5/14/15 Report - Breaking Out Of The Rut And Beating The Crowd. Prospecting For New Metal Detecting Sites. Barber Dime Find.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

!904 Barber Dime Find
Find and photo by Dan B.

Sometimes it might seem like there are too many people with detectors these days and that every good place has been cleaned out.  There are a lot of guys with detectors, but the fact is that most of them are hunting the same few spots. It's true! If you stop at some beaches any day of the week, you'll see one or two other detectorists and sometimes six or more.  

Dan B. found the nice 1904 Barber dime shown here.  Really neat!  Besides sending the photo of his recent find, Dan  mentioned something that I talked about before.  It is something that helped him, and it might help you too.

Here is what Dan said.

 I remember what you once said about barriers or things that guard good targets. Like depth, a tree, or weather, etc.

It has served me well to actually go looking for "the dragon" that signals a possibly hidden spot.  It is really about determination and creativity.

Same Dime
Find and photo by Dan B.

I did say that, and it is true.  While there are a lot of guys out there detecting, most of them are doing the easy thing.  They go to a place where they can park their car and walk across the walkover and start detecting.  It doesn't take much time or effort.  

The guys that are finding the most are spending the most time detecting, but they are doing something else as well.  They go a step or two beyond what most people are doing.

One guy I knew was good in the water.  He was very fit and an expert at what he did.  He would swim across the intercoastal if that is what it took.  As a result he found and detected good places that he had all to himself.

Others weren't so good in the water, but would walk miles to get to a good spot.  That is how they took it to another level and beat the crowd.

I know that not everybody is able to do that kind of thing, but many just aren't willing.  That is one of the biggest differences between the guys that make more finds and the others.

In many cases, it just takes a little additional effort.  In some cases, it takes a lot.

Don't get me wrong.  If you detect for a little casual entertainment and want to get out there and relax, there is nothing wrong with that, but don't expect to get as much as someone who is dead set on coming back with something very nice and spends the additional time and puts in the additional effort.

I remember one day when I was determined to get a piece of gold.  I wasn't having much luck that day either.  I started in the morning and it took me to near sundown to hit that piece of gold.

I'm not like that anymore.  I'm much more casual about things.  Back then I was trying to see what I could do.  Now I know what I can do and what it takes, and I'm not as driven.  If I really got interested in doing something in particular, I could be just as intense again, but usually I don't need to.   

In Dan's email he mentioned an ant hill, which is where he found the dime.  Anything that can discourage others can protect a treasure for you.  It can be weeds, bushes, distance, weather, hard rocky soil, muck or mud, trash or whatever.  Anything that will discourage the crowds provides an opportunity - if you are willing and able  to overcome it.

I remember my first introduction to fire ants.  It was while digging a target.  Now it seems I'm almost immune to fire ants.

By the way, in the past year I've seen three Coral snakes.  Watch out for anything venomous.

When people are going through one of those inevitable dry spells, which are bound to happen from time to time, the first thing they start to question is their detector.  If you do some simple tests like those I've described in the past, you can quickly tell if your detector is performing well enough. The problem is seldom the detector though.  More often you have fallen into a rut, doing the same old things at the same old places time and time again.  Yes, conditions play a part in it, and to some extent luck, but when you have been striking out on a regular basis, it is always a good idea to try something different - something that will separate you from the pack, and maybe something you've never tried before.

Believe it or not, despite the number of other detectorists, there are still good spots out there that you can have all to yourself if you are willing to invest some time in exploring new areas.  When you explore new areas, you might strike out nine times out of ten, but that one hit will be worth the effort.  It can pay off for years to come.

Don't think that just because you didn't find anything the first time you visited a new spot that it is no good.  There are always the current conditions to take into account.  It will often take a few visits to identify a good new spot.

When I was hunting hot and heavy down south, I hunted some of the same spots as everyone else, but I also had a number of spots that I had very much to myself.  I would visit them over and over and never see anyone else there.  They really weren't all that difficult to find either, but they did require some prospecting.  

When conditions won't change for the better, you might have to.

On the Treasure Coast expect something like a two foot surf for a few days.  Nothing better in sight real soon.  We do have a nice negative tide though.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/12/14 Report - Archaeology Site Closed. How To Decide When To Quit. More On Walls Full Of Silver Coins. No Cyclones.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.BlogSpot.com.


Treasure Coast Beach This Morning


I found this interesting article that raises some questions.  It is about an archaeological site that has been studied since Victorian days and was more recently excavated by numerous students and professionals until one archaeologist finally declared that there was 'nothing left except gravel and natural geology.'

Here is a brief excerpt from hat article.

The public is invited in for one last open day Saturday, when there will be tours, craft demonstrations, and displays of this year's best finds, including a red pottery bowl as immaculate as if made yesterday, a massive thumb ring with an enamel inlay, and a copper alloy bottle opener, which proved to be the folding handle of a Roman soldier's skillet – apart from the decoration, almost identical to a first world war mess tin handle.

Here is the link for the rest of the article.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/aug/08/silchester-roman-town-closes-natural-geology-archaeological-excavation-ends%20%20

One person wondered how long a site should be dug.   That to me is an interesting question.   This site was dug until they decided that there was nothing left but gravel and dirt.

That question of when to quit can be applied to metal detecting too.  When do you quit on a detecting site?   The answer depends on a lot of factors.  

If it is a site where there is continual replenishment of targets, such as a beach, then the answer might be never.

If you ask the question about a shipwreck site, for some the answer might still be never - at least not in their lifetime.   But for others the time to give up might come much sooner.  

The time to give up isn't necessarily when there is nothing left.  It might be much sooner when there are other more productive site.  You only have so much time to spend.

The decision about when to give up on a land site is often easier than a shipwreck site. 

Still the decision can be difficult.  Is the site really hunted out?  That might depend on you talk to. 

Will technology improve enough to make a site more productive again - perhaps in different ways?  That is another question.

Personally, I still am often surprised by how many times I can go over a land site and continue to find things.   That is especially true when you have used one detector or technique and then the next time use another detector or technique.  It is easy to think a site is cleaned out when there is still more to be found.

The goal is always one of the main considerations.   Without specific goals, you can't really evaluate success.  What do you want to find?  What types of things?   Is the goal to get everything, or only the best things?

In this study it seems that one of the most earth-shattering conclusions is that olives were eaten in England earlier than thought.   How important is it to know that?  To me it doesn't seem very important.   Not important enough to spend tons of time and money on.  But you never know what you will find before you begin.

Some people would say the fact that olives were eaten in England earlier than thought is or could be very important.  I'm sure those people are the ones that expect to get something out of the study - if not a salary, perhaps publications, recognition and professional advancement.  Good for them!  But is that why the site is being studied.  Judge for yourself.

It seems to me that archaeology is often practiced as if the primary purpose was to keep archaeologists employed. 

Lets not forget about the red pottery bowl, massive thumb ring and bottle opener that the pubic will get to view.  And whatever important information those objects might add.   But do the results justify the cost?  That is a question that should be answered.  Is it the best use of time and resources?

The same can be said of a metal detecting site.   Do the results justify the costs? 

In my opinion, that question should be answered in a very different way than a project that is being funded involuntarily by tax-payers. 

Metal detecting is voluntarily done by individuals at their own cost.  Many of the products are difficult to quantify -  recreation, exercise, lost items found and returned, and even occasionally but rarely, important discoveries that lead to archaeological investigations.

Whether you are talking about an archaeological project, shipwreck salvage (also archaeological but privately funded), or a simply metal detecting, there is a decision to be made.  In each of those three cases the decision should be made in a different way, but in all cases the decision has to be made. 

In all three cases, the decision has to be made without perfect knowledge.  You never quite know if you are quitting too soon or if there might be  better place to spend your time.  And in all three cases, there is a subjective element.  No matter how well you collect data and analyze what you have found, there is always the element of the unknown.  And that is a good part of what makes it so exciting.



More on the old house full of old coins. 

One city worker thought it might be finders keepers at first.

And they kept it quiet for months waiting to see if someone came foreward to claim the money.

Interesting.

Here is another article on the house with walls full of coins.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/trash-cash-florida-workers-find-2-000-silver-coins-demolition-article-1.1897886


There is nothing tropical going on in the Atlantic.

On the Treasure Coast the surf is small.  At the beach above, the unusually big tides from the Super Moon didn't do anything good.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net