"the painful truth" ...

... and "beneath the mask". on Sunday I read both, three times in succession. I'm glad I didn't read these before I started in clearing at the park .. I would have taken your word for it and never went as far as I did .. or learned the lessons I did (I'm a much more of a 'hands on' learner/thinker).. the findings of your ventures compared to my own are so similar and what I thought I was understanding was only confirmed by these articles...thanks so much for that.
I decided I would do a similar 'clearing' at another corner of this 4 corner park built in 1800..and record it. Sunday, after reading your articles, I did a quick 1 hour grid there, looking for any targets I may have missed before .. T2se set at 99/0/1 on the discrim side, GB about 75.. it is a clear slate of the obvious good "dig me" targets .. yet, many target reports of things I would normally pass on were present, including a lot of targets in the iron range .. I will hunt to the limits of the T2, then report my findings.
Any tips on recording .. what needs to be or should be recorded, etc?
Also, in the 20 years since you published these articles, have we seen another 100% increase in a detector's ability, are we to the point where a detector can now see 10% of the goods?

This should be interesting of what you may find.I have been thinking of doing this but my ground would be better to be sifted . subey



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/2021 04:39PM by subey.

Scott. Wow. A lot to say.
First........ I have minimum prerequisites before I even begin an excavation excursion. The top three rationale: Is the dirt littered with iron. (Detector will tell you this). Secondly...... how old is the iron ...(((...square-nails?))). Thirdly........what 'type' of non-ferrous implements came up ....in this dirt.
There's a few other things I consider........but these top 3 equates to: 70% pit-dig determination.

Do your best on recording the amount/type.....and especially: the 'volume' of iron debris. The iron debris is the pinnacle/critical/educational/indices as to 'how much' masking is taking place........and 'solidifies' (on an electronic...and archaeological stance) as to WHAT we are confronted with (fatally handicapped)......with our detectors.
Then.........document every piece of non-ferrous target recovered.........,,,,,,,,,,,........regardless of conductivity. Sheer volume is much more important over conductivity & size/shape. If you are electronically astute......you may find extra interest in targets of substantial/sheer 'mass'.....in direct relationship to severity of masking.

I can fairly comfortably say......... In 25-years of technological advancement.........we have doubled the amount of: Unmasking Non-ferrous targets in nail infested sites. Here is (one of) my basis.....for base-reference: I have a CZ-6 with 10.5" coil. I have a EQX with 11" coil. Both achieve nearly identical depth (here in Florida inert dirt)....on a clad dime or zinc penny. The CZ will unmask at a rate of 2%. The EQX will unmask at a rate of 4%. This is DOUBLE. (((A 100% improvement))). But....... this is also to say: (on average) 96% of non-ferrous targets remain masked by iron. A sanatizing 'pit-dig' in a human-habitation area..... will (very painfully) afford you this tuition/education. (((None of these numbers hold true......if you are out in the wilderness where little/no human habitation existed))).

These are my findings......with over 100 pit-digs.......mostly independent; yet, a small handful with Archaeologists.

Good luck! ((( Actually: Good skillset/patience/perseverance/endurance/stamina ))) Keep us posted.

Thanks Tom .. this gives me good direction
.. and also an idea that maybe, as time goes on, I could/should incite some interest from the local history dept. with a well kept set of notes from my findings or a small donated display of such .. which in turn could lead to further explorations locally .. just a tangent.. one that needs to excite the right person(s).
I will post notes as I can.
This morning was the first of the year to be at 25 degrees at wake up ... solid freeze up could be just around the corner.

Side benefit - you could be rewarded with a gold coin like Tom was (if memory serves).

ScoTTT2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks Tom .. this gives me good direction
> .. and also an idea that maybe, as time goes on, I
> could/should incite some interest from the local h
> istory dept. with a well kept set of notes from my
> findings or a small donated display of such .. whi
> ch in turn could lead to further explorations loca
> lly .. just a tangent.. one that needs to excite t
> he right person(s).
> I will post notes as I can.
> This morning was the first of the year to be at 25
> degrees at wake up ... solid freeze up could be ju
> st around the corner.

Thanks Gary .. if that was to happen my metal detecting will have a completely new style .. this corner of the park has given me my first ever silver coin, 1881 Canadian five cents (fish scale) along with a few other silvers and older coins .. also two gold pieces, a small diamond 14K ladies ring and a 10K cufflink .. the soil here is original, with the exception of the fill along the sidewalks .. it is on the first town plan of 1792, but not cleared until around 1800, by this time two roads had crossed it, making it a four corner park .. one side had the commerce of a few different merchants (each ended with a fire to their buildings) now that side is the home of a church, built in the late 1870s .. the adjacent side, now home to a phone company building, was once an Inn, which became apartments until the time it too burned down. It was covered in knee deep water during the flood of 1935 for a week and although I cannot find mention of the floods of the 1800s covering it, I'm sure that happened too.
Surely gold coins have passed over the land of this corner, maybe even dropped and still waiting.