The PAS - Rescuing History

The metal detecting community in England and some of the more enlightened  practitioners of the actual art and science of real honest archaeology, as well as the British Museum no less, have come together to discover, document, recover, study, curate and display the neglected artifacts of an ancient age. And they are making fantastic inroads in mutual cooperation, as well as historic finds, with their marvelous Portable Antiquities Scheme or PAS for short. As a result, English history and the tangible remains thereof, have received a tremendous boost in popularity, with the citizens and certain savvy academics, sporting a newly renewed interest in the lives of those who lived thousands of years ago through their everyday objects and coinage.

Of course, none of this came easy, as the old guard, somewhat yellowed and musty, in archaeological circles, organizations and institutions fought tooth and nail against it...as they still do here in America. The sounds of tiny gnashing teeth, an amazing side job in hysterically dissing artifact and coin collectors, along with the infantile name-calling habit, are still heard in certain puddles of these folks who choose to live in the academic basement of archaeological origins and practices. Some 21st Century archaeologists, however, making use of the old adage "Work smarter, not harder!" have been turning to experienced metal detecting practitioners for help in racing the clock in recovering items being destroyed by chemical-based farming, road building, new structures and the like.

Another old saying "Old ways won't open new doors," seems to apply to those that seem to want to clutch at the old methods of doing archaeology, especially those who have lost sight of the goal of the supposed science, which was knowledge, not artifacts. They cannot understand (nor do some of them want to...hate and discord becomes a life choice, in some cases) that old ways of doing things are becoming extinct, and it is important, maybe even imperative, to initiate and embrace new ways to open doors into the future, and more importantly, new doors to the past. The PAS has done just that.

I roundly applaud the enlightened and intelligent purveyors of the PAS, archaeologists and metal detectorists alike, and the amazing database of knowledge it has spawned. Any process that adds 1,321,439 objects within 841,580 records that under the "old way" would not even exist, has my vote. Metal detectorists would do well to emulate this here in the United States before its too late. There is still time, but not much.
  O

Metal Detecting Depth - A Deep Subject

This sucker goes deep!

One of the most contentious issues I've ever run into in the metal detecting hobby is how deep will a metal detector go? More than 6 - miles down, at least (their eyes widen) IF I toss it overboard, just above the 7-mile deep Marianas Trench in the Atlantic Ocean. All smart ass responses like that aside, what they really want to know is how deep can the electromagnetic field go in finding treasure...et al.

Well, in context, a metal detector's target sensing depth, (Verly Low Frequency or Pulse machine) depends on the size and makeup of the search coil (Concentric or Wide-Scan or Monoloop), the conductivity of the ground (wet or dry), the amount and type of local electromagnetic interference (power lines), the amount of mineralization in the immediate environment (salt water), the presence of iron or "hot-rocks" in the immediate vicinity, the amount of power (sensitivity and gain controls) reaching the search coil and the frequency of the magnetic field(s) emanating from the search coil, any "masking" effects of more than one target under the coil simultaneously, plus the size and makeup of the target itself, all have a vote in that. And modern VLF machines are calibrated to coin-sized targets. So usually, when someone asks you how deep does a certain metal detector go, the best response is "DEPENDS..."and not the ones in the box at the drug store, unless you are my age. Onward!

I'm kinda' tired today, so I'm not going into a detailed explanation for the millionth time concerning these factors, but for those that don't know, I would suggest reading some of the basic books on metal detecting and treasure hunting by Charles Garrett, Dick Stout, Andy Sabisch, Gary Drayton and others that can get you into the wilds of metal detector basics and advanced operations.

I will say, a basic tenet in metal detecting is that max power usually leads to max headaches in the field. Try shining your headlights on "BRIGHT" into fog while driving in the deep woods and then we can talk at the hospital later, while they are patching you up, why the BRIGHT lights made it harder, or impossible, to see that now-dead deer wedged in your shattered windshield. Visible light rays are also, believe it or not, in the same electromagnetic spectrum your metal detector search field operates in...just at a much higher wavelength. And at high settings, the waves scatter and reflect off everything, without a very accurate target response, with more falsing than finding.

My ire, I think, has been raised on this subject mainly because every end-of-the-year holiday season, the time for the new metal detector models, aka, the "deeper" metal detectors to come out, the claims of increased depth begin. After over 50-years in the hobby with almost every kind of metal detector, I sometimes look at the new, seasonal "...deeper!" claims the same way I view some dark figure in an alleyway going "Pssst...wanna' buy a Rolex?" 

Strangely enough, while I was working on this blog subject, Dick Stout in his Stout Standards blog beat me to it with his "brainfarts" column talking about the same subject; detector depth. So I had to delay this a few months. From my perspective analog VLF/TR machines (as opposed to digital VLF nowadays) of the early days (60's,70's,80's) were no slouches in the depth department either, and I used to dig silver coins regularly at 8" to 12" deep in the 70's and 80's.

So, as far as I am concerned, electromagnetic-based Very Low Frequency hobby machines have probably gone about as far as they are going to go depth-wise, unless a major paradigm shift occurs in Physics, which I doubt. But then again...  

Ultimate Dishonesty - Theft At The Finds Table

For the second time, in the last few years, we find again, someone or other had walked off with several gold and silver jewelry entries on our club "Finds Table" monthly competition. To say I find this more than odorous behavior on the first meeting of the new year, with a new staff, and hard-working members displaying their best finds, is an understatement of momentous proportions. We have, for years, done our best to watch over our small trays of entries; some members so nervous about entering certain finds, they bicycle-chained them to cinder blocks, of which are kind of hard to slip in a pocket or purse without notice. The first sign of a developing problem surfaced several years ago, when a member, collecting their finds for the return to their collection, noticed a small silver ring was missing from the display plate. It was not a huge, super-valuable item, but it was a significant find to the member, who was becoming frantic with a growing sense of loss, the worst loss imaginable; the loss of trust at a place deemed safe and secure among friends!

As club VP, I scanned the sea of faces at the meeting, many familiar, many not, many new, many not. Somewhere in that crowd lurked a thief. My personal view of a thief is the lowest of the low, a piece of putrid rot sticking to the bottom of cow crap in a garbage pile. Of course, here in this country, we are fairly soft on these piles of human refuse. Unlike less developed countries, where a body part would be removed for each conviction, after several convictions, the robber would be physically UNABLE to steal again. Of course, a wrong conviction would leave an injustice from which there would be no reprieve, but in my perfect world, that would not happen.

I think it is the fact someone probably came to the meeting with the sole intention of robbing a member of his rightful property...or someone of weak enough character who would make an instantaneous decision to not only stoop to the level of excrement and palm a  piece of property, but to steal the very peace of mind and security of the owner, that can never be returned even if the thief is caught!

Of course this is true of ALL theft, no exceptions on where or when, but I liked to think we were all somehow special, above the scum-sucking lowlife that preys on us everyday; lurking in the sewage, ready for the slightest opportunity. I was wrong.

The Lost Ranch - Elements of the Search

A few weeks ago we set off to find a sentimental piece of lost jewelry for one of the owners of a Florida ranch. It was a small platinum diamond-encrusted crucifix, a gift from the owner's father eight-years earlier, that had slipped off the thin gold chain around her neck when the clasp broke. Having her retrace her steps, she had covered a lot of area, trailing thru farm animal enclosures, visits to the barn, horse paddock and trips up and down a large portion of a gravel parking lot and driveway to the main gate.

The owner said she had also visited a restaurant that day, and had called the place, but no one had reported finding it. The small cross, being a scant 1" tall and 3/4" wide was diminutive enough to escape notice in the natural order of things, especially if had slid down in the booth seat, went under the table or a countless number of other scenarios that mask tiny objects from common notice. Or if someone had simply picked it up and walked off with it. The only saving grace, and no pun intended, was a part-time ranch hand who had told the owner she had noticed the owner was still wearing it around her neck AFTER returning from lunch. I was assured the ranch hand was a keen observer and would not have mentioned that fact had she not seen it.

This type of metal detecting search and recovery is the most maddening of all, since the tiny precious cross could literally be almost anywhere, covering more than several acres of busy ranch work, animal enclosures, and even water drains in and near the barns; spaces divided by target-masking metal fencing and chicken-wire barriers. I asked six of my friends, members all of the Central Florida Metal Detecting Club, for assistance in searching the area. A lot of people volunteered, but I was looking for detectorists who had prior experience in finding jewelry, who know the proper detector settings, understood the coil sizes needed, and above all, had integrity as thick as armored steel plate. This was literally a very, very valuable piece of rare metal and precious stones valued quite conservatively at several thousand dollars.

As the search began, and as we all spread out, it began to cloud up, then slowly and sullenly started to mist over, which gradually progressed to a faint drizzle, until finally a light rain began to fall. This of course, added to the ambiance of the search, especially in the already moist and odorous cattle enclosure which was generously strewn with large surprises of the most unpleasant kind, if you get my drift. Everyone had an area to scan and examine. Four or five hours later, bits of saddle hardware, horseshoes, bits of iron and a penny or two were all we had to show for 30-man hours of intensive searching. An attempt was made to scan a bag of goat feed which set the pin-pointers beeping continuously, until we realized the feed contained IRON for the baby goats.

Our analysis of the loss presupposed she had leaned against a paddock fence, where the thin gold chain had broken, dropping the cross directly to the ground. Trouble was the paddocks were all sheathed in chicken wire and sheet tin...making it difficult, or impossible, to get a target within a foot or so of the fence. We utilized a Treasure Products 580 pulse driven pin-pointer that detects ONLY on the bottom of the pointer. That got us within a few inches of the fence, but on hands and knees, its hard going with the cows leaving wide, aroma-laced moist mounds of surprise.

We spent a total of 50 man hours, during two separate trips, trying to locate the piece and came away in frustration. We also came away with the feeling we had done all that we could have and did it well, if not successfully. And that is all anyone can do.