Telltale signs of fill dirt...

Wanted to start a thread where everyone can chime in with their tips, techniques & strategies for better identifying when a site has been filled in. I'll start...

No Roots - If the site you are hunting has trees, look at the base of them. If you cannot see the roots of the tree "spidering out" from under the soil, chances are it's been filled in. Grass all the way around and abutting the base of the tree covers the roots. Filled.

Rocky, Lighter Colored Soil - Black dirt is always a good sign. Normally means original ground. Rocky, brown soils tend to be indicative of fill...not always, but, a good portion of the time.

Newer Coinage & Junk - If you're digging down 5", 6" or more and are pulling out pop-tops, memorial cents or anything else fairly current, chances are the site has been filled. Or, the coins have sunk too deep for current detectors to hit on.

Perfection - This is very general, but, It's been mainly accurate for me in the past. The "prettier" or better looking a site is normally means it's been made up, ie; filled in. Luscious green grass with beautiful flowers & foliage, giant areas without any hills or slopes, perfectly formed walkways cutting through the dirt or grass, etc. All of this is NOT natural 95% of the time. Meaning, it's man made...or filled as we say

Any others? Let's hear yours...



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/2011 11:18PM by njnydigger.

In my area, Boise,ID, its rocks/pebbles almost exclusively as the give-away. And black dense soil almost always denotes original non-fill dirt.

What 'era' of targets...........are at 'what' depth-strata. This is a tell-all.

Very interesting thread. njnydigger -- I agree with you on the tree roots -- somewhat. It depends. Some types of trees, in some parts of the country, do send out shallow surface roots. So, if you are not seeing those roots, you may have fill dirt issues. HOWEVER, other types of trees, in other parts of the country, do NOT send out shallow roots. Examples -- I grew up in PA, and several types of maple trees in particular send out shallow, surface roots. Even here in Oklahoma, anywhere folks have planted maple trees, you will see those same shallow, exposed roots. HOWEVER, other types of trees do NOT send out shallow roots, and thus can give the appearance of fill dirt having been spread, when it really hasn't. For instance, here in Oklahoma, the primary hardwoods in my area are Post Oaks and Blackjack Oaks. Neither of these send out shallow roots; instead, then send a very deep main tap root straight down. Also, black walnut trees, as another example, do not have surface roots. Back in PA, black cherry trees were an example of a tree that did not tend to send out shallow surface roots -- while many pines and, again, maples, do.

Just a few things to think about. The hint about checking the tree roots is a good one, but you need to know what kind of tree you are dealing with, in order to properly read the situation.

Steve

The tree roots & darker/richer soil has usually indicated a non-fill dirt area in my neck of the woods. Ga. red clay shows up big time when an area should have darker more organic soil. Found my first 3-ringer & many Silver coins around massive trees with exposed roots! Some trees can be hundreds of years old and have provided shade for many throughout their years! I love BIG trees & hunt around them when I can!

Been swingin' a White's since the 70's - 5 machines, Currently an XLT & Fisher F75 LE - 50,000 finds, 30,000 (or so) keepers. Published in the White's catalog. Always looking for good/decent hunting buds! Get in touch!

Interesting thread especially relative the roots.....different colored dirt in spots is usually a telltale sign that low spots have been filled in but throw that out the window if for instance the whole yard has been redone with a dirt more condusive to having a nice lawn..With so many soil areas, sandy, rocky, clayish etc.hard to tell relative the sink rate
and yes light pulltabs do go deep in some areas. Whoops one more relative low spot filling the grass is just different.
Always hunt the spots with no grass especially in old areas as most fellows just walk over those spots and leave a goodie or two for the next guy...

Most of your list is good, but I'm not sure I follow on the last one. Black dirt is great for planting and often gives you very nice grass. If the grass is full of crab grass and weeds, there's a good chance it's either absent of top soil (scraped) or has been filled in with less desirable growing dirt.

Sometimes fill dirt can be better than original dirt.

Just remember that when a park is being re-landscaped, the fill dirt could have come from an old site.

In the Toronto area, there was a site I was at, and avoided a playground because they had brought in fresh dirt from an excavation somewhere. Finally after a few visits to the park, I decided to try detecting the new fill dirt.

After about 3 hours, I had over 30 pre 1920 silver coins, a stamp for making train tickets, a sterling silver thimble, some railroad bag tags, and other assorted pieces.

The same is true for another park just north of downtown toronto, where a detectorist that i bought a used vibraprobe from found a few late 1800's quarters dimes and nickels.

I think that all fill dirt is worth checking, because in some cases it might be older than the original dirt, or be from somewhere that couldn't have been detected previously