We don’t
want to teach anyone “how to suck eggs”; but we all
started somewhere, and hopefully this short section will help a few as
they join this fascinating hobby of ours.
Thinking of taking
up the hobby?
Come to a few club meets and rallies, watch what we are all doing and
pick our brains. We are all genuinely interested in this hobby, and
once you get us talking, you just try and shut us up ! You will learn a
lot more, much quicker from club members and you will get fantastic
support for your new hobby. There is little doubt that finding
“TREASURE” is on everyone’s mind,
it’s what makes the hobby exciting and interesting.
Unfortunately you will rarely even cover the cost of your batteries,
never mind your time, but you will start to appreciate the value of
each item lost by our ancestors from the past. To improve your find
rate of the “good stuff” it is important to learn
from those that go before.
Buying a detector
It takes months to get used to a top model expensive machine and you
are likely to find it too sensitive with too many programmes and
controls to get used to. You can buy a basic machine for £50
that works well, but looks like a kids toy. For £300 you get
a very good machine, doesn’t really matter which make it is.
Surprisingly for £1000 you get a machine that is only a few
percent better, but is generally much more flexible with lots of
options. Even the cheaper machines have discrimination, so you are not
digging up rusty nails and screws, but if you start setting them up to
discriminate against tin foil, you will miss lots of hammered coins
that are only slightly thicker. Tin foil also has a similar phase
reponse to gold
when in alloy form, which you certainly won't want to miss out on. The
best advice is to dig up every repeatable signal until you learn what
your machine is trying to tell you.
Places to detect
With the exception of a few beaches, all land belongs to someone and
you will legally need permission from the owner before you can detect.
It is also important to realise that certain areas are protected as
Scheduled Sites, Ancient Monuments or Special Sites of Scientific
Interest (SSSI); it is rarely possible to get permission to detect on
these areas and it is a criminal offense to even have a detector with
you. Even on land where you do not have permission, you are deemed as
"going with intent to steal" and you will be prosecuted, your equipment
confiscated and you can go to prison. Do not presume common land can be
detected on, most of it has special restrictions not allowing any
digging. Best thing to do is start with your own garden, it is good
practise to see how much damage you do to your own lawn before you
start digging up someone else’s. Then ask relatives,
neighbours, friends and work colleagues if you can try their gardens or
land. When you are more confident it is easier to knock on the farmers
door. I would always suggest you find the farmers name out, or even
better get an introduction. Take your best finds along, and ideally
take the return sheets from the Portable Antiquity Scheme (PAS) to show
you are presenting finds to the archaeologists. Even better if you have
managed to get finds published in the magazines ! Farmers are busy in
the day so try and go when it is raining, lunch time or early evening.
NEVER stop a farmer when he is ploughing or working his land. Be
polite, introduce yourself and tell him where you live (locally). Just
ask him if he would allow you to detect in his fields. He will most
likely say that someone already detects on his land, so ask if they
still come and when was the last time he saw them. Show your other
finds and explain that you hand everything in to the local
archaeologist, and get the best finds published in a popular magazine.
Farmers are generally interested in what comes off the land, so explain
that you will drop in with recent finds and anything found will be
shared 50:50. Keep the farmer informed, even if they say no; send him a
letter and you will be amazed how many change their minds and allow you
to detect once they realise you are a legitimate hunter of history and
not out for a quick buck.
Advanced Land Search
Obviously, some areas are better than others and with the advantages of
the internet it's possible to find areas that we know ancient
people worked on. It is a criminal offense to detect on scheduled sites
and ignorance is no defense, but we can work on the fields around them
as long as we have the owners permission. "Useful Links" on the website
will take you to the MAGIC website. This is a government funded map of
all scheduled sites and is updated often. Step 1. in "Select Topic", go
to the drop down arrow and select "Design my own topic". In the window
that opens scroll down and tick "Scheduled Monuments (England)", plus
any others that interest. Go back to top of window and press "Done".
Step 2. Tick "Place" and fill in box with town, i.e. "Warwick", then
click "Open Map". Choose from several "Warwick's in the UK" next, then
tick to agree the "Terms of Use", and then wait for map to upload. Then
slowly continue to click anywhere on map to centre and enlarge, or
change to other sign at bottom to make smaller again.
Environmental Responsibilities
Never mind how good you and your machine is, approximately 80% of what
you dig up will be junk. Old tin cans, ring pulls, silver foil, horse
shoes, etc.. Put this in your junk bag, you don’t want to be
digging it up again next year and if it is left on the surface it will
injure stock and anger the farmer. When he realises you are removing
the junk he will be even more impressed; even better if you are
returning plough parts and farming implements. When you get home, sort
out the junk carefully and you will be amazed how often you find that
scrap of lead is actually a pilgrims ampulla, or that bronze strip is
actually decorated. Then start a bucket for scrap lead and a bucket for
scrap bronze/copper; you will be amazed how much you collect each year
and these are readily bought from you at most scrap yards.
Cleaning finds
If there is any chance that the item may be old, DO NOT CLEAN IT ! Very
hard to do when you’ve spent hours out in all weathers
finding it, so use common sense and clean as little as possible. If the
metal is likely to not be damaged by cleaning, then put it in distilled
water and occasionally use a toothbrush to remove the dirt. Cocktail
sticks are also useful to dig out the soft dirt. Next least most
damaging, use tap water and ‘fairy liquid’ style
soap to help remove dirt. Once the find has been seen by a Finds
Liaison Officer (FLO) and has been declared not reportable, or already
been processed through the PAS, then you can try harsher methods of
cleaning if you deem it necessary. Keep in mind that old coins harshly
cleaned, will most likely loose any value they initially had. That
patina (the coating) has taken years to develop and we want to keep it.
Buffing wheels, Ammonia, tumbling methods and electrolysis will more
than likely destroy your find so only do it to things that do not
matter, modern coins and junk. The "noble" metals like silver and gold
are usually very resistant to tarnishing and can come out of the ground
looking perfect. If your silver coin has gone dark there are two
methods you can use that do little damage. Either try putting in lemon
juice, initially for just a minute and then washing carefully and
slowly extend the time in the juice. But do wash all remaining juice
off when you are happy. Or bend a small piece of aluminium foil over
the coin, covering both sides, with a small amount of saliva; then rub
the coin inside the foil between your finger and thumb. This will
produce friction heat and you will get the smell of sulphur (wrotten
eggs), then wash the coin in water.
Detecting in the rain
Maybe not your best option, but sometimes you have to do it and
surprisingly we often get better and deeper signals because the wet
ground is more conductive. Meter covers are available for all modern
machines, and plastic bags will work at a pinch. Most machines have
waterproof coils, and even the headphones are amazingly water
resistant, ideally wear a hood over your head and headphones and a
baseball cap will keep the rain out of your eyes.
Digging in Pasture Land
Sometimes we detect on grass, either pastureland or a garden, and it is
important to try and obtain the find and re-store the ground to how it
was before. No-one wants holes all over their grass! Ideally the ground
should be damp, and then using a suitable spade cut three lines in a
"U" shape, so that you can fold the turf onto the uncut side :-
