Treasure Hunting Central America

[GoldfingerLLC]

Greetings! I am in an old colonial town in Central America trying some new equipment over the foundations of old colonial Spanish homes. Some of these homes can be up to 500 years old(at least the foundations anyway). We are having some difficulty with out equipment in this environment. If anyone has any suggestions as to improve out search it would be appreciated. Check out "Rogue Treasure Hunter" on Facebook and the same on Youtube.

We are using 3 different detectors. Scanmaster Quad 1550, Makro Deepseeker and the Crypton OBMD #2. We are experiencing difficulty with electrical but beginning to adjust for that. Having difficulty with the Makro over the floors. Well, the Scanmaster kinda speaks for itself.

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

what type objects are you looking for ? Eg.: Individual fumble finger losses coins/relics ? Caches? etc.... How deep do you suspect ?

 

[GoldfingerLLC]

Spanish gold. This area has been attacked by pirates at least 5 times including William Walker(Filibuster). Some of the homes here that have been remodeled have had caches of gold bars, jewelry and coins. Some in the old adobe walls and some under the foundations. The idea is to go to 3 meters depth with the equipment for the foundations. The walls have too much crap in them for the coil. 3 meters sounds deep but since many of the original foundations have been built upon over the years due to destruction it is not unreasonable. We have already been ghosted several times and dug for nothing but have come across many human and horse bones as well as pieces of ceramic and china.

 

[Scrappy]

Cool! Sounds like an adventure. With very sensitive machines you're bound to get interference from surrounding electricity and such. How close together are you using these detectors? The reason I ask is they will interfere with one another if within a certain distance.

 

[GoldfingerLLC]

That is correct. The interference from the low lying power lines parallel to the houses is causing problems. First I use the Scanmaster by the book. I have found that it is not very reliable. I will give a signal line to an anomaly or a non-precious metal target. But, a metal target none the less. Then I use the Crypton OBMD #2 over the target area that the Scanmaster detected to see of I get a signal. This is supposed to only be gold, silver or copper in that order. Then comes the Makro to confirm at least a metal target and try and get the depth. Yes, one cannot have the Makro on and the Crypton in the same vicinity. The soil conditions here are optimal for any coil. The soil here is probably a class 4 on the dielectric scale. Just sediment. Low mineral content.

 

[GoldfingerLLC]

But, we are working on cheap cement tiles. Very difficult to ground balance.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

... The idea is to go to 3 meters depth ....

That's nearly 10 ft. ! Even with your explanation following, I'll have to be a kill-joy and say, that anytime someone comes on with a "spanish treasure 10 ft. deep", it's almost always superstition and treasure-legend ghost story stuff. The giveaway is the incredible depths (and usually millions of dollars in gold) that are "bullet proof and iron-clad true".

For example, you say:

... Some of the homes here that have been remodeled have had caches of gold bars, jewelry and coins. Some in the old adobe walls and some under the foundations.....

So too did I hear of such fabulous caches found in walls, floors, etc... of the places my host was going to take me to in Mexican towns of the Sierra Madres, that date back to the 1600s. Thus *certainly* if const. worker, or gardener, etc... is finding these things by accident, then certainly a detector would make child's play of finding more. Right ?

But when we got down there, I asked my host to introduce me to some of these various people he knew of, that had found these caches. And one by one, the stories (which seemed SO iron-clad in the USA) fell apart. Invariably, you talk to the person, and ... it turns out ... they didn't actually see the coins. But they got it on good authority from the person who saw them. So you track down THAT person, and ... you guessed it: they didn't actually see them either. But not to worry, because they heard about it from their uncle Miguel, who heard it first hand from the construction worker. So you finally track down THAT person, and ... you guessed it. They didn't actually see the coins either. But not to worry, because they got it on good authority from their buddy at the campfire while they were all at a party 10 yrs. earlier. And on and on and one it goes. You can never actually see the coins. Yet in their mind's eyes, this is "first-hand info" still. They simply can not see the telephone game going on.

So too do I bet you've never actually seen coins found in such a fashion. You've heard about it, and you have no reason to doubt those that told you. But if you start digging deeper, you'll see the stories fall apart in the same way as I describe.

And I don't get the "3 meters" stuff: If the stuff is in walls, then walls (even of thick adobe) are rarely more than a foot thick (in-so-far-as the wall -hunting side of your story goes).

If you're still convinced there's treasures waiting for you in all these places, get a 2-box unit.

We found individual coins back to the 1850s in Mexico, but no caches. Had a lot of fun, but I came away with a big dis-trust of all the treasure lore that fills Mexican culture, as nothing but camp-fire stories gone awry. And humorously, even when you show them that there no metal (treasure) in the floor of a cave, for instance (because you pull out your headphone jack and let them listen for themselves that it's utterly sterile in there), that still doesn't convince them. That doesn't mean there's not a certain treasure there. It merely means you need a detector that goes ...... you guessed it .... 3 meters deep. Aaarrrgghhhh

 

[GoldfingerLLC]

Thanks for the reply Tom. I hear ya on the legends and lies thing. But, there is only one way to find out and that is to go there and do it. As far as the depth with the Makro we are using the only way to go that deep(I believe) is for there to be a very large metal target. Actually, what I could use here is GPR to detect any structure under the foundations. It's just cement tiles with compact dirt underneath.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... As far as the depth with the Makro .....

One problem we encountered in Mexico, was trash everywhere . Those little villages don't have curbside garbage service like we're accustomed to here in the USA. So everyone buries their trash out behind their house in burn pits. Or takes it out to the nearest river to dump over a cliff. Or take it out to the nearest ruins and chucks it. Trash EVERYWHERE.

So it got to where, when we prepared to chase new leads to the 200 to 300 yr. old houses, that I would ask them first: "Basura in la tierra?". To which they would say "no, it's clean". Because in their mind's eyes, they don't see trash out in their yard, or in the floors of their dirt-floor houses, etc... But the minute we turn on the detectors, it was un-ending trash. Cans, aluminum, etc... from all the trash burial/burn, etc... They simply have no grasp of electonics, and the amount of metal in the ground. So to them, it's clean. And can't understand why your detector isn't one that "only finds gold", doh!

So if you're angling for big ticket caches, do NOT get a standard machine like a makro. Even though, yes, they'll find caches very easily, and just as deep as a 2-box, yet you'll FOREVER BE BOGGED down digging small trash. Even if you set your mind to mentally reject all small targets, you'll forever be bogged down digging them "just to be sure", blah blah. But a TM 808, on the other hand, will not find an object smaller than a soda can (approximately). Hence the perfect discriminator for pesky foil wads, tabs, nails, individual coins, etc.... And if used on walls: the perfect discriminator for wiring, flashing, nails , etc... in the walls.

However, this assumes that your cache is necessarily larger than a soda can. Who says? There can be smaller bread and butter caches only the size of a tobacco tin, for instance.

 

[GoldfingerLLC]

That is correct. We have already encountered this issue with large iron nails(squarheads, old school)and typically other small iron and steel trash. No bottlecaps or cans underneath yet. The cement tile floors are a hinderance as it is. The Makro advertises with the use of the general and large coil that it will not detect small, shallow items but we are learning that is not the case. Depending on the sensitivity setting. And on volcanic material outside of the sediment work area it will not ground balance at all. Still learning though. Yes, a Whites two box should work here too. The adobe walls here can be up to a meter thick. A lot of the original walls were blown away by cannon fire or just burned down and a lot of it was replaced by red brick in the early 18th century and onward.

The debris under the tiles you see in the videos can be as new as 60 years to 500 years old. Thank goodness the coil does not pick up human bones! I spoke to one of the Government officials here that confiscated the gold bars from the wall of one of the houses after the employees blabbed to everyone. He said it was 50 kilos of small Spanish gold bars. One of the problems with the walls of course is all the electric and also copper, brass and iron garbage.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... I spoke to one of the Government officials here that confiscated the gold bars from the wall of one of the houses after the employees blabbed to everyone. He said it was 50 kilos of small Spanish gold bars....

And so goes the endless sure-fire-iron-clad stories. But gauranteed: If you tried to trace this story down, and verify it, you would wind up in endless regression of telephone game. And with an ounce of skepticism, you'll begin to ask yourself if treasure lore isn't simply a part of the culture. Same for the Phillipines, where there's a "certain treasure in every cave" and hundreds of stories like yours, authoritative maps passed down through the generations, or secret magic symbols, blah blah

As for the small-items you wish to pass, yes: On standard machines you'd have to have loops as big as hoola hoops, before you loose sensitivity to coin-sized objects. Because there are 15 and 17" loops right NOW being used for standard coin hunting as-it-is.

But a word of warning: If you tune the TM-808 to be very balanced, and very sensitive, and hold it close to the ground, you can actually pick up objects about as small as a domino, or apricot size. So if you find yourself starting to chase small targets like this, just hold it higher up off the ground

 

[GoldfingerLLC]

Thank you Tom for the reply. We are looking into the Whites two-box. Good advice. But, as far as the legends and lore part you do have a point. Sometimes, you just have to go out and do the best that you can with what you have to see if it is true. There is only one way to find out and that is to go and do it. Fortune favors the brave.

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in that gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”

 

[Gold Maven]

sounds like great fun goldfinger.

I would try further away from the houses, if the scenario you imagine is people hurriedly burying their valuables ahead of a pirate attack, try to imagine what you would do.

probably run into the woods/jungle, behind a rock/big tree quickly dig a shallow hole. If you are having trouble at the foundations, move away if possible.

Good luck, post some pics.

 

[GoldfingerLLC]

Thanks Gold Maven. We appreciate that. I will send some pics soon and post on our new site. The occupants of the homes at that time hid Their items of interest because there were no institutions here to deposit Their capital for safe keeping. There were no front yards here. Everything was kept inside including the horses. When the Pirates attacked the people here did not stand a chance. The Buccaneers were the special forces of Their day. Morgan is famous here. Sneak attack. Took out the sentries guarding the church bells. Went up the narrow streets and slaughtered everyone. He did at least keep some folks alive for ransom. Better than the French Guy who came by for a bloody raid later. Thanks