...With such a historic past, I started wondering if the mission grounds have ever been detected....
Yes, they have been hunted before. I have hunted them (a certain specific zone only, in just a singular garden area that was about to under-go renovation/dirt movement). Through my docent connections I got permission for myself and 7 or 8 md'ing buddies. We got a phoenix button, a reale, a seated, a period medallion , green copper, various nicknacks, and modern junk. The period items were all donated to the mission.
I also got underneath the Crespi Hall, with permission (it's got a crawl space underneath) and found a reale under there. So that's a total of 2 reales I've found at Carmel mission. Not sure where my stuff ended up after I gave it to them.
Other than that time, I know of a fellow who, back in the 1980s at some point, was personal friends (golfing buddies) with the priest on-duty at that time. He got the go-ahead to md, and found a reale, some buttons, etc....
And I know of someone else who got in to hunt back in the '80s or '90s there. And they got at least 1 reale, but I don't know what all else. Some reales & period buttons have been found in the surrounding area. Like for example in the little-league field park 1/2 block to the east. And a phoenix button got found very close to the mission ranch Inn (@ the dirt road that leads back to the carmel river bottom land back there).
....It's been a while since I've been there, but if I recall correctly there is also a large grassy area in front of the mission at San Juan Bautista. I would assume that this area along with other areas around the missions may hold some history that could be found. ...
That grass in front of mission SJB is all modern fill. The actual ground level is a foot or more down. So there's no way anyone's ever gonna get any mission period coins from there, unless they doze off with heavy equipment
They did scrape off the grass once, about 25 yrs. ago. Just for purposes of re-sodding with new turf. I got in on that with "high expectations". But that's when I found out it was all modern grass. No mission period targets forthcoming. And at one point, for some target, I had dug 10 or 12" down, and hit the REAL level. That's when I realized that it was all fill. HOWEVER, that grass/fill dates to the 1950s (or '40s?), so I did find something like 15 silver coins (mercs, roosies, washington, a franklin half, etc..), and scores of wheaties. Because there's been legions of people who picnic on that grass, so you can imagine how much coins get in that. But alas, all modern silver at the oldest.
There are other areas in SJB environs (that I'm not at liberty to disclose) that gave up some 7 or more gold coins (2 of them to me
), lots of reales and early seateds, old foreign coins from the 1700s, lots of phoenix buttons, etc.... But those spots got worked to smithereens by now.
.......Yes, yes, I fully realize that these are historic landmarks and there are a plethora of laws / rules / regulations against such activities...
Depends on which mission you're talking about. And what exact area around the mission. With the exception of La Purisima, they are all church property. So the mission personnel can do whatever the heck they want with them (allow an md'r there, etc....). I know of many instances of person's getting permission to detect them (whether that went through the highest-up channels of approval, versus some lowling granting permission for that which he didn't fully understand, I can not comment
)
At SJB, there are some portions of that one (the grass quad in front, for example) that is state owned historic park. Thus for that, I suppose you're correct (if you asked enough questions of enough archies).
And also you've got to "think outside the box" when it comes to detecting them: The human easy instinct is to think you need/have to get up close to the mission walls, structure, church, etc...., right ? In which case, sure, you bump into the property ownership issues. Sure. However, you have to remember that the missions, at their zenith, could have had hundreds, and in some cases up to thousands of resident indians. Hence they were like small towns almost. The indians would live in rancherias either in their ancestral ways, or some even had housing units (adobe huts or whatever), that could have stretched out up-to-blocks away from the mission remains that you see now. And so the population of indians (who would have received trade items, coins, trinkets, buttons, etc.... ) could have been a block, or two, or 3 away. And so what might be a seemingly innocuous innocent vacant lot, or lettuce field, or cow pasture, or someone's back yard, etc... might hold mission period artifacts.
So it pays to study where other ancillary buildings, hunts, dwellings, etc... were adjacent to the church. The church itself is the "eye-magnet" now, of course, since that's all that survives. But back "in the day", the compounds and population were spread about in various directions, concentrations, etc....
You owe me $20 for that. I take paypal
