LOCALLY HISTORIC FINDS -

Most metal detectorists are big fans of history; older coins, artifacts, and relics are a big thrill to dig! The big draw of these kinds of objects, is that they provide a direct line to the people of the somewhat distant (to us) past here in the United States, going back a few hundred years or so. England and other European locales feature items that go back several hundred to several THOUSAND years! To think another human being in another time and another place saw what you see and touched what you now hold is powerful magic! This is sometimes why a metal detector is sometimes refereed to as a "time machine."

Everything else is hand held now, why not a pocket time-machine?

With a great deal of local, shallow (1" to 15" deep), artifacts being recovered by metal detector users, here in the United States, that means a lot of the past is being returned to the public domain, that is IF users bring the item into the light, and not just marvel at it, toss it in the "finds" box, then head back into the field for more. I would urge everyone who finds what appears to be a unique artifact or relic to take it to your local museum or historic society and see if you can get some info from the folks that deal with historic artifacts on a daily basis. Maybe even loan it to them for a while, as having it sitting on your shelf somewhere puts the item pretty much right back where it was found, out of the light of day again. Your find may even re-write some of the local history; perhaps an unknown colony or fort or railway terminal or countless other things existed there that was not known until your find came back into the light.

Exterior of Florida Indian Pottery Fragment

I've found several artifacts while metal detecting that were NOT metal at all. While digging a deep target under a tree, not far from an old steamboat stop on a Central Florida lake, I hit what I THOUGHT was a piece of rock. I pulled it out of the hole, tossed it aside and continued digging down to a piece of iron so rusted, all that was left was red dirt.

Pottery Shard, Burned Interior

 

I filled in the hole, and grabbed the chunk that came out of the hole and was winding up to throw it into the lake, when I noticed incised marks on the "rock." I turned it over in my hand and saw what looked like a layer of burned material on the opposite side. I suddenly realized it was a piece of Florida Indian pottery! Made by someone who never knew electricity, or automobiles, cellphones, airplanes, television or even imagined them! And I would never have found it, and probably it would never have seen the light of day again had my "time machine" not locked onto a conductive target just below it. It now rests in a museum, where it belongs, for everyone, not just me.