Tips on digging old colonial house site

[HutSiteDigger]

Hey guys hope everyone is finding CS Buckles and coins.

Today I found a small little area in the woods which I thought at first was a small civil war camp til I started digging mid 1700 artifacts, then started digging in the ground and hit ash and old brick, I could tell at some point the house caught on fire or was destroyed when the union came thru, the ash goes deep into the ground maybe 2 feet deep all over the little spot which is maybe half acre big.. Im trying too see if maybe the house would have had a cellar or something and im trying to get any tips on the best way too dig this site out, I'm really good at digging hut sites out but never really dug into a spot were an old colonial house use to be, anyone got any tips?

Pulling up the history on the land this house would have been there from about 1750 til maybe 1860, but more of less burned before the civil war.

Thanks.

 

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[got2dig]

I would hunt out away from the house and work my way up To it. Now if your going to dig that cellar you got some (DIGGING) to do. You should find some good stuff all over the spot. Low and slow. HH

 

[HutSiteDigger]

Thanks Got2Dig.. Digging is what i do best, i'd rather spend my time digging a hutsite or deep into the ground, that is how i mostly find all my artifacts. Everywhere i dig on this spot i hit ash and dig down 2 feet and still hit alot of ash and bits of brick but no signals other than maybe a few nails or iron bans, but i have lucked out a tad bit just free roaming around the house, just trying to figure out if the house caught on fire in say 1780 or early 1800 how deep would most of the stuff be in a rich soil environment?? and also there is one big hole that is about 5 feet deep that looks like it could have been used for their trash pit but no signals in it...

 

[CRUSADER]

Sounds like you need a probe to start probing where its deepest.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

That does sound like a burnt house site, and maybe includes some outbuildings as well. Definitely not just a trash pit with that kind of size. Could be a cellar under all that rubble, but that would take an absolutely huge effort to dig out. Maybe try a small test hole and go down until you hit virgin ground, and sift that dirt for artifacts. If it looks promising you'll need to bring in some heavy help to finish the job. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[BuckleBoy]

If you are a hut digger, then you should own a probe. Do you own a metal detector?

Most of the finds, if the area has not been plowed, will be 8-10 inches down at the most, unless the area has been flooded. Privy, trash pit, and cellar hole finds will be deeper.

-Buck

 

[AnnieF]

SNAKES! Wear high boots & gloves!

 

[Goldiver]

Sounds like you need a probe to start probing where its deepest.

I agree with the probe idea and get a "feel" for the area.

Steve

 

[fano169]

Any big trees near by? I would look near trees that have grown in , will keep stuff high up in soil , roots won't let it sink

 

[AnnieF]

Look at the land and try to imagine where the outhouse would have been. Or where people would have hitched their wagons. Those paths would have been walked a whole bunch, thus where people drop things. Old trees (bigger, wider) will be "landmarks" on the property. Look for where much younger trees are - means they've likely grown since the other structure/s have gone down. Look also for the kind of plants people plant near their homes (as distinguished from the kind that just sprout up on their own) - that's a huge flag that that's where the house was.

 

[HutSiteDigger]

Thanks everyone, went back today and did some probing and found a bunch of iron bans and some busted up clay pottery, hopefully im on the right track just need to find that cellar !! good hunting everyone! Oh also thanks for the silly comment about if i own a metal detector, if you're ever in Virginia contact me and i will show you a storage unit filled with yankee and nothing but yankee artifacts, where's the confederate stuff at Mr. Bean? I give away Eagle buttons away like candy.

 

[EMPIRE-CRC]

Thanks everyone, went back today and did some probing and found a bunch of iron bans and some busted up clay pottery, hopefully im on the right track just need to find that cellar !! good hunting everyone! Oh also thanks for the silly comment about if i own a metal detector, if you're ever in Virginia contact me and i will show you a storage unit filled with yankee and nothing but yankee artifacts, where's the confederate stuff at Mr. Bean? I give away Eagle buttons away like candy.

IRON BANS AND BROKEN POTTERY??HAHA
You're on the right track to being a damn Yankee!

 

[HutSiteDigger]

I am not a yankee however ! My whole collection is 80% yankee relics... so i guess that makes me have alittle yankee blood in me, sometimes you see me standing on the street corner just handing out eagle buttons, bullets and breastplates too kids...

 

[got2dig]

I am not a yankee however ! My whole collection is 80% yankee relics... so i guess that makes me have alittle yankee blood in me, sometimes you see me standing on the street corner just handing out eagle buttons, bullets and breastplates too kids...

Send me some, I love free bees.

 

[HutSiteDigger]

You never know I have been known to sneak some goodies into places i know friends are hitting just too see ..

Went hunting with a guy once who wanted me too help him learn, he got into it from going to Civil War shows... how to dig better and he had places too go, so we hit up his parents 12 acre wooden property in Stafford,Virginia and i was digging into a hut and was finding a couple bullets and eagle buttons (more stuff in two hours of digging then he spent weeks finding a few things) so i cleaned that hut out with just a couple bullets and a button or two and did the 5 feet step (hut sites are mostly 5-8 feet apart from each other) and dug into the ground and found more ash and glass and another hut site... so i dug into that one and i noticed what seem to be another one, so we had two huts going on @ once, well noon time came and he went back to his parents house too just check in and stuff so while he was doing that i pulled out a nice eagle breastplate and I went over to his hut and dug about a two shovel widths down and covered the dirt back up, when he came back I told him the importance of making sure you dig out the hut deep and about 8 minutes later I had him running around the woods like he hit the jackpot, he is been into it ever since and never told him i put it there, I have done stuff like that a-lot with union relics to people who let me hunt good spots with them. Makes for a better day and makes you feel good as a human being...

 

[BuckleBoy]

Thanks everyone, went back today and did some probing and found a bunch of iron bans and some busted up clay pottery, hopefully im on the right track just need to find that cellar !! good hunting everyone! Oh also thanks for the silly comment about if i own a metal detector, if you're ever in Virginia contact me and i will show you a storage unit filled with yankee and nothing but yankee artifacts, where's the confederate stuff at Mr. Bean? I give away Eagle buttons away like candy.

I didn't think my question was silly at all. Not everyone on this forum owns a detector. If you were an experienced detector user, you'd know that I was asking because hearing the iron makes finding a trash pit a whole lot easier. Figured you might know that from digging so many huts, but I thought you might not own a detector and have just probed them or owned a GPR unit (which is the easiest, and most costly way to find them).

Don't worry, I won't reply to your posts again.



-Buck

 

[HutSiteDigger]

Nah it's all good.. I was just sitting there thinking "What does this guy think I am a archaeologist" then i started thinking well dam I guess I kinda look at myself like one... But after the long debates with archaeologist over a simple use of a metal detector, I have too say I really like my detector.

And from a fellow Fisher 1266x user, Its allll GOOD!

 

[Tnmountains]

Hutsitedigger you had asked for tips and I think you have been given some good ones. A probe can be vital I own several. It can do more than a metal detector sometimes. You can tell disturbed ground or dug ground for hundreds of years after with a probe.
Pictures of a site helps a lot as well when you post in "Todays Finds'.
HH
TnMtns