What a thrill to find this INTACT after 150 years on the battlefield!

[parsonwalker]

I only dug ONE hole today, but it was a whopper. My digging buddies and I are calling this "blind hunting" on the battlefield. Pick a spot, dig down a foot and start listening for signals.



My hole ended up about 5' long and 2 or 3 feet wide. Here's what came out . . .



Regular digging buddy came up with this, digging the same way:



Guest-Digging buddy did well, too -



(Cap box finial beside the buckle)

But my find of the day was a thrill - simply because it survived in the ground. I found a package of percussion caps still wrapped in the original paper!



Here are pictures as I tried to remove the dirt later, without destroying the paper.



I've heard of packages being found, but never found one myself. Really made my hunt. I've dipped the whole thing in polyurethane to hopefully keep them from falling apart.

By the way, the package of caps was only about 18" deep. Some of the bullets were at 3 feet! Never would have found them without stripping off the top layer. Stuff's still down there boys . . . (and girls!)

 

[treasurehunter313]

Awesome finds and cool method of finding all of that. HH!

 

[RJ55]

you guys did great

 

[jmastny78]

Thats a really cool way to hunt! Nice finds and thanks for sharing!

 

[Garrett424]

Freakin' awesome finds.
I love those caps. It's a miracle they survived this long in the wrapping.

 

[gleaner1]

Great finds and awesome methods, we do exactly the same thing to find old trash pits and bottle dumps.

 

[UnderMiner]

The old method of archaeological excavation works wonders - research an area where you know something happened in the past - then simply dig a large shallow trench and sift though the dirt. Nice work, unbelievable that paper was still intact - but then again they're still digging up Roman correspondence letters near Hadrian's Wall - I guess this proves that as long as the paper (or any other organic material for that matter) is deprived of oxygen it can theoretically last for centuries or even longer.

 

[vpnavy]

Nice finds! Thanks for sharing...

 

[CMDiamonddawg]

Outstanding hunt and finds ! The blind hunt opened up a New layer of artifacts , I applied your idea and found a 1857 Flying eagle cent at an estimated 17 inches depth.

Thanks ,

CMDdawg

 

[antique man]

Amazing finds!

 

[charr45]

Awesome

 

[gsxraddict]

Has that area you dug been farmed and plowed much in the past?

 

[dirtlooter]

wow, if you are will to work at it, the rewards can be awesome like yours. those were pretty deep! pretty cool about those caps, good luck on future hunts

 

[Auriemma]

Cool stuff... Nice finds!

 

[DigIron2]

I have never seen caps come out like that ether, very neat.Where they close to the bullets when you found them?I was wandering because I know the lead's chemical reaction with wood preserves it.Nice Gardners too!

 

[Gaspipe]

Great finds and thanks for sharing your "technique". I always thought about doing the same things at a cellar hole or good field site. For example there always seams to be a relatively small zone or area around a cellar hole that you find a concentration of better stuff. For example I recently dug a cellar hole and found 3 large cents in a 20 square foot area. Looking at the area I'll bet it was where the farmer worked on his horse and oxen. I think your technique would be effective in a spot like I describe. Again thanks for sharing.

 

[Dirkdigger]

I use to find those two ring bullets daily at my beach in Newhaven ct.. I have a pile of them.. They tend to turn up more when the storms stir up the sand.. Fun to dig up..

 

[Ocean7]

thinking outside the box - excellent finds! Imagine being hit by one of those bullets - what a hole that would make.

 

[beez0404]

Wonder how the property owners would feel about you running a bobcat in there to scrap off 18" of overburden? The caps in the bag are outstanding!!!

 

[mirage83]

That's a very labor intensive hunting method, but nobody can say that it doesn't pay off for you. Great finds.