1700's colonial site hunt this weekend

[KYBuzzBox]

My brother and I went into the wilds on saturday to hunt an early 1700's settlement and trading post. All of the old log houses have either been burnt down or the logs removed and used at other historical sites in the state. However, all of the old river rock foundations are still in place and you could see exactly where each building in the stockade were situtated. We even found two old piles of flint nodules stacked about twenty feet apart. One contained Indiana Horn Stone Flint and the other was Ohio Blue flint (local flint is a mottled gray), both must have been brought up the river for trade to the trading post on top of the cliff. The old settlement grave yard still exists on top a knob next to the station (what they called old fort/trading posts). My brother was disappointed that we didn't find any old coins until I explained to him that back in those times people on the frontier were dirt poor. Most trade was either bartter or swaping. Hard coin was rare and finding coins at a site this old in KY is almost unheard of. The only sliver I have ever found at a 1700's site was a couple of pieces of trade silver cut into wedges in situ with a couple of musket balls (someone drinking money?). We did find a box or more of old brass shotgun hulls with a lot of old broken pottery. Some with English and French hallmarks. We have planned another hunt when it get a little dryer. We couldn't walk in the cornfields because it was so wet you would sink up to your knees. The wooded areas were the only dry areas that we could hunt. I told him we would go looking for relics the next time (I put my V3i in relic mode and found a handfull of square nails). So it should be interesting the next time around. Has anybody found anything other than iron objects in a 1700's site in KY? Sorry for the long post. HH...KYBuzzBox

[Indy!]

Great story! Did you get any pics of the site? Would love to see them. That'd be a fun hunt regardless of the coin count.

Indy!

[JTGOLD]

sounds like it was a fun hunt,good luck next time around.

[mike l]

Sounds like a great site. Even if you don't find old coins, there should be some nice relics there. Good luck

[del]

Great story! Did you get any pics of the site? Would love to see them. That's be a fun hunt regardless of the coin count.

Indy!

bingo !

we need some pictures but sounds like a great place to detect . Coinnut and i almost exclusively detect 1700's era dwellings and sites and as you said coins finds are rare and a premium but you can find them .there should be alot of buttons and other good items found but these sites you have to have alot of patience as the items might be far and few in between but very quality ones. good luck on your next few visits and keep us updated.

Dan

[KYBuzzBox]

Sorry, I didn't take a camera with me. I will take one on the next hunt and post the pictures. We found an old Well and the spring house for the station. I was trying to locate their trash pit but since the station had a cliff on it's backsde that drops 3/4-1/2 a mile down to the river. I will almost bet that is where the residents of the fort threw their waste. they also had a stone lined drainage ditch that ran off the cliffside. Normally here in KY the only things we find on these old 1700 sites are buttons, buckles (shoes, pants, etc..), harness hardware, and Iron cooking utensils, lead & musket balls and flint cores where they knapped out gunflints.

Bill and I located another six homesteads in close proximity to the station. We are hoping to get lucky and find the local trash pit or pits. Did find several clay pipestem pieces along with the pottery and stoneware fragments. Can't wait to go back when it drys out. But we will need to do it before the spring growing season. That place is rattlesnake city during the summer and fall.

[coinnut]

I was drooling when I read that title lol I agree with Del that there should be some buttons there. I would hit that well area very hard, as it was constantly being used Dig any target the even squeeks a little different than iron. There will be a lot of masking in that dirt and targets will not read correctly. Good luck and I have good feelings about that place

[giant056]

Sounds like you really made some neat finds there thumbsup01

[Evan/tn]

Yep some pics would be sweet,sure to at least be some buttons around there
Good luck next time ya go

[Carver]

WOW!!! Best of luck on any return trips to that spot!!

[exsquid]

Wow you got us all excited

Def need to see some pics of the place...Sounds like a great place to burn some hours....

Wish you the best on your return trips...

[bountyhunter]

thumbsup01 Sounds like a great place to find cool relics. I got some old granite foundations to explore myself. Good luck

[KYBuzzBox]

We were planning to go back to the site this weekend but the weather man is calling for heavy rain all the way into next week. >:\

[KYBuzzBox]

Del & Coinnut,

Do you guys setup your detectors any different on the 1700's sites as opposed to a 1800-1900 site relic hunting?

I was thinking of using a 10DD Max Program (see whites site) in all metal mode instead of my usual Correlate Relic program on my v3i during my next hunt on this site. For the last hunt I was just scouting and was using my Correlate C&J program to pickout non-ferrous targets. The deepest find was a 30-06 slug dug at 14, most of the shotgun brass was found 4-8 deep. Since this area is in a heavily wooded area and and the rocks are limestone with a high Iron content (you can tell by the red streaks on the weathered tops) it also appears to have a lot of old square nails and iron from pots and farm equipment. Do you have any suggestions to make a hunt on this old of a site more productive? I normally relic hunt CW sites. I have never had much luck on sites earlier than 1800.

Thanks.....KYBuzzBox

[del]

i detect with the dfx and use the least amount of discrimination as possible and the 6x10 DD eclipse coil as it handles the mineralization and separation extremeley well . with this combo and settings i do dig some iron (oxshoes , iron flatstock , and larger nail heads or bent nails ) but thats what i want as almost all these targets give that iffy sound that some good targets give plus often i've had good items right next to the iron ones . the program i use is a custome relic i've tweaked to compliment the 6x10 but patience and looking for very subtle signs of the area can best assets while working an area like this and going with your gut feelings can payoff too . if it is an early site it shouln't have alot of iron around ( maybe only 20ft. or so around the structures) around here the amount of iron trash and metal scraps greatly increase after about 1840's for some reason .

[KYBuzzBox]

Hi Del,

I never thought of using my 6x10DD coil on an older site before. I have a 6x10DD MAX program that uses all metal-mode. I may try that first on the site to see how it does.

Most of the time I use my D2 coil with a highly tweeked Corelate Relic program and cleanup on CW sites with that combo. I have never had much luck at finding relics at 1700 sites here in KY. You are right, you pickup some nails around the buildings (because most have been burned) and some flat iron from old cooking pots and utensils. Other than that, most of these sites are pretty sterile. Other than an occasional button, musketball, or small pieces of trade silver, I can hold in one hand all of the non-ferrous relics that I have found at older 1700 sites in KY. You are right about 1840+ seems to be the best sites for coins and metal.

Thanks....KYBuzzBox

[coinnut]

I used the DFX with very little discrimination also. Usually accepting +95 down to -30. I used the 3Khz frequency, but can switch to the 15Khz at any time. I also had a very fast recovery speed (35) and used the stock 9.5 coil, but would switch to the 4x6 DD coil, the closer I got to the cellar hole or areas where there was a lot of targets (iron or non iron). I used this system whether it was a new house or a colonial one.

[KYBuzzBox]

Thanks for the tips Del & Coinnut. I will give them a try the next time I hunt that site. I will bring a camera with me this time. It is interesting to see how the old stations were laid out.

Thanks again....KYBuzzbox

[del]

Thanks for the tips Del & Coinnut. I will give them a try the next time I hunt that site. I will bring a camera with me this time. It is interesting to see how the old stations were laid out.

Thanks again....KYBuzzbox

yes i'm very curious as to what them sites down south look like compared to ones we usually hit and spring is the best time to detect these places. best of luck to you.

[KYBuzzBox]

I don't know about the northern stations (stockades), Ours are kind of small. My brother was amazed at how small and compact the area encompasing the station really was. I had to remind him that people in that time were a lot smaller than we are today. In addition, these frontier stations only protected 4 to 8 families (if that) from the local native americans (Shawnee). We found several arrow points in the cornfields around the station. Since it is almost impossible to tell the age of the points they may pre-date the station by hundreds of years. This station and trading post is located on the edge of a steep cliff and only had three sides stockaded (kind of triangular) with a low wall w/drain on the cliff side. Not really typical for other stations that I have hunted in this area of KY (most are round or star shaped - square forts are only for movies).