The ground had been hit by heavy equipment and I detected the hole and found the heart pendant about 8 inches below the bottom of the 12 inch pothole (approx.). Had it not been for that I never would have found it.

Most finds are shallow but we're kidding ourselves if we think they're never deep.

Comments?

MP

 

[The.Boomer]

It's funny you should write this when I just got through on another thread stating the why nots of depth. But lets start with the question of Why. Why go deep for simple items which isn't nessesary or worth while to dig in deep holes ? The people who say they are digging targets at 12" + and report it as though it's a real special thing since their detector found it at that depth as though noone elses can, are only kidding themselves and newbies alike. I see the same things posted at most of the forums I search. But All I can say is why ? I find almost all my goodies at 4" or less, I leave virtually no trace I've come n gone, I get no complaints, no sore backs or hands, and I stay relatively clean in the process giving our Treasure Hunters in general a better appearance to the general public. Let's save the backhoe work for the relic and meteorite hunters in backwoods out of the way areas and just do a little research at the library to find sites that payoff in the upper crusts rather than seek to go to china for what ? A silver rosie, or a copper wheatie ? Get real the shallower the better, less time, less trouble, less complaints, I rest my case.

 

[BestAntiquities]

I think I follow what you're saying. But my intent was not to get people to dig 4 foot holes in the city park I was just making the point that in some situations things can get very deep. And I'm not now talking about detector depth claims

I think you're mostly thinking hunting parks and the average yard. I used those examples only to make my point. And that is that things can get buried deeper.

Why? Well, that's a very subjective question. Why do some people climb mountains? To me that's dumb and a waist of time but they see it differently. We all get our kicks different ways.

I like metal detecting not for what I get but for the thrill of finding something of value that's a piece of history. See, I'm first a history buff and second a treasure hunter.

To find pockets full of clad is not my thing. But I'm glad for those who like that. That's cool for them; just not my thing.

I'l sweat and fight mosquitoes for days to find one Copper Culture artifact.

PM

 

[The.Boomer]

So I get from your statement and your Title that your a relic hunter. Then yes depth would be a serious aspect of your hunting abilities. But then those activities also take place mainly in woods, open farm feilds and other out of the way locales, so depth ouldn't be an issue and a back hoe could be employed if needed. So it is my understanding that even some of the less expensive MDs are capable of truly great depths given larger objects such as your dream article of a copper culture artifact like say an axe head. I would think could be detected down to at least a couple of feet.

 

[BestAntiquities]

So I get from your statement and your Title that your a relic hunter. Then yes depth would be a serious aspect of your hunting abilities. But then those activities also take place mainly in woods, open farm fields and other out of the way locales, so depth couldn't be an issue and a back hoe could be employed if needed. So it is my understanding that even some of the less expensive MDs are capable of truly great depths given larger objects such as your dream article of a copper culture artifact like say an axe head. I would think could be detected down to at least a couple of feet.

Yes, but it's odd that most I've dug were very shallow. I say most because I did dig one very deep once. I detected trash iron and since I was out in the farm field I dug down to check it out. After removing the trash I found the relic under it. That was a big hole maybe 5x5 and about 3 feet deep.

But I think most deep treasure got that way by some unnatural process. It may have been buried to hide it for future use; accidentally placed into a trash pit, or maybe part of an old grave site (there are many possibilities).

But like I've said for years, most everyday coin finds are less than 7 inches deep. For unfilled yards I'd say about 4 1/2 inches deep is the norm. Most any VLF today is cabable of finds these targets.

 

[The.Boomer]

Back in the day I would imagine that most anything a human wished to do away with was buried since it was their only form of disposal back then. Of course there are other natural forces such as floods, wind driven sand and dust as well as normal deposits of countless generations of leaf and plant matter which decomposes and breaks down to form fresh soil layers year after year after decade after eon etc...