| #1 | |
|
|
Advice for very old sites
Looking for helpfull tips on how to deal with a very old site. I'm hoping
some of you UK detectorist who hunt roman sites might be able to help. I've got a site that's a mere 180 years old, producing large cents as early as the 1820's, but the detectors we're using just don't seem to be able to cope with how the metal changes through time while burried. The iron nails in the ground are so badly degraded they ID as perfect penny, the large cents don't even lock on, just float anywhere between "iron" and "dollar." (hallo effect?) Using White's IDX Pro with 9.5" black max coil. Coins are not deep, 2-4 inches. Can't ask for a better site, really, this kind if thing is extremely rare in my part of the world. It's all been hunted out, paved over or gone to deep to find. I've got about 5 acres to hunt and I just don't want to miss anything. I'm becoming more convinced my white's is programed more to find clad and recent coins in city parks then to attack something this old. I thought I'd try my old bounty hunter today, with 4 inch coil to farm out all the little bits of iron, to find targets masked by the iron, but the machine got hopelessly confused, hitting hard on the smallest hunk of old metal. Great machine for small shallow sites, fresh water, hard to get to places, and sites less than a 100 years old it would seem. Similar issues with old roman sites? Do you hunt them with target ID type systems, or all metals mode? Or something entirely different? Best way to tackle 5 acres of wooded land with 2-4 inch bed of leaves and debris? Thanks, Diamond Jim |
| #2 | |
|
|
Re: Advice for very old sites
On Thu, 09 Mar 2006 06:04:18 GMT, diamond jim
<mnemeth2@columbus.rr.com> was popularly supposed to have said: > Looking for helpfull tips on how to deal with a very old site. I'm hoping > some of you UK detectorist who hunt roman sites might be able to help. I've > got a site that's a mere 180 years old, producing large cents as early as > the 1820's, but the detectors we're using just don't seem to be able to cope > with how the metal changes through time while burried. The iron nails in > the ground are so badly degraded they ID as perfect penny, the large cents > don't even lock on, just float anywhere between "iron" and "dollar." (hallo > effect?) All-metal mode and dig everything. Failing that, an ex-army mine detector and dig everything there, too. > Similar issues with old roman sites? Do you hunt them with target ID type > systems, or all metals mode? Or something entirely different? Best way to > tackle 5 acres of wooded land with 2-4 inch bed of leaves and debris? Again, if there's something on top of the good stuff, either clear it off, plough it, or search in all-metal mode or with a pulse induction unit and dig every single signal. That's what we do on old Roman or pre-Roman sites; set the detector up as deep-seeking as it'll go without false-signalling, and dig everything. You'll dig an awful lot of iron rubbish (which sometimes isn't rubbish, either; fancy digging up a thousand-year-old Viking sword?) and if you are as daft as I once was and wore steel-toecapped boots whilst using a mine detector an awful lot of empty holes, but you WILL make decent finds. -- Dan Holdsworth PhD dan1701usenet@ntlworld.com By caffeine alone I set my mind in motion, By the beans of Java do thoughts acquire speed, hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning, By caffeine alone do I set my mind in motion |
| #3 | |
|
|
Re: Advice for very old sites
On Thu, 09 Mar 2006 06:04:18 GMT, "diamond jim"
<mnemeth2@columbus.rr.com> wrote: >Looking for helpfull tips on how to deal with a very old site. I'm hoping >some of you UK detectorist who hunt roman sites might be able to help. I've >got a site that's a mere 180 years old, producing large cents as early as >the 1820's, but the detectors we're using just don't seem to be able to cope >with how the metal changes through time while burried. The iron nails in >the ground are so badly degraded they ID as perfect penny, the large cents >don't even lock on, just float anywhere between "iron" and "dollar." (hallo >effect?) > >Using White's IDX Pro with 9.5" black max coil. Coins are not deep, 2-4 >inches. Can't ask for a better site, really, this kind if thing is >extremely rare in my part of the world. It's all been hunted out, paved >over or gone to deep to find. I've got about 5 acres to hunt and I just >don't want to miss anything. I'm becoming more convinced my white's is >programed more to find clad and recent coins in city parks then to attack >something this old. > >I thought I'd try my old bounty hunter today, with 4 inch coil to farm out >all the little bits of iron, to find targets masked by the iron, but the >machine got hopelessly confused, hitting hard on the smallest hunk of old >metal. Great machine for small shallow sites, fresh water, hard to get to >places, and sites less than a 100 years old it would seem. > >Similar issues with old roman sites? Do you hunt them with target ID type >systems, or all metals mode? Or something entirely different? Best way to >tackle 5 acres of wooded land with 2-4 inch bed of leaves and debris? > >Thanks, >Diamond Jim > With my XLT is can either set it up to discriminate against the nails or, preferably leave them in and use the number system to avoid them. It works quite well as does adjusting the sound. However, I still dig practically everything  ) |
