Lost & Found
#History, #Science, #Metal Detecting
Wherever we go, we drive and walk over history–buried treasure, artifacts, evidence of ancient lives scattered beneath us. Pieces of the past are ubiquitous, just waiting to be found, offering up a story to the curious, the intrepid–anyone who has the time to look. And modern technology has made looking rather easy. All you need is a metal detector and a hunch.
When World War II surplus military mine detectors became available to the general public, the amateur relic hunter was born. Something designed to detect landmines could certainly find iron, copper, silver and gold from the past. The technology for small, handheld metal detectors quickly improved as did affordability and accessibility.
Alexander Graham Bell was in Boston when he received a call informing him that President James Garfield had been shot–the call came in on the phone Bell had invented. He was busy trying to improve the gramophone Edison had invented but soon realized that while working on the telephone, his discovery of induction balance could possibly act as a way to detect metal and be used to save the president.
For weeks, while Garfield lay suffering and deteriorating in the White House, Bell worked around the clock with different arrangements of coils and a condenser to detect the bullet that lay lodged somewhere in Garfield’s lower abdomen. The problem was, bullets are made of lead and of all the metals, lead is one of the poorest conductors. If only bullets were made of silver! Still, Bell was able to get his invention to detect a bullet three inches below the surface. The first metal detector had been born.
Today, for only a few hundred dollars, you can purchase a metal detector that can find a small button or coin twelve or more inches under the surface. Years ago, I had a very inexpensive metal detector that had no ability to discriminate between different types of metal. Around my house, in the woods of Vermont, it wouldn’t stop beeping as it picked up barbed wire and nails everywhere. Today's metal detectors can be set to a discrimination mode, thereby ignoring ferrous metal and only responding to the conductivity and magnetic permeability of the metal you choose, such as silver.
If you are assuming that successful metal detecting requires a lot of hard work, you are absolutely correct. Like most pursuits, you will need to be dedicated and put in your time. To find more than pop tops, bottle caps, nails, and other junk metal, you will need to do your homework. Successful metal detectorists are also history buffs who spend countless hours researching potential sites, combing through old maps, journals, atlases and diaries, looking for clues. These people tend to be a bit obsessed with finding artifacts.
That said, you can simply get lucky. Take seven-year-old Lucas Hall for example. With the new metal detector he received for his birthday, Lucas found a Civil War sword near his home in Berryville, Virginia–the find of a lifetime. Most Civil War detectorists will have to settle for bullets, buttons, coins and maybe a soldier's belt buckle.
Then there was David Booth from Scotland who got out of his car, took a few steps into a field where he had been given permission to search, turned on his metal detector for the first time outside his house, and within minutes had a signal indicating there was gold beneath him. Just six inches down he uncovered four iron age gold necklaces–Iron Age Torcs worth a million pounds. Dating from 300-100 BC, this hoard astounded local archaeologists and was a significant contribution to the understanding of how local Scottish tribes had interacted. The Hoard may have been hidden during a time of war to be reclaimed later, or the torcs could have been votives.
In North America, if you are looking for treasure, the Gold Coast of Florida is your best bet. Spanish Gold can show up almost anywhere on the beach or in the water. Otherwise, most detectorists in North America search for Civil War or Revolutionary war relics. But in Europe, where human civilization is much older, Roman Hoards of bronze, gold or silver coins have been found by detectorists.
Millie Hardwick, a 13-year-old on just her third metal detecting outing, found a trove of 65 Bronze Age axes dating from 1700 BC-1300 BC. These tools had been made from mined copper and tin.
But the biggest discovery of all time, anywhere on the planet, was the Staffordshire Hoard: 4 kilos of gold, 1.7 kilos of silver, and thousands of garnets. Buried in the mid 7th century (650-675 AD), the Staffordshire Hoard was composed of mostly male war gear such as decorative fittings from the hilts (handles) of weapons or from their scabbards. There were also important Christian objects and one High-Status Helmet that had curiously been systematically dismantled before being buried.
The site was not found by an organized group of archeologists who had researched the dig for years, slowly and painstakingly working their way through layers of earth. This hoard was found in 2009 by Terry Herbert, a metal detectorist with a very inexpensive metal detector. British laws are different from most countries so Terry and the landowner split the value of the Hoard: 5.5 million dollars. The artifacts are collectively cared for by the Birmingham Museums Trust and the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery.
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For Brad Martin, a metal detectorist in Vermont, it’s all about the history lesson, not about finding buried treasure.
Brad loads up his ATV with water, food, a shovel, his metal detector, and everything else he needs for a day in the field metal detecting. He drives his ATV in the back of his pickup to an old, class IV road. Now the fun begins. Brad has spent hours researching this outing, looking at old maps and getting permission from landowners. Though Brad often targets old cellar holes for his research, today he believes he knows the location of a log cabin dating back to the late 1700’s.
“We are way off the beaten path up here in the mountains of Vermont,'' Brad says with a smile, “so let's get our metal detector unpacked and start swinging some holes.” The property is extremely thick and overgrown. Brad carefully moves around trees and brush, swinging his detector from side to side. Twenty minutes with no signal. That’s good news. The site is clean, no trash to be detected. His first find is not very deep–it’s a horseshoe. Clearly there had been activity, and yet there are no cellar holes and no stone walls. He keeps looking.
His machine gives him a reading of 81 “great target,” he says in an excited voice. He digs up what appears to be an ingot. He scratches the surface, revealing a green patina, so he knows it is brass. More evidence of human activity from a long time ago. Brad buries his hole and moves on. Next target is in the 90’s, 5-6 inches down. It’s a copper coin from the 1700’s out here in the middle of nowhere. Brad's research appears to have paid off. He moves on, walking slowly around dense hemlock and spruce, up and over downed trees and hummocks covered in moss. “Pretty nice target here, but it’s faint.” With one scoop he sees what he thinks is a key in the mound of dirt. And it is, it's a wind-up key for a clock. “Super cool, wonder what they would have done if they lost this,” he says with a chuckle.
His next find is shallow, a brass buckle that was part of a harness for an animal, maybe an ox or horse. Brad likes finding brass buckles. “Unlike the iron ones, they hold up very, very well. Being a novice leather worker, I try to at least put these things back to work, in the things that I make.”
Brad’s next find is silver and he’s shaking from excitement as he rubs the dirt off and sprays it with water. “Oh my god there’s a date on whatever the heck this thing is. May 5, seventeen something. You have got to be kidding me. Born, it says born! There’s a name on here: Mifs (miss) Anna A. L…. born May 5, 1794, with a bird at the bottom. This thing is incredible. Treasure of the day, treasure of the year! Man, that little silver tag has got to be one of the coolest things I’ve ever found.”
To prevent someone else from finding this place and out of respect for the family, Brad will not share the last name found on the silver pendant. He can’t wait to research this person, and maybe, just maybe, return the pendant to the family. “How cool would that be?” he says.
“I don’t know if we’re going to top that today, but we're gonna keep searching–see what else we can find here.” A 1700’s pewter button is Brad’s next find. Then a handheld sickle. The picture of human activity comes into focus. Another copper coin and a musket ball are the last finds of the day.
Back home Brad will research the silver pendant. He figures out that the two copper coins are a 1783 NOVA Constellatio and a Connecticut Copper (1785-1789). Brad will use Google Patents to learn more about the clock key. And of course he will begin to research his next adventure, pursuing a passion that brings history to life.