Old Homesite - Need Assistance/Information/Opinions

[Ryan1979]

Description of the site: Old home foundation is on a wooded hillside. The 'downside' of the house faces almost straight east.

I found an old homesite in the woods or what may have been a farm at one point. The only thing that points me to it possibly having been a farm is a large amount of broken farm-type hand-tools (some that I put in the "What Is It" category awhile ago) and it being located near a good-sized cleared field (80+ acres - now a park) and a large clearing away from the foundation.

The site itself is covered in areas with broken ceramics, rocks/mortar, old iron junk, and tons of broken glass (kids' beer parties in the 60's and 70's). The old ceramics and deeply buried iron 'things' are all over surrounding the site. I found lots of things more than 12" under the soil and leaves.

Where the house stood, all that is left is the foundation wall (about 1 foot tall on the downhill (east) side - and even with the ground on the upper hillside). The foundation blocks and mortar are completely covered in thick green moss. Where the floor of the house was is covered in brush now.

To the north of where the house stood (about 100' away) is a somewhat bigger clearing that has the same kinds of trash as described above. I think this may be where a barn may have stood at one time.

On the downhill side of the house to the northeast are two mounds of dirt quite high (6+ feet) with a deep valley in between them. They are very close to the house. I don't know what this would have been. Any ideas?

With all of this old iron in the ground, where would be the most productive spots to MD around this site. I'd like to find some coins or silverware of something like that. I'd like to try turning the discrimination up near the top end to see if that will eliminate most of the big iron items. Would that work?

Or is it even worth it considering that lots of the bigger stuff I found was 12" down? Would the little stuff like coins even register if they're that far down?

Ideas and advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm going to go out tonight if the rain lets up and try to take some pictures.

Thanks, Ryan1979

 

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[Blind.In.Texas]

It is my understanding that larger iron objects will have tendency to override smaller non-ferrous objects. I also understand that airtests are great for feeling out what you are up against. Your machine appears to have great depth and forrested soil is almost ALWAYS loose to a point. I have been told that air test readings will differ from buried-object readings only if mineral content in the soil causes a change in the reading. This being said the reading would only go down or get really bouncy.

Try getting a crusty old horshoe or other heavily corroded iron object. Set it on the ground with a dime on top of it, next to it, and also near it. See how your machine behaves. It doesn't necessarily prove to be exact. I can guarantee one thing. In a rusty place one can not be exactly sure what he is looking at, through the soil, unless he is the one who put it there. I think that if the soil is not heavily mineralized your detector should behave almost the same as the air test, but, a little slower at that depth. I think that if an iron object were directly below a dime or quarter you would have a shot by digging the iffy bouncing signals. A quarter under a horshoe is not likely to be picked up I think.

I can air scan a nickel with mine(33-35) and get the same reading from a nickel I find on a ball field here in my town. 4-6 inches and it is the same (33-35). In other locations the soil drives the machine nuts.

Every house is the same. They all had people in them at one point. Since you are at a very old location I would suggest scanning around all four sides and as far as you can in either direction. Get you some air tests using a few of you desired targets and a bunch of rusty junk.

GL and HH

 

[Gribnitz]

No, you will never be able to disc out large iron very well. Iron is something you have to learn to "hear" with your machine. Iron rings, washers, and the like seem to always fool a detector. You have to dig all that junk out and haul it away to see if anything decent is close to it. I rank large iron right up there with sodie cans. I hate it, but sometimes big iron can be neat. I found a folded forged axe at an old homesite. They folded the metal over to make the axe bit and widened the fold part to make the hole for the handle. If you can see a seam in the blade, you got a really old axe. Old locks are really neat too. Found a few of those old skeleton key padlocks that need some cleaning, but they are keepers.

As for the 2 big mounds. They may be root cellars that the park filled in with dirt to cover them up. Some root cellars were dug as a shallow pit, then built rock or concrete walls, then covered all the sides and the top with dirt to keep it cool.

 

[Ryan1979]

As for the 2 big mounds. They may be root cellars that the park filled in with dirt to cover them up. Some root cellars were dug as a shallow pit, then built rock or concrete walls, then covered all the sides and the top with dirt to keep it cool.

Ah ha. I think you've identified the mounds. I went there yesterday afternoon after I got done with work (after starting this post) to snoop around some more and I was trying to detect around this area a little bit. I got the usual almost constant beeps and decided to dig on the edge of one of the mounds as a lark. There was a thin wall of reddish-colored brick about a foot down. I think this may be a wall from some type of cellar as you describe. But, if so, it has definately been filled in at some point.

I detected around the perimeter of the site about 50-100 feet out. I turned the discrimination way up which seemed to help a little bit and cut down considerably on the bottle caps, junk, etc. I thought I'd found a cache at one point. I was detecting around some really old large rotting stumps. On the ground on the side of one of the stumps I started getting some really decent signals. I hadn't got any signals anywhere else within 15 feet. I thought, "yep, the old farmer buried his silver and gold right under this tree!" I was VERY optimistic! But, I started digging and couldn't find a this......so I dug deeper......and nothing......more digging.....still beeping!........and still nothing! So I started taking the dirt from the hole by the handful and putting it in front of the coil. Then I started getting beeps on what looked like a small woodern acorn. So I put the heavy little wooden acorn in my pocket to look at closer when I got home (it was raining and getting dark). Then, right before I left, I detected the stump itself......and the detector went crazy beeping! But at this point it was too dark to tear the stump apart and I didn't have a light with. I marked the location in secret-code hieroglypics (spelling? just kidding anyway) with a plan of returning later.

So I got home and started going through my finds. I cleaned up the clad I had found in a different part of the woods and a couple other unidentified objects. Then I remember the heavy wooden acorn-like thing. I soaked it in water to soften the wood.......and guess what I found?.......A BULLET! Someone had used the stump for target practice many years ago and the tree had grown around the mushroomed slugs, died, and rotted away into the ground around the stump!!! No wonder the detector was going crazy on the rotting stump! It must still be full of slugs!

So that is my story for Sunday's 4 hour rain hunt. I did find a quarter-sized coin that I thought might have been an early Copper, but it turned out to be a 'diseased' 198X GW clad quarter that was terribly mineralized and green. I was pumped and optimistic on that one too. Oh well, it was fun and I'm learning!

Thanks for the info on the cellar. I think that is what it is now. I appreciate the help folks!

Ryan